What about... Maréchal Foch, Marquette or Frontenac

[Skycrestfarm]

Does anyone have experience making wine from any of these grages...Maréchal Foch, Marquette or Frontenac? These strains of grapes were developed for wine making in cold climates. I just wonder how people feel about the wine they get from them. I've been considering planting some wine grapes and these are some I am thinking about.

Thanks for any input.

Stephen
Skycrestfarm

 

[salcoco]

Here in the Midwest, Foch can become quite acidic due to heat stress. this might not be a problem in PA. also for the first few years it may have grassy overtones if not fermented properly, ie use of oak powder. the wine will be a dark, dark almost black wine. Once full developed plants no more grassy taste.
As far as growth, it has a moderate vigor do not overdue the potassium use as this will definitely increase acidity. It is probably the earliest for bud break, so late frost vulnerability may be a problem. I lost then twice in about 10 years.
good luck

 

[grapeman]

Out of those three I like Marquette the best.

Foch you will either like it or not and the vines can become overly vigorous. I don't care for it at all, either to drink or culturally, but that is just my opinion.

Frontenac is good and cold hardy, but the grapes are very high in acid. They can get quite high in sugar by the time they lose a bit of acid. In a good year expect the TA about 12-14g/L and in a bad year can approach 20g/L. The aromas are very strong and it is very flavorful.

The Marquette has Pinot Noir in its background and makes a nice red wine similar to a good Pinot, but darker color and I think more flavor. You can really tweak that one with types of yeast, fermentation , maceration, oaking, etc. It is a very versatile grape.

 

[GreginND]

I echo Grapeman's comments. Marquette = hands down winner of those three. A nice acid reducing yeast, MLF and give it some French Oak and she will treat you well.

 

[altavino]

we have some old vine foch , it used to be pretty common here.

some tips and these applly to many hybrid reds

do't do cold soaks , you want to do less maceration not more.

enzymes can also pull out more funky flavours , so I don't use them . with foch you get good colour anyway.

use GRE yeast to highlight fruit and surpress green flavours. if its above 11g/l ta and a ph<3.2 use maurvin B which can eat upto 55% malic acid
ferment as warm as you can .
use 2g/l medium american oak powder or chips in the primary , this masks green or hybrid tastes and gives the must some tannin.
if less ripe or you like tannins add some to the primary.
optired fixs colour and promotes fruit .

do your tweaking in the primary , once dry its hard to make any significant impact. post ferment its like lipstick on a pig

number one tip with foch , press early , with 5-8 brix reamaining. if you ferment foch too long on the skins it takes on a mettalic character.

do mlf .
if acid is still high after mlf cold stabilise.

blend in some warm climate vinifera (zinfandel is great) 10-20% can really help

 

[spaniel]

I have 20 Foch, with 2 years of wine off them. The first year it was 100% Foch, and I did not do MLF. It was sharp and not great. The next year I had low yield due to drought, so I mixed 2/3 Foch with 1/3 Oberlin Noir in the primary and did a MLF. The wine is a year old and I am quite pleased with the results.

I have not tried cold soak, but from all I read I do press the wine off the skins 24 hours after crush, before I pitch the yeast. Color is good anyways.

I would not discount Foch. But I would consider planting something to blend with. I can say we get more heat and drought here in Indiana lately than out east and I still haven't seen the off flavors some report with Foch.

Regarding growth, I find it quite winter hardy. I have not found it overly vigorous. I deal with the early bud break by waiting as long as possible to prune. The furthest buds try to open first...you're going to prune them off anyways so let them sacrifice themselves. They do much better for me on Top Wire Cordon then 4-Arm Kniffen.

I would also consider Oberlin Noir in the mix. I'm still finishing off my first year of non-blended but so far it is looking very promising. I planted some Marquette too, just to cover my bases.

 

[Adame]

I have some foch vines that have not been taking off very well and are several years old. I am considering tearing them out and planting something else but I am not sure what yet. I live in Iowa and I am thinking Marquette seems like a really good option. The foch wine I have made is exactly like that listed above. Acidic and has a metalic taste to it. I don't really care for it.