# Sugargate muscadines for wine?



## Intheswamp (Sep 22, 2019)

Do Ison's Sugargate muscadines make good wine? I will be mixing two of the Sugargates with a single Noble. The Sugargates are noted for excellent *eating* but nothing is really mentioned about wine making on the website. Being a long-term investment I would love to get some feedback from folks smarter'n me! 

Thanks!
Ed


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## Intheswamp (Sep 23, 2019)

I need to change my order with Ison's if Sugargate isn't a good choice for winemaking. Thanks!


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## sour_grapes (Sep 23, 2019)

I don't know anything about Sugargate grapes, but it sounds like a term for California vintners caught chaptalizing in contravention of state laws!


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## Intheswamp (Sep 23, 2019)

sour_grapes said:


> I don't know anything about Sugargate grapes, but it sounds like a term for California vintners caught chaptalizing in contravention of state laws!


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## franc1969 (Sep 23, 2019)

There is a thread somewhere here that mentions sugargate muscadines as someone's favorite for wine, but I didn't see that on any of the muscadine sites I googled awhile back. Mostly that one is for fresh eating or juice, but at high sugar it would make wine. Might not be as complex a flavor as others.


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## Intheswamp (Sep 23, 2019)

Ah well, I'll guess I'll go with what I got. I did another search here for Sugargate muscadines and got a couple of hits but no good information. I'm thinking it will most likely be a "delicate" wine. But having such a high sugar content will mean I won't need to add as much granular sugar to the must so maybe it will help preserve the tastes.  I'm sure lots will be eaten fresh, too,...multi-purpose muscadines.  And, I'll hopefully get some Nobles (pollinator) to blend with the Sugargates which will add a little to the flavor. I just gotta get a trellis of some sort built now!!!


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## Intheswamp (Oct 4, 2019)

Just a bump to see if anyone has any experience with the Sugargates...


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## Intheswamp (Oct 7, 2019)

Ok, I just couldn't find much out about the Sugargate muscadines in regards to wine making so I cancelled them and replaced them with Dixie Reds which are known to be excellent for wine making. That will give me one Noble and two Dixie Reds, all self-fertile and all noted for making good wine. The Dixie Reds make a bit larger of a fruit than the Nobles and I really want to shoot for a more red/blush wine rather than a dark purple. I'm thinking a blend of the Noble and the Dixie Reds should make a nice wine. So, I'm no longer stressing this.<grin> The Dixie Reds do not have as high of a sugar content as the Sugargates do, though. I'm not sure how much that impacts things, though. In another year or two hopefully I'll be making some wine out of them and I'll report back!


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## garymc (Oct 16, 2019)

You might try Muscadine Growers on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/581310545314262/ Are the Dixie Reds productive?


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## Intheswamp (Oct 17, 2019)

Well, I punted.<g> I got to studying over things (some more!) and changed the Dixie Reds to Isons. The Isons may be a bit more disease resistant than the Dixie Reds and they have a higher sugar content. A little larger grape, too.

Somewhere I read where someone had found that a 70/30 mix of Isons and Nobles makes a very good wine. I'll have a 66/33 mix of Isons-to-Noble vines so I'll most likely be fermenting them all together.

I think the good folks at Isons probably think I'm one undecided nut! 

ETA: Another big thing for me is that we will be fresh eating lots of the muscadines and the Isons are stated as having a 92% dry scar whereas the Dixie Reds showed a 21% dry scar.


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## garymc (Oct 17, 2019)

Ison is productive. One member reported weighing and tracking 200 pounds of muscadines picked off one Ison vine. He was in Louisiana.


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## Intheswamp (Oct 17, 2019)

Oh WOW! That's a heavy producer!!! I'm just looking for enough to make jam, wine, and some fresh eating. I figured three vines will do me good if I can cultivate them well. I'll be planting them at the edge of my little (laid by and untended this year) vegetable garden. I picked up some 9-gauge wire the other day for a single wire trellis but still have to go by the co-op and pick up some posts. It looks like the best end post setup is an H-brace so I'll be shooting for that. I'm just curious, I'm thinking I can include the H-brace in the total length of the wire for the cordons to grow on. I had planned on doing a full 20' distance for each plant but I'm thinking of backing that up to 15' and let them put more energy into the more central area of the cordons that are closest to the trunk. Kind of stubby cordons. 45' will fit better than 60' but if need be 60' is doable. Got any feedback on that?

Gotta figure out how to keep the varmints away from them. I walked behind the house (like turning the corner and about got run over by a couple of yearling dear. Pulled into the hayfield across the road last spring and was suddenly in a deer stampede...must of been 20-25 of them running around the jeep. My wife thinks the deer are "so sweet" so putting them on ice is kinda tricky...I had them stand there and just look at me...even walk towards me.<sigh> Of course, across the road is a whole nuther story...those are different deer. Then there's the raccoons, the coyotes, the birds, the sasquatches, the possums, the... Well, you know where I"m coming from most likely. I've got a 4-strand hot-wire around the garden and will most likely be installing either another single strand about 3' outside the fence perimeter at about 30-32 inches high or either extending the fence upward and outward using a couple of strands of nylon string. Both tactics will mess with the deers' visual perception. I really see no need for a hot wire up high. Looking for the better mousetrap...

From everything I've read the Isons are very good muscadines. We've got wild bullis/scuppernong vines growing all around us but only the rare one (up about 30' in the trees) produce fruit. I know where one is that has grown wild for years but produces fruit that I'm going to visit this spring for some green cuttings...might scratch around beneath the overgrown vine and see if any low-growing laterals have pegged down roots...that would be nice.

Thanks a bunch for the link to the Facebook muscadine group!!! There's some good information there...I've already applied to join the group.


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