# Petite pearl



## justinb (Mar 13, 2017)

Im planning on planting both red and white grapes this year. I finally got my hands on a Marquette wine (which is difficult in Illinois). Im glad I bought this wine before I bought the vines because I didnt like it. Its possible that the winery just isnt good at Marquette wine. I also dont like marechal foch. Either way, Im looking for a different red grape now.

Ive been reading about Petite Pearl. A lot of what Ive "googled" say its a good wine for blending. Why is that? Is it not a good stand alone wine? I dont want to blend reds if at all possible.


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## ibglowin (Mar 13, 2017)

Well since Marquette is widely known to be one of the hands down best cold hardy grapes and wines available and your have a statistical sampling of (1) I would say you need to find a few more samples before you throw out the baby with the bath water. Petite Pearl is one of the slowest growing grape vines out there. Some people say an oak tree will grow faster than petite pearl. A good marquette wine will taste very similar to a good pinot noir. I have had good marquette wine and served it at a dinner party along with some way more expensive ($30) bottles of wine and the marquette stole the evening. YMMV


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## barbiek (Mar 14, 2017)

I have 6 vines of petite Pearl slow growing they are! And as far as the wine I'm not sure the vines are still young. But I made some wine from my Marquette and I got rave reviews from everyone that had some! Keep in mind it's not a heavy wine like a Merlot or Cabernet. Light and fruity


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## grapeman (Mar 14, 2017)

The first time I made Marquette in 2006 it did not turn out very good and I almost passed on it as a variety. I'm glad I gave it another try because with just a bit of a different process it has turned out to be a great seller.


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## justinb (Mar 14, 2017)

Thanks for the help. The wine I had was nothing like a Pinot Noir. The nose was decent, but it tasted very tart. Maybe I just had wine from a bad producer. There's plenty of Foch, Frontenac, and Chambourcin being produced in my area, but no Marquette. I don't like any of the aforementioned wine enough to spend time growing grapes. 
Sounds like I need to find another Marquette to sample before I give up on it. I've spent hours "googling" without any luck for a winery to ship to me. I'm just nervous that I'm going to spend a lot time nurturing vines and end up with a wine I won't like. I'm not as concerned with the white grapes. I should've started this "homework" a long time ago...I need to order vines soon.


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## ibglowin (Mar 14, 2017)

Luke,

Use the force.



grapeman said:


> The first time I made Marquette in 2006 it did not turn out very good and I almost passed on it as a variety. I'm glad I gave it another try because with just a bit of a different process *it has turned out to be a great seller......*





justinb said:


> Sounds like I need to find another Marquette to sample before I give up on it. I've spent hours "googling" without any luck for a winery to ship to me.


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## justinb (Mar 14, 2017)

I've already talked to grapeman about his wine. He was not able to ship to me either, but did offer other wineries to try. Unfortunately, his gracious suggestions were not able to ship to me either. I would appreciate any other suggestions on wineries to try...


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## ibglowin (Mar 14, 2017)

Here is one bottle right off the bat for sale from Eight Bells Winery in WA State.

Eight Bells Winery Marquette

Also here is a great article on Marquette grapes being grown in WA Sate from one of the TOP wine growers in the State. 

Champoux champions Marquette grape in retirement

There is a lot of leads in this article as well. You may want to call Fidelitas Winery direct as they don't have the Marquette on the wine list but may have some cases left still.






justinb said:


> I've already talked to grapeman about his wine. He was not able to ship to me either, but did offer other wineries to try. Unfortunately, his gracious suggestions were not able to ship to me either. I would appreciate any other suggestions on wineries to try...


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## grapeman (Mar 14, 2017)

Unfortunately the wine shipping laws are getting worse all the time instead of better as everyone claims. Unless you are a huge winery the states don't want you shipping around that much. Believe it or not, I got a letter from UPS today claiming I have shipped wine to New York State without an out-of-state shipping permit. Well duh, Imagine that I must have driven out of state to ship it back into New York. I don't think so. I get on the phone lottery and played with the number menus for a while until I said "agent". I immediately went into another menu system with slightly different choices and pushed 4 for all others. I was connected with a UPS help desk in China. How do I know? The woman spoke with a heavy Chinese accent and a man was singing to her in Chinese in the background! That went on for a while until I hung up on her after I got tired of her telling me to go to the website for answers. I am going to have to contract with a third party processor to be able to open my online store back up.

You might be able to try some Noiret or Corot Noir grapes which were developed in NY at Cornell. They are good to about -15 to -17F. They have a higher tannin level and can make some very nice wine.


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## justinb (Mar 16, 2017)

I have more Marquette on its way. Thanks for the leads. Would it make sense for me to plant a mix of Marquette (if I like the wine thats coming) and Petite Pearl so I can blend if need be? 20 vines marquette and 10 petite pearl.


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## grapeman (Mar 16, 2017)

That might be a good idea for you. The Petite Pearl has more tannins in it than the Marquette does. From the PP wine I have made before it had sort of blueberry notes to it. That was a very small trial batch and I haven't gotten enough to make it since. It may be time to try again for me soon.


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## ibglowin (Mar 16, 2017)

I would definitely plant a mix. Marquette, Noiret and the slow growing oak grape vine if you really, really want it.... LOL


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## WI_Wino (Mar 19, 2017)

Theres a new vineyard just down the road from me that planted petite pearl last year. They had great first year growth and are planning on cropping this fall. Growth was two canes up to a high cordon at 5' then lateral growth of another 5' in either direction.


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## grapeman (Mar 20, 2017)

WI_Wino said:


> Theres a new vineyard just down the road from me that planted petite pearl last year. They had great first year growth and are planning on cropping this fall. Growth was two canes up to a high cordon at 5' then lateral growth of another 5' in either direction.


 
That is impressive! Keep us filled in on what grows this year and if they are able to get some grapes. Often times when growth is that vigorous the canes don't harden properly and it dies back a lot. If it does indeed survive and crop that is very impressive indeed.


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## WI_Wino (Mar 20, 2017)

I thought so as well. My neighbor and I met with the couple that owns the vineyard a couple weekends ago. We picked their brains on what has worked for them, suppliers, etc. as we are each putting vines in this spring. We walked the vineyard and the vines we were touching/bending/ etc. seemed healthy They got their vines from Northeastern Vine Supply and were very happy with the bareroot vines. They said some of the root systems were > 2' long. They did some basic soil amendment when prepping the site but nothing too crazy, basically added some nitrogen to the soil.

They is definitely a business first venture for them, neither has ever made wine before. They have a consultant that is guiding them through everything so it'll be interesting to see how it works out for them.


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## TonyR (Mar 20, 2017)

I racked my Petite Pearl wine this morning 12 gal from my picking last Sep 2016. 6 year old vines. Added kmeta, Had cold stabilized for 1 month in my shed. Ph 3.76. Ta. 6.8. Tested malic acid with the strips read 30. VERY fruity/ floral aroma and fruity after taste, think I am happy with it.


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## WI_Wino (Jul 29, 2018)

Here are some of my second year petite pearl vines. Going gangbusters, definitely faster than an oak tree!


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## NorthSlopeVineyard (Aug 8, 2018)

grapeman said:


> The first time I made Marquette in 2006 it did not turn out very good and I almost passed on it as a variety. I'm glad I gave it another try because with just a bit of a different process it has turned out to be a great seller.


Could you expand on this? My Marquette is good, not great. Harvest is about 5 weeks out for me and I want to make better wine than in the past. Any brix goal for harvest, yeast suggestion, vinting tips, ideal acid, etc would help. I need to take this wine to the next level.


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## keverman (Aug 8, 2018)

NorthSlopeVineyard said:


> Could you expand on this? My Marquette is good, not great. Harvest is about 5 weeks out for me and I want to make better wine than in the past. Any brix goal for harvest, yeast suggestion, vinting tips, ideal acid, etc would help. I need to take this wine to the next level.


Ditto, here. Would love to learn how to make a really good Marquette this year. Last year's is just ok...


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