Growing Cold Hardy Grapes

[Crawlspacevintner]

My addiction to wine making is kicking in. I am only on my first batch of kit wine but I am eagerly looking to get more involved. I live in Minnesota and know there are some good cold hardy grapes being produced around here. I have been to a lot of the local wineries and enjoy the experience. I want to start making wine from my own grapes.

I am looking to grow the grapes up the posts of my deck and run the vines along the bottom edge of the deck. My questions would be:

What varietals to grow (I have hated all cold hardy red wines I have tasted)?
Will it work to have them grow around the edges of my deck? (south facing)
How would I get this started?

Thanks for the advice.

Kevin

 

[Russ Stewart]

Kevin,
I live in Ohio, and just ordered some more vines from Miller Nurseries which are labled as cold hardy. They have a pretty nice selection of whites and reds. Two years ago, I planted some of the Frontenac vines, and they are doing really well. Good Luck.
Russ

 

[AlFulchino]

this is the most important sentence you wrote:

"(I have hated all cold hardy red wines I have tasted)?"

you can grow grapes but i think you need to scour around for a wine made form what is available to you that you at least remotely enjoy...of course you will be the winemaker and hopefully can tweak the wine from remote enjoyment to something better

 

[grapeman]

Kevin, if you go to my link in the signature or if an ad banner appears for Hid-In-Pines Vineyard, go to my website. I grow nothing but Cold Climate grapes. I have a grape variety page that list some of the grapes I grow. You can also check out Northeast Vine Supply in Vermont for a few more choices.

You don't like the reds. What have you tried? I also have an online store whith descriptions of the wines. I'm sure between all of us here, we can get you going on something you like.

 

[GerardVineyard]

Check with the University of Minnesota, they do a lot of work with cold climate grapes. Also check with Double A vineyards out of New York and Great River Nursery in Minnesota. I have dealt with both these places and have been happy with their product and service.

 

[AlFulchino]

out of curiousity...what wines have you tried that you do not enjoy? this would be very interesting

 

[UBB]

I have read and talked with people who have nothing but GOOD things to say about the cold hardy Marquette grape and the wine it can produce.

 

[saddlebronze]

Having just done this, I can't emphasize enough to get some of the wine from each grape you may be interested in. I had ordered vines and then did that and some I liked and some I didin't. Fortunatley this is only a test plot, but still wish I had done it in the right order.

 

[AlFulchino]

still though, you did it right w the test plot....now you can take even the grapes you are not fond of and try some out of the box thinking and maybe you can make wine out of lemons

 

[Crawlspacevintner]

Thanks for the input everyone. It will take me a while to give my full background in this, but here we go. (This will be based all on my taste and opinion and i don't mean to offend anyone)

First I will start with my likes and dislikes in wine in general. My favorite wines are old vine zins from the sonoma valley. This is based mostly on the fact that my wife has a great aunt and uncle that grow dry farmed zin and the wines that we get from them are out of this world. Maple Vineyards Healdberg, CA. Those are all $40 or more a bottle and worth every penny. I have only had a few other wines of that quality so most of my wine judging is based against what I like in those. A heavy, thick red with good fruit flavors with a good balance of oak. From there I like shiraz/syrah's and pinot noirs, with merlot and cab sauv coming in next. I like the thick heavy wines, but some cabs and merlot are a little too oaky and harsh.

When it comes to whites, I am a fan of semi-sweet wines. Reisling is by far my favorite with Sauv blancs coming in second. I tend go go for more of the sweeter reislings. Fresh, crisp with a good balance of sweetness. I don't care for pinot grigio much as of now, but am basing that opinion on only have a few different lower end bottle of it. To dry and sour tasting. I am on the fence with chardonay. I have not had enough types both oaked and not oaked to make up a valid opinion on it yet.

My wine knowledge is growing, but i have just not had the money to really be able to get into it the way i would like. I have a pretty good understanding and recognition of the american varietals but have not had a chance to dive into french and italian wine yet. Seems confusing. My wife and I have gone on a wine vacation in Southern Oregon. Best couple days of my life. The wines were great and it seemed like a newer up in coming wine area and the people working at them were awesome. Got to taste with some of the wine makers. This is what took me from a beer guy that would have a glass with his wife once and a while to a guy who loves wine and isn't afraid to say so.

After the great trip out west we visited a lot of the local wineries around southern minnesota.
http://www.indianislandwinery.com/ http://www.morgancreekvineyards.com/ http://www.salemglenvineyard.com/index.php
http://www.crofutwinery.com/ http://www.heinemanswinery.com/catalog/Catalog.cfm (which was in ohio and was a great time)

I have no connection to any of these places, and if anyone affiliated with those wineries is on here I hope this comes across as constructive criticism.

I have really enjoyed the experience I have had at these wineries but have felt the wine just hasn't been that good. I know it is like comparing apple to oranges with other regions of the US and world. There have been a few whites that have tasted good to me but that is it. The reds i have tried are very thin, sour/acidic, and just don't have any body. They try to oak them, but it seems to fail. The wines tend to be very dry or very artificially sweet. I tell my wife they have a different unique smell which I'm guessing is a sugar flavor or smell that they all have. It seems like the only decent wines are ones that are overly sweetened. Ice wines are huge here and I hate them. Way too sweet.

Frontenac seems to be the grape of choice around here and everything i have had made with it hasn't been good. My wives grandfather actually grows frontenac grapes out on his farm. I could get some from him but have no intentions of making wine out of those. I have had some wine made from Marquette that I enjoyed a little. If I'm going to put effort into growing something I would like to make a white similar to a Riesling.

On another note. I realize this could vary a lot, but how much wine could be made per vine? I will likely be planting 4 vines. Possible two of two different varietals. the post of my deck are probably 5 feet. How many year will it take to get that high? I plan in screwing in loops or hooks along the posts and bottom edge of my deck to train the vines to. Will this work? It will have southern exposure.

That was a marathon response but I hope it explains more about where I'm coming from.

Happy wine making
Kevin

 

[AlFulchino]

my suggestions:

a) continue to purchase your aunts wine
b) you lean toward liking the whites that you are capable of growing in you temperature zone...since you are only planting four vines, grow these because you will expend the same effort as planting reds that you are not currently pleased with.

This will give you the red wine you currently enjoy..it will give you some years now of learning to grow wine grapes that you are reasonably happy with and it gives you time to continue to investigate reds that you could favor.

For four vines i would not expend much energy agonizing over reds...sometimes a person can have such an exclusive taste for certain types of wines that they want to force a square peg into a round hole...so give the breeders some time

Of course there is a choice 'c', move to a place like Sonoma

 

[grapeman]

I totally agree with Al on this. 4 vines is not enough to fret over. The currently available vines for cold climates just do not offer what you are after.

The variety closest to what you are describing is an unnamed variety from the University of Minnesota - called currently Mn1200. Marquette was Mn1211 before it was named and released. I have a good sized trial of them here in a training system trial for which I got permission (written) from University of Minnesota.

The wine from it is more complex than any other hybrid I have ever tried and one of the highest in tannins out there because of it's small berry size, increasing the skin and seed to juice ratio. I am hoping I can get them to release this variety so we can begin growing larger amounts of it for a really good complex wine.

 

[ibglowin]

Let me know if they ever do!

I'll plow up the 5000 ft2 of Kentucky blu and turn the whole back yard into a real vineyard!