White grape vine selection

SteveH · Apr 30, 2016

The nursery I purchased some vines from has what looks to be some great pricing I can't resist on what they have left (Double AA). I have 10 Sauvignon Blanc and 25 Niagara vines I just planted. I want to take advantage of the pricing and expand my little vineyard sooner than later. We like off-dry (or what I call semi-sweet) white wines with some fruit flavor and aroma. I'm looking at the hardiest, most disease resistant vigorous vines and narrowed it down to either more Niagara or Edelweiss vines. We are in zone 6, barely, zone 5 is more like it though.

Edelweiss: "fruit should be harvested at 14°- 16° brix to avoid strong Labrusca flavors"
Niagara: "Niagara is not known as a high-quality wine grape as it tends to have an abundance of "foxy" flavors and aromas, especially when ripe; harvest at 14° brix or earlier for wine production"

Isn't "foxy" and "labrusca" the same thing when defining flavor/aromas? If harvested at the recommended brix, can they make decent wines as we like and described above?

Thanks, Steve

salcoco · Apr 30, 2016

yes just adjust for acid and sugar levels use a aromatic yeast ferment to dry and then sweeten to taste. should work like a charm.
Chances are the acidity level will be best when brix is in the 14-16 range any higher and wine will be flat tasting and lack other attributes.

grapeman · Apr 30, 2016

Do they have any Cayuga left? Along the same lines with a bit more fruitiness and can be picked a bit higher in sugar.

CTDrew · Apr 30, 2016

Listen to Grapeman SteveH. Cayuga can make you a wide variety of white wine, depending on how you handle it from sweet to dry. I have probably around 30 vines and it is by far my favorite white grape.

SteveH · Apr 30, 2016

salcoco said:
yes just adjust for acid and sugar levels use a aromatic yeast ferment to dry and then sweeten to taste. should work like a charm.
Chances are the acidity level will be best when brix is in the 14-16 range any higher and wine will be flat tasting and lack other attributes.

Excellent and thank you!

grapeman said:
Do they have any Cayuga left? Along the same lines with a bit more fruitiness and can be picked a bit higher in sugar.

CTDrew said:
Listen to Grapeman SteveH. Cayuga can make you a wide variety of white wine, depending on how you handle it from sweet to dry. I have probably around 30 vines and it is by far my favorite white grape.

Thanks so much for the advice! They do have Cayuga . . . That sounds perfect. This may have scared me a bit:
"Winemakers often prefer Cayuga White to be harvested at relatively low (17°-18° brix) as riper fruit can begin to develop undesirable native characteristics"
But I'm sure there could be something like this on every variety. I think I'll be ordering the Cayuga.