Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/467731
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m M a r - A p r 2 015 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 6 7 f you were a grapegrower arriving in the United States in the 1800s, the northern areas of the country would have seemed like a promising region for viticulture. The 45th parallel, which runs through several of the great grapegrowing regions of Europe, cuts through a wide swath of the northern U.S. and Canada. But the area halfway between the North Pole and the equator is much colder in North America than in Europe. As a result, growing wine grapes commercial- ly in USDA growing zones 4 and 5 has always been a dicey proposition. Growing them farther north in Min- nesota and North Dakota was a near impossibility. Now, through the combined efforts of a new gener- ation of breeders, private and at universities, new cold- hardy wine grapes are being commercially developed and released. These new varieties are revolutionizing viticulture in areas that cannot reliably grow vinifera grapes, and pushing hybrid grapes to new levels of wine quality. According to Bruce Reisch, a horticulture profes- sor at New York's Cornell University who has devel- oped 11 new hybrid varieties, "I think 20 years ago nobody would have predicted the success these (cold hardy) grapes are having now." Reisch's enthusiasm is evidenced by the explo- sive growth of wineries in the Midwest and North- east. Hundreds of new wineries and vineyards have opened in the last two decades, even in states such as Vermont and Minnesota, once thought inhospi- table to grapegrowing. Many of these startup winer- ies are selling wine made from newer hybrid grape varieties that can not only withstand subzero winter temperatures, but also have more nuanced flavors and aromas. One of them is Aromella, a white hybrid of Traminette and Ravat 34. J.F. Ravat is the French grape breeder who developed Vignoles in the 1930s. "I think our new variety, Aromella, released in 2013, is one of the most winter-hardy grapes that + New cold-hardy wine grapes are being commer- cially developed by private and university breeders. + These new grapes are pushing hybrid grapes to new levels of wine quality. + The University of Minnesota will release a new white hybrid grape in 2015. + A new red hybrid that's attracting attention is Petite Pearl. + The next generation of cold-hardy grape breed- ers is already at work. AT A GLANCE