Not so much a comment as a question. I live in Saratoga and would love to plant a few grape vines for making my own wine. Are there any varieties of grapes that can stand the winters here and or the soil (mine is quite acidic). Could i grow Gewurztraminer grapes or Reisling here or only native grapes like Catawba? Thanks
Hello Bernard, Thanks for the question. I think you will find it very difficult to ripen traditional vitis vinifera grapes here. However, much work has been done at Cornell and the University of Minnesota on breeding hybrid vines that have the flavor of European varieties harnessed to the winter hardiness and rapid ripening of native American varieties. The most successful are Marquette, a red wine variety that produces wine quite similar in taste and structure to Merlot, and La Crescent, a white wine variety that has some similarities with Pinot Grigio. Both of these are successfully being grown by Fossil Stone Vineyards in Greenfield Center, The winegrower is Mike Spiak and is a really nice guy. I am sure he’d be happy to talk with you. We sell their wines at Putnam Market if you want to try them. Let me know if I can help further. William.
Not so much a comment as a question. I live in Saratoga and would love to plant a few grape vines for making my own wine. Are there any varieties of grapes that can stand the winters here and or the soil (mine is quite acidic). Could i grow Gewurztraminer grapes or Reisling here or only native grapes like Catawba? Thanks
Hello Bernard, Thanks for the question. I think you will find it very difficult to ripen traditional vitis vinifera grapes here. However, much work has been done at Cornell and the University of Minnesota on breeding hybrid vines that have the flavor of European varieties harnessed to the winter hardiness and rapid ripening of native American varieties. The most successful are Marquette, a red wine variety that produces wine quite similar in taste and structure to Merlot, and La Crescent, a white wine variety that has some similarities with Pinot Grigio. Both of these are successfully being grown by Fossil Stone Vineyards in Greenfield Center, The winegrower is Mike Spiak and is a really nice guy. I am sure he’d be happy to talk with you. We sell their wines at Putnam Market if you want to try them. Let me know if I can help further. William.