[NAFEX] 2007 Hardy Grape Notes
mIEKAL aND
dtv at mwt.net
Thu Sep 27 09:09:16 EDT 2007
Del: How many Valiant plants did it take to generate 4 gallons of
juice?
Thanks for the report. Here in SW WI we had 3 1/2 weeks of non-stop
rain. 80% of my grapes split & exploded & the bees & ants made quick
work of them. I did manage to salvage 2 gallons of juice from 5 St
Croix plants which was promptly turned into a merlot which we did an
early tasting of yesterday. I'm definitely not gonna have to worry
about bottling the wine because it will disappear quickly.
~mIEKAL
On Sep 27, 2007, at 7:25 AM, Del Stubbs wrote:
> Here are my notes from this season, I am trialing several other
> varieties but they have
> not fruited yet.
> (Our location in N. Minnesota was listed as zone 2b, but we don't
> even see minus 40 that
> often anymore so I have changed my designation to 3b) Heavy soil,
> drought conditions mid
> July to mid Sept. - but plants showed little stress.
> All grapes were juiced with a Victorio strainer.
> Grapes: Sept. 16, 2007 picked all grapes after 2nd hard
> frost of season.
> Beta: Sour, must add sugar, poor flavor, (graft over or remove)
> Blue Bell: Very productive, very large berries, needs a little
> sugar, never got blue -
> reddish cast - fully ripe? were very juicy, try mixing with
> sweet apple juice
> Frontenac: Pleasant as fresh eating (only had one little bunch on
> new plant).
> Monitor: - Too tart to eat fresh, dark juice, overipe, splitting
> berries, needs some
> sugar to make drinkable juice, ok as juice, full flavored.
> 1729: Berries are the size of valiant, looser bunches, rich flavor
> (not as rich flavor as
> valiant of course, but even sweeter), super sweet! I have no idea
> who the breeder is or
> if number is hyphenated. ( Anyone familiar with this grape?)
> ES 8-2-24: - Birds ate 50%, mild good fresh flavor, fully ripe,
> some acid, good wine?
> questionable as table grape
> sufficiently sweet, good juice, vino?
> DM 8521-1: - Very small berries this year, putsy to hand strip,
> wife's favorite for fresh
> eating, dark juice, fully ripe, she might prefer it over even
> valiant as juice because it
> is smoother, so gets an A as juice, I believe it has Merlot in
> its background. Eager to
> try for vino!
> Sueltor: - Large berries, easy to strip, fully ripe, dark juice -
> pleasant if a little
> sugar and water added.
> Troubador: Next in flavor to valiant, fully ripe, but irregular
> ripening, many small
> green berries, ok for juice.
> Valiant: Picked Sept 7, very productive, very flavorful and sweet,
> little bird predation,
> made 4 gallons of concentrated juice.
>
>
>
> Del Stubbs www.pinewoodforge.com zone 3a N. MN
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