North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[mIEKAL aND <dtv@mwt.net>]

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