Book Review - Northern Wineworks
Growing Grapes and Making Wine in Cold Climates
by Tom Plocher and Bob Parke

I recently received a copy Northern Wineworks and I highly recomend it for anyone interested in growing grapes and making wine in cool climates. It is geared towards small vineyards and homewinemakers with a lot of detail on the varieties to choose, cool climate areas, wine making, wine blending and wine tasting.

There are some excellent pictures of grape varieties and winter damaged grape buds.

At Honeyflow Farm we grow many of the varieties that are mentioned such as Seyval Blanc, Frontenac, Marechal Foch and St. Pepin.

I found some interesting information in the book such as:

Exposing clusters to the sun does not effect sugar and acidity as much as it does color and flavor.

Try using oak chips for red wines and glycerin for whites. (Glycerine adds body and masks bitterness - 3oz glycerine/5gal is the absolute limit)

St Pepin is often made without any blending - if not fully ripe it may lack it's characteristic fruity vinifera like nose.

A 10-20% addition of Frontenac to Foch adds dark cherry notes to a Foch wine and adds complexity.

Bob Parke has offered to waive the usual shipping charge of $3 to anyone mentioning Honeyflow Farm when ordering Northern Winework.

The quickest and most direct way for your newsletter readers to order is to send a check for $30 to:

Northern Winework
17090 116th Street North
Stillwater, MN 55082

Topics covered in the book (From the back cover)

Grape Growing:

*How grapevines are injured by winter cold
*Recognizing winter injury
*Retraining winter injured vines
*Enhancing winter survival
*Evaluating your regional climate for grape growing
*Selecting a good vineyard site
*Matching varieties with climate constraints
*Selecting a training system
*Pruning for balanced growth
*Optimizing ripening & harvest quality

Winemaking:

*Using vinifera style winemaking on cold hardy grapes
*Equipping and stocking a home winery
*Avoiding common winemaking mistakes
*Controlling variables to influence winernaking results
*Recognizing spoilage problems and applying remedies
*Understanding and controlling the aging process
*Improving your tasting and evaluation skills
*Balancing and fine-tuning before bottling
*Blending methods for recommended varieties
*Showing off the final product

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Here is some information from the book on the 4 varieties that we grow at Honeyflow Farm.
(These were recommended by the authors.)

Frontenac (Minnesota 1047)

Frontenac is a village on Lake Pepin, a wide place in the Mississippi River, just southeast of St. Paul. It also is the name of the French governor who lost Quebec to the British. The variety is very productive of moderately-loose medium to large clusters of medium-sized blue-black berries. The vine can overproduce, so it needs to be cluster-thinned for the best quality fruit. The fruit matures rather late, the last half of September in Minnesota. Grown in insufficient heat or picked prematurely, it will be herbaceous and very high in acid. Frontenac wine will develop a characteristic cherry nose when produced from properly-ripened grapes. With a long season, the fruit can build high sugar levels. Acidity drops precipitously at the very end of the season, long after sufficient sugar is developed. You must be patient with it and avoid the urge to harvest it based on sugar content alone. Frontenac wines must go through malolactic fermentation to reduce this excess acidity to a workable level. This vine has excellent resistance to mildew except for black rot to which it is moderately prone. Its hardiness is significantly better than St. Croix, being injured in central Minnesota only in the most severe winters. Selected by Peter Hemstad at the University of Minnesota from a cross of Riparia 89 x Landot 4511. Perfect flowers.

St. Pepin

In recent years, some of' the best white wines in Minnesota have been produced from St, Pepin. This variety has medium-sized berries and clusters that are loosely formed. It ripens in mid September near St. Paul, Minnesota, with sugar content typically around :20 degrees Brix and acidity around 1.00%. Clusters of St. Pepin sometimes ripen to 20 degrees Brix which may produce some off flavors and aromas. Production can be a problems in this pistilllate variety, particularly in years with a poor conditions for pollination. Prune St. Pepin to a generous bud count to ensure decent production. On their own roots, Vines of St. Pepin can be expected to suffer bud injury if the temperature drops much -25.6 degrees F (-32 (C). It does not quite make it into our -31degree F (-33 C) hardiness category. Recent studies at the University of Minnesota have shown that St. Pepin's hardiness can be improved significantly by grafting it onto superhardy rootstocks. St. Pepin was developed by Elmer Swenson of Osceola, Wisconsin. It is from an early Swenson cross of 114 x Seyval. Pistillate.

Marechal Foch

Marechal Foch is the mainstay of the wine industry in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It is extremely versatile for winemaking. Award winning winemaker, Philippe Coquard, working at Wollersheim Winery in Wisconsin, produces three very different wines from Foch, depending on ripeness. Coquard harvests Foch before full ripeness, at a sugar content of 19 Brix pH of 2.9, and total acidity of 1.5%, to produce an outstanding rose wine, with appealing cherry-like aroma and flavor. With slightly more ripe fruit, sugar content of 21 Brix, pH of 3.1, and total acidity of 1.3%, he uses a semi-carbonic fermentation to produce a nouveau-style wine, with good acidity and fruitiness. Red table wines, suitable for aging, can be produced from fully ripe Foch grapes, with sugar content of 23 Brix, pH of 3.3, and total acidity of 1.0%. . These can be excellent, with deep color, good middle tannins, and rich ripe fruit aromas. The best of these have competed well against the best American vinifera wines. Foch produces medium-sized clusters of small-medium berries. A significant amount of heat is required to fully mature Foch fruit. Central Minnesota, for example, is on the fringes of this area, with full ripening possible only in best years. Foch tolerates mid-winter temperatures down to about -25.6 degrees F (-32 C), or even a bit colder without injury. Some growers in Minnesota accept the risk of potential injury and leave it up on the trellis. Others protect their Foch vines in the winter. Foch is very resistant to Downy Mildew, but somewhat susceptible to Powdery Mildew. It was developed by Kuhlmann working at Colmar in Alsace, from a cross of 101-14 Mgt x Goldriesling. The latter is Riesling x Courtiller musque. Perfect flowers.

Seyval (Seyve-Villard 5-276)

For many years, Seyval was the leading white wine variety in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Due to its tenderness in winter and rather late ripening, it has lost popularity in recent years. However, Seyval is still a mainstay in the commercial wine industry in Quebec, where over half the acreage is planted with this variety and protected by soil over the winters. Seyval has large clusters and can be very productive. Cluster thinning to one cluster per shoot is mandatory to avoid overcropping and to advance ripening. The wine from Seyval is neutral, tart, and lacking in body when produced from grapes that are not fully ripe. That said, the wine is still quite good. In cooler climates such as Quebec, Seyval can produce outstanding sparkling wines. In climates with more heat, such as southern Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, Seyval ripens more fully, producing a fine white wine with good body, beautiful straw yellow color, and aroma that is remindful of Chardonnay. Seyval has a strong upright growth habit. Training systems must be selected that fit this habit of growth, particularly if the vines are to be protected over the winter. Seyval is French-American hybrid developed from a cross of Seibel 5656 x Seibel 4986. Perfect flowers.

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