What are we growing: grape edition
Weeding young vines at our farm in Charlevoix.
Faced with the delicious prospect of getting to grow whatever we want to at our winery in Charlevoix, we lost our cool a little bit at first. There are thousands of grape varieties, dozens of clones, and various rootstocks to pick from. It was very tempting to plant some of everything!
After our initial “kid in a candy shop” reaction, we reigned it in and got strategic. We knew we wanted to grow grape varieties that would succeed on our vineyard site, be compatible with sustainable farming practices and lend themselves to the types of wines we are interested in producing.
One of our goals is to produce 100% of our wine with fruit we grow at our vineyard in Charlevoix. We envision producing aromatic whites, light to medium bodied reds, and bright sparkling wines with minimal intervention in the cellar.
To accomplish all that, we settled on a combination of hybrid grape varieties and vitis vinifera, or varieties that originated in the Mediterranean and the modern-day country of Georgia.
Hybrids are cold hardy, grow well, yield well and we can grow them economically and sustainably. These are our workhorse grapes that will make up the base of a lot of our blended wines. They are also our insurance policy for those extremely cold winters that can cause damage to less cold-hardy varieties.
Vitis vinifera, often referred to as “European varieties,” on the other hand, are more cold sensitive and can be little more challenging to grow. These varieties include some of our favorites like Riesling and Gruner Veltliner. Geographically, we are pushing the boundaries of how far north these are grown in Michigan and taking a cautiously optimistic approach.
We are passionate about and excited to grow both hybrids and vinifera! As of Summer 2022, we are growing these four varieties:
While we don’t anticipate taking a harvest from our home farm until 2023, we left some clusters on the L’Acadie Blanc to manage the vines’ vigorous vegetative growth.
L’ACADIE BLANC
L'Acadie Blanc is a white Canadian hybrid variety that has only been available in the States for the past couple years. This grape has good chemistry, lower acid and potential for higher brix (sugar) and we are confident we can get it ripe here in Northern Michigan. It's popular in Nova Scotia where it's used as a base for sparkling wines and blends - which is exactly what we have planned for it!
MERACHEL FOCH
Marechal Foch is an older French American hybrid. The grape has both red skin and red flesh, making a deeply colored wine with jammy, dark-fruit flavors. It's closely related to Leon Millot, a variety we have worked with for the past 4 years and is one of our favorites. Marchel Foch is widely grown in Michigan and has a reputation of being a very dependable grape. Our goal for Foch is to be blended with other red hybrid varieties and maybe a little bit of vinifera for a balanced, delicious local red.
Checking on dormant Zweigelt vines in the snow.
OSCEOLA MUSCAT
Our other white hybrid variety is Osceola Muscat, which we've affectionately been calling it "Muskrat."
Bred by Elmer Swenson in Osceola, Wisconsin, this early ripening variety produces wines that are very aromatic, with juicy stone fruit flavors and floral, orange blossom nose. We planted half an acre of Osceola Muscat in 2021 and are seeing excellent growth and vigor in it. Like the L’Acadie, this one is destined for white blends and sparkling wine.
ZWEIGELT
Zweigelt, the most widely grown red grape in Austria, is the first vitis vinifera variety we have planted a significant quantity of at the home farm. We really enjoy wines made with Zweigelt both from Austria and Michigan, as well as it’s parent grapes, Blaufrankish and St. Laurent. This mid-season grape is very versatile and can be used in both rose and medium-bodied reds.
