'Good' Grapes for Concord Wine
Bluebell is also delicious fresh or frozen and makes good jam, productive, zone 3,
15.4 Brix on Sept 16, 2019 |
King of the North, tasty though tart, very productive, zone 3,
21.2 Brix on Sept 21, 2017 |
Polar Isaura, too early to tell, zone 4,
14.0 Brix on Sep 26, 2018 |
Steuben is delicious, healthy, has beautiful clusters, and is very productive. It is also quite versatile. It can make these wines: Concord, White, Rose'. It is also good for table, jam, juice, and freezing, zone 4b,
18.3 Brix on Oct 1, 2019 |
St. Anna, too early to tell, zone 4,
13.9 Brix on Oct 1, 2019 |
'Rejected' Grapes for Concord Wine
Alwood has tasty large grapes, but is heavily diseased with Anthracnose, zone 5,
17.2 Brix on Sept 24, 2017 |
Concord, Wild, Blue has diseased leaves and the berries do not ripen on our site, zone 4,
9.7 Brix on Oct 4, 2017 |
Sheridan is a strange case. It appeared to be healthy and doing fine for two years. It had healthy grapes, and then, suddenly, overnight, all the leaves on the entire vine wilted and died. You can see the leaves just hanging down. It was a real shocker and disappointment.
Other vines on the same grape arbor were unaffected. Since we grow everything organically, there are no poisons on our property that we are aware of. Perhaps nematodes or voles were the cause. It remains an intriguing mystery. In any event, I decided against replanting since Sheridan is categorized as a "very late" ripening grape, i.e. December. I have since found out that varieties categorized as "late" do not ripen on our site, so "very late" would not work for us at all. Zone 4. |