Hybrid grapes developed for cold climates are ripe to become signature wines in Michigan. With younger consumers seeking out unfamiliar varietals, and climate change making growing conditions even more unpredictable, some vintners are finding the time is right to introduce wines made with grapes designed to withstand extreme winters while delivering superb taste.
Wines made from cold-hardy hybrids such as Marquette, Frontenac Gris and La Crescent are increasingly showing up in Michigan tasting rooms, particularly in the Petoskey region. Most of these grapes were developed at the University of Minnesota, which began a wine grape research program in the 1970s with a goal of developing high-quality, disease-resistant cultivars for northern climates. Researchers have been breeding new varieties from the Old World vitis vinifera vines, French hybrids, and vitis riparia, Minnesota’s native grape. So far, the center has released 9 hybrid varieties, the most popular of which is Marquette, a grape that makes what had been challenging for northern vintners: a quality red wine. Marquette was released in 2006 and is now extensively planted throughout the midwest and New England.
“Marquette makes a delightful rosé, or a barrel-aged red, or a fruity red,” said winemaker Matt Killman of Walloon Lake Winery near Petoskey. It also can be blended, particularly with cabernet franc. “It has a lot of potential, and it grows vociferously.”
Walloon Lake Winery has gone all in on hybrids. It began planting cold-hardy hybrid vines about six years ago and now grows only hybrid grapes, seven varieties in all.
“We’re going to try to grow what grows well here, rather than push the envelope on some climate extremes,” said winemaker Matt Killman. “It’s worked out well for us, so we’re happy with the results.”
Those results include medals, such as best of class in the dry red category for its North Arm Noir, made with Marquette, in the 2017 Michigan Wine Competition.
Consumers may be unfamiliar with the hybrid grapes, but when they stop in to try one of the wines, they are usually converted.
“It’s been a conversation piece in our tasting room,” Killman said. “We get to have a nice conversation about how they’re growing well up here, then [the customer] can taste a variety of them and shape their own opinion.”
The performance of the cold-hardy hybrids, both in the vineyard and in the tasting room, is converting winemakers in the upper midwest and other wintry climates. In Quebec, winemakers Brock and Carolyn Dagenais of La Belle Alliance switched to hybrids after extensive experimentation. The couple purchased their property in 2015, although calling it a winery at that time was a stretch.
“The guy we bought it from was pretending to be a farmer,” Brock recalled. “He planted vines to get permission to build this enormous house.”
The vines were laying on the ground when the Dagonais family moved in. The couple hadn’t intended to become winemakers, but there was a vineyard begging to be loved.
“I’m a sentimental man, or maybe just mental,” Brock said.
Neither Brock nor Carolyn had any experience making wine, nor any pre-conceived notions as to how it should be done. So they researched, learned from other winemakers, planted and experimented. One of their first discoveries was that their property, southeast of Montreal and just across the border from Vermont, shares the same latitude as Bordeaux and Burgundy (and northern Michigan), but receives 18 fewer days of sunshine a year than those famous French wine regions.
“We can’t replace 18 days of sunshine, no matter what we do,” Brock said. So they planted hybrids. Brock, a former litigator who describes himself as obsessive, said they made wine every 10 days, again and again until they figured out how to do it.
Hybrids perform under the minimalist, non-chemical growing methods the couple prefers and the resulting wine has been stellar, winning praise from repeat customers and Montreal sommeliers. Brock said they would rather make one great wine than two dozen mediocre wines to please every taste. Currently, the couple offers four wines in its tasting room: a white (Toujours), a rosé (Nous), an orange (Entre) and a red (L’Amour).
Few wineries so far have followed the example of Walloon Lake and La Belle Alliance in switching exclusively to cold-hardy hybrids, but many are planting and experimenting.
“You don’t have to fully commit to a hybrid wine tasting list, but it does add diversity to include them,” Killman said. “It’s not only a benefit in the vineyard, but in the tasting room. There’s a lot of experimentation going on. That’s what makes it so much fun.”
