John Marshall: Winter Vineyard Tips
Winter is upon us and, while it has been unseasonably warm this year, January still looms before us. It is an annual event for any fruit grower that January always stands like the Sword...
Category: Minnesota
John Marshall: Frost Damage Protection for the Small Grower
Here in Minnesota and across much of the Upper Midwest we have had two dramatic frost damage events in the past year and a half. One on Mother’s Day Weekend in Spring 2010 and...
MN-WI Distribution Differences Wider Than The Mississippi
The Wisconsin and Minnesota wine industries have much in common. Both states specialize in cold climate grape winemaking, and both can call Elmer Swenson, the godfather of cold climate grapes, a native son. (Swenson...
Interview with Katie Cook, U of MN’s Rising Star
Katie Cook left the Minneapolis suburb of Prior Lake after graduating from high school in 2000. What followed was a world-wide wine adventure that included a Masters of Enology degree from the University of Bourgogne in...
Four Daughters Winery Opens in Minnesota as Familial Affair
The trend of Midwestern farmers diversifying from row crops to grapes is growing. For the Vogt family in Southern Minnesota, the motivation for starting the Four Daughters Winery, which opened December 15th, has much...
Petite Amie Wine Romances Midwest Winemakers
Cuthills Vineyards owner Ed Swanson has had a girlfriend for six years, and his wife Holly knows all about it. But Swanson’s paramour is not a human; it’s a white wine grape called Petite Amie, which...
TTB Approves Names of Midwest Varietals
Effective November 28, 2011, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved the names of certain varietals as requested by various breeders, vineyards and wineries in the Midwest. Under the TTB ruling,...
Luedke Winery in Minn. Closes
The Princeton Union Eagle reported today that the owners of one Minnesota’s first vineyards have closed their winery. Luedke Winery and Berry Farm closed this month, but the vineyard, which has been producing wine...
Researchers Receive $2.5 million for Cold Hardy Grape Project
New grape varieties can take more than 20 years to breed and evaluate, and much longer to reach commercial success. A $2.5 million grant will help a team of researchers from Nebraska to New...
John Marshall From the Vineyard
Editor’s note: This is the first of a series of columns by John Marshall of Great River Vineyard in Lake City, Minnesota This season, like every season it seems, has been very atypical. Spring...