The Northern Grapes Project was funded in 2011 by the USDA NIFA Specialty Crops Research Initiative. The emergence of cold hardy, Vitis riparia-based wine grape cultivars in the 1990s created a new and rapidly-expanding industry of small vineyard and winery enterprises (over 300 wineries, 5,900 acres of grapes, 1300 growers) in more than 12 states in New England, northern New York, and the Upper Midwest, boosting rural economies in those regions.
While the North American ancestry of these cultivars confers exceptional climatic adaptation (surviving as low as -40°C) and disease resistance, other challenges to production, processing, and marketing slow their successful commercialization in regional and national markets. Because their growth habit and fruit composition differ from traditional, cold-tender V. vinifera-based hybrids, new viticultural and enological practices are needed. Marketing tools are also required to educate consumers unfamiliar with the grapes and the wine styles they produce. Consequently, the long-term viability of these new businesses depends on coordinated research and extension to optimize viticultural, enological (winemaking), business management, and marketing practices.
To meet the needs articulated by industry stakeholders, the Northern Grapes Project used a holistic systems approach, integrating production, distribution and processing, and consumers and markets. Objectives targeting optimized viticultural practice, genomic characterization, cultivar evaluation, enological characterization, optimized wine production, marketing strategies, agritourism, and product familiarity and preference were designed to elucidate and build on the relationships between these focus areas.
Ultimately, this research has helped producers overcome production and marketing constraints and increase the profitability and sustainability of emerging cold climate grape and wine industries in the Midwest and Northeast.
The Northern Grapes Project Owner’s Manual covers the results of the research conducted.
- Chapter 1: The Vines
- Chapter 2: The Vineyard
- Chapter 3: The Winery
- Chapter 4: The Consumers and Markets
- References
Sponsors
We thank the following businesses and organizations for their support!
The Northern Grapes Project is funded by the USDA’s Specialty Crops Research Initiative Program of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, Project #2011-51181-30850
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Contact Us
The Northern Grapes Project was funded 2011-2016 by the USDA NIFA Specialty Crops Research Initiative. For information about this project, please email Tim Martinson at tem2@cornell.edu. The Northern Grapes Project concluded in August 2016. The original website is available here.
Accessibility
This project has archived in an accessible format, and is available at Cornell eCommons at https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/103801.