Since we have room for about 40 vines, we decided to plant 8 vines each of 4 different varieties for wine, and 2 vines each of 4 different varieties of seedless table grapes. After researching what grapes would do well in our climate we settled on the following varieties:
 8 Leon Millot, a cold-hardy French hybrid wine grape |
 2 Canadice, a red seedless table grape |
 8 Frontenac, a dark blue wine grape released by the University of Minnesota in 1996 |
 2 Mars, a blue seedless table grape |
 8 Frontenac Gris, a gray-colored sport of Frontenac for white wine |
 2 Himrod, a white seedless table grape, good for making raisins |
 8 Marquette, a more recent (2006) introduction from the university of Minnesota |
 2 Reliance, a red seedless table grape |
June 1, 2011
Once the vineyard preparation was done, we planted the 40 grape vines that we ordered from Miller Nurseries (now Stark Bro’s) and Burpee Gardens. The photos below show how they looked shortly after planting. We pruned them back to have just 2 or 3 buds each and we’ll select the strongest shoots to train up as the main trunk of each vine. The whole area is now mulched in wood chips to help conserve moisture, and so far they haven’t needed any supplementary water.
