Midwest wine industries have been experiencing growth in recent years. In Indiana, we have had a doubling in number of wineries, wine production, and winegrape acreage in the past 6 years. I found in your newsletter that Kansas had a 51% increase in wine sales from 1994 to 1995. Essentially all midwest and eastern states have experienced increases in wine sales production and sales. This trend has rekindled the search for winegrape cultivars which produce excellent wine and are consistently productive enough to be grown economically.
The previous activity in these industries was in the mid 70s and early 80s. Since that time, there have been a number of winegrape cultivars released by NY, MN, and Elmer Swenson in the US, and several released from breeding programs in Europe. Most of these have not been thoroughly tested by researchers, and few are grown on a commercial scale by growers.
Vine Planting Information
