Frontenac (grape)

Frontenac is a red grape variety. It was crossed in 1989 by Peter Hemstad, Jim Luby and PR Pierquet from the varieties Vitis riparia clone 89 x Landot 4511. Hemstad, Pierquet and Luby are employees of the University of Minnesota, at the earlier Elmer Swenson worked. Since 1996, the variety for commercial cultivation is released. It was named after the grape variety of the community Frontenac.

The Rebzüchter selected with the clone 89 grape Vitis riparia the U.S. from a very hardy variety, which they crossed (also called Landot Noir ) with the French hybrid vine Landot 4511. During the testing phase, the variety was the breeding line number MN 1047th

Frontenac is one of the varieties Marquette, Frontenac Gris and La Crescent to now four varieties of the University of Minnesota, which are used in cold climate viticulture of the U.S. Northeast and Canada. In contrast to the other three varieties, the variety Frontenac is not patented.

Plantings are in the U.S. states of Wisconsin (viticulture in Wisconsin ), New Hampshire (viticulture in New Hampshire), New York (viticulture in New York ), Illinois (viticulture in Illinois), Connecticut (viticulture in Connecticut ), Iowa (viticulture in Iowa ), Montana (viticulture in Montana), South Dakota ( Viticulture in South Dakota), Vermont (viticulture in Vermont), Missouri ( known winegrowing in Missouri) and Minnesota ( Viticulture in Minnesota). In Canada, you will find the variety in Quebec. Even in cold Weinbauklimata developed the variety high must weights of up to 25 degrees Brix, which corresponds to about 100 degrees Oechsle. In warm years, this figure increased to 28 degrees Brix. The alcohol-rich wines are rich in acid and should undergo a malolactic fermentation to reduce aggressive malic acid.

The staff of the university were looking for earlier maturing and hardy varieties that are suitable for the northern United States. Frontenac is to at least -30 degrees Fahrenheit ( - 35 degrees Celsius ) hardy. Since the roots are less hardy, the variety should be protected by a sufficiently high snow cover on the ground.

See also the article viticulture and winemaking in Canada in the United States and the list of grape varieties.