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Northern NY Agricultural Development Program Small Grants Project Report 2007-2008 Addenda

Cold Hardy Willsboro Wine Grape Cultivar Trial – Stage Three – Addendum

Project Leader:
Kevin Iungerman, CCE Northeast NY Commercial Fruit Program

Collaborator(s):

• Local grape growers
• Extension Associations of CCE’s NENY Commercial Fruit Program (Albany, Clinton, Essex, Saratoga, Washington Counties)
• Lake Champlain Grape Growers Association
• Michael H. Davis, farm manager, Cornell Willsboro E.V. Baker Farm, Willsboro
• Steven Lerch, Cornell Grape Program, Geneva, NY
• Dr. Tim Martinson, Cornell Statewide Viticulture Extension Program
• Ben Gavitt, Cornell Wine Analytical Lab, Geneva, NY
• Chris Gerling, Cornell Wine Analytical Lab, Geneva, NY

Cooperating Producers:

County	Producer	Farm/Vineyard	City/Town	State
Clinton	Phil Favreau	Stone House Vineyard	Mooers	NY
Clinton	Richard Lamoy	Lamoy Vineyard	Morrisonville	NY
Clinton	Rob McDowell	Purple Gate Vineyard	Plattsburgh	NY
Essex	William & Kathryn Reinhardt	Blue Stone Vineyards	Willsboro	NY
Essex	Peter Rowley	Edgewater Farm	Willsboro	NY
Essex	Libby Treadwell	Bessboro Farm	Westport	NY
Orange	Ed Lincoln	Maple Gate Farm	Randolph	VT
Windsor	Robert Stevens	BowVineyard	Weathersfield	VT

Background:
The Willsboro Wine Grape Trial is a unique, 300-vine vineyard planted in 2005 to comparatively evaluate 25-hybrid cold-hardy-wine-grape-cultivars, with the help of private and land-grant collaborators. It has also had the benefit of Cornell Extension support as well NYFVI and NNADP funding assistance since its inception.

Performance differences were extensive in the first year because of initial vine quality variability due to a number of reasons as previously described, and so, 2005 performance variability was not due to site or climate factors.

In 2006, growth performance and vine pruning and training practices largely leveled the initial differences of vine condition. Very small crop amounts were carried on healthy vines in 2006 to ensure fall vine acclimation going into winter (2006-2007). An exception was the nearly 33% mortality with Petite Amie vines which were received as marginal quality softwood cuttings. Cuttings were successfully propagated at the NYSAES, Geneva for replacement planting and these were planted in 2007 and should begin bearing appreciably in 2009.

The focus for 2007 was to allow the vines to become more fully established. Vines were minimally maintained, again, as previously described. Post-veraison tasting and brix readings, and periodic juice sampling helped familiarize staff and volunteers with relative maturity sequences, and this and maturation set the stage for more extensive cropping and also the making of the first finished wine in 2008. The small 2007 crop was utilized for purposes of identification and grower education and was divided up among our volunteers, a number of whom made wine which has been informally reviewed and tasted by the regulars assisting and participating in Willsboro’s working seminars.

The fall 2007 acclimation period was outstanding, superior to 2006. Unfortunately, the 2007 – 2008 winter was again mild — as they have been since the vines were planted. Contrary to expectations, virtually all of the grapes in the trial have done quite well to date and virtually all of the cultivars (except the replacements) have begun to produce. The basic plan for 2008 was to step-up viticulture care and exercise more rigorous pest management oversight to support increased cropping and first wine production. This was greatly enhanced by the seasonal assistant who was able to more closely coordinate and attend to the vineyard care and observational needs.

Methods – Request Tables from local Cornell Cooperative Extension:
Growing season data collection was enhanced in 2008 because of the 0.25 time seasonal assistant being on site. Richard Lamoy noted dates of bud break, cane growth stages, bloom, capfall, berry set, and veraision for each of the wine grape cultivars by individual vine. The results of which have been included Tables 1 and 2 accompanying this seasonal report. Through weekly and more frequent consultation with Kevin Iungerman, Lamoy monitored for insect and disease issues and applied pesticides according to the provisions of the NY-PA Pest Management Guidelines for Grapes. Lamoy also prepared juice samples and these were sent to Tim Martinson, of Cornell’s Statewide Viticulture Program, for analysis at the Geneva Experiment Station.

Over the course of the growing season, the tasks of vine tying, pruning, and training were largely carried out with Willsboro volunteer assistance in our “working seminars”. Lamoy also monitored maturity weekly providing the data foundation for our comparative phenology by cultivar (Table 1). Lamoy greatly aided maturity assessment from mid-August through the September and October harvests. Together, Lamoy and Iungerman coordinated the organization and direction of volunteers for our harvests on September 24, 26, and October 1, 4, 2008. All grapes were picked and weighed by individual vine, and transported the same or the next day to the Cornell Wine Lab. Summary information by cultivar can be found in Tables 1 and 2.

2008 Results:
The 2008 growing season was both cooler and wetter than the 2007 season, but vine condition was very good and late summer conditions were very favorable for berry maturation. The accompanying Table 1 provides comparative information regarding vigor, growth stage attainment, harvest dates, and projected yields on a per acre basis.

Vine Phenology information only hints at what may be the more optimal grapes of the trial because – at this time still – the vineyard is yet rather juvenal in character; harvest dates and brix (sugar) targets have yet to be characterized uniquely to the site, owing to the novelty of the planting to the region, the still unfolding climate and weather constraints, and also the quite human challenge of utilizing volunteer help for many endeavors, particularly the most critical: harvest. (Our volunteer colleagues have been immensely important not only to the work at hand but in helping to realize the learning potential of the endeavor overall.)

At the conclusion of the 2008 season, and upon reviewing information, despite earlier expectations, it is apparent that virtually all of the vines in the Willsboro Trial are likely capable of producing commercial quantities per se. Seventeen of the twenty-five cultivars (see Table 1) were projected as producing 5 tons or more of fruit. Cayuga White, Niagara, and NY 76.844.24 projections came in at 8.62, 8.28, and 8.78 tons per acre respectively. This being noted, it is important to emphasize that large crop loads do work against adequate or full maturation of both fruit and vines. Heavy crops mitigate the prospects for full maturation of fruit and wood.

The 2009 live node evaluation (Table 2) is beginning to turn up winter injury levels despite continuing mild conditions (historically). (A note: the spring frost pattern appears to be emerging as the greater cold threat to wine grapes in the region than absolute winter cold.)

Marquette was one vine that exhibited a more favorable brix profile together with a projected yield rate of 5.13 tons per acre (Table 1).

Most brix readings for the trial were on the low side across the board. Only seven cultivars had readings in the 20 to 22 brix range (Table 2); these grapes had projected production ranges of 4.3 to 6.2 tons per acre.

Canopy management techniques to reduce crop load via cane and/or cluster thinning, and further vegetation management techniques should help to boost brix readings and move outlier production levels — 3.33 T/A on the low side and 8.62 T/A on the high side as example — to more of a modal representation that would be capable of sustained production (say 5 to 7 tons per acre).

A strong caveat to above scenario is the continuance of relatively protracted autumns and mild winters as have occurred at Willsboro since 2005.

According to Dr. Bruce Bordelon of Purdue University, who has extensively examined hybrid grape production in the Midwest, production levels of 500 tons per acre and wholesale grape prices of $500 per ton mean that it will takes 23 years to recoup the investment and production costs associated with vineyard establishment! However, payback drops to 12 years at prices of $600 per ton, and to 9 years with prices of $700 per ton. However, prices can range 50% to 125% of these base rates depending upon sugar content. (“Business Planning and Economics of Midwestern Grape Production”, Bruce Bordelon, Extension Viticulture Specialist, Purdue University.)

The Willsboro site was carefully chosen over several proffered alternatives, and the process has to-date underscored the potential economic import of exercising due diligence in choosing vineyard location. Dr. Bordelon notes that unanticipated miss-steps can easily add $1000 per acre to vineyard establishment costs. For instance, each modification adapted to buffer a site’s shortcomings — soil amendments for pH, or fertility; tiling for drainage; plantings for windscreens; sprinklers and wind machines for perennially frosty sites; mismatching vines to trellis system or soil; failing to trial vines prior to large scale planting: etc. etc. — all add costs, many of which could be minimized through superior vineyard site selection.

Whether one grows for others, or for one’s own winery operation, these production and quality concerns impact saleable product, whether in sold hoppers of grapes or bottled wines. The 2008 Willsboro harvest marked the first time that grapes of some of what are believed to be the more promising of the Willsboro wine grapes, were selected, harvested, and transported to Geneva NY for controlled wine making by the Cornell Wine Lab. Extension enologist Chris Gerling and his staff handled the wine making part of this research.

Wines were made from five red grape cultivars (Marquette, MN 1200, Sabrevois, St. Croix, and Frontenac) and six whites (ES 6-16-30, LaCrescent, Petite Amie, NY 76.844.24, Prairie Star, and St. Pepin). These eleven wines from the 2008 Willsboro harvest (Table 3) indicate that quality wines are indeed possible to be had despite our non-traditional and colder production region. All of these Cornell Wine Lab wines were made in a “skeletal” dry fashion, according to Cornell enologist, Dr. Anna Katherine Mansfield.

The wines were not your more commercial products as such; rather, they were made to exhibit more baseline characteristics of the grapes involved. All were treated uniformly; indeed, though the EC1118 yeast was used generically as it typically ensures more reliable and complete fermentation, it also tends to dampen aromatic aspects of white wines, as the particular yeast is more typically used with red wines.

Despite this apparent limitation, it was the whites, which appeared to receive the more favorable reception at our two wine tasting and evaluation sessions, led by Dr. Mansfield and also Chris Gerling (both of the Cornell Wine Lab). Improved brix levels especially, but also expanded wine making techniques, and more selective yeasts, will further add commercial definition to these wines and blends. Willsboro volunteer participants have thoroughly pursued and enjoyed blending possibilities in the past and the challenge was informally picked up to good effect at the Slyboro session at Granville on June 3.

Conclusions/Outcomes/Impacts:
Commercial levels of wine grape production, and the making of quality commercial wines from these grapes, are quite attainable by agricultural entrepreneurs of the Upper Hudson and Champlain valleys of NY. Both horticultural skills development specific to viticulture and proficient enology practices will be required in a matched venture or market to permit this to be realized.

The demonstrable teaching task ahead for the Willsboro Wine Grape Trial is to enumerate practices now to further improve fruit quality by matching cropping loads to vigor, by narrowing upon optimal harvest windows, and in the wine making, to evaluate a range of other yeasts and commercial approaches that might add pizzazz to the wines and wine blends made from these and other cold hardy grapes.

In 2009, there will be stepped-up attention to canopy care with greater shoot positioning and light cane removal, and post-verasion cane shortening to better position grapes for sun exposure and better air circulation, to achieve on the one hand enhanced carbohydrate partitioning (sugar formation, acid reduction) and greater disease avoidance.

Four small wineries now exist in the NENYF program’s 5 county area. Collectively, most of their raw product is sourced out-of-area. Shifting to hardier wine grapes capable of fully ripening in our short season, and improving local winemaking expertise with these hardier grapes are the two underlying goals of this continuing grape project.

I fully expect that this Willsboro work will aid several “pre-commercial” persons who are now cooperating with the NENYF program to assertively move their own vineyard and winery ventures to ones of commercial level. Our results should also boost “native” output of our existing wineries. Together, these outcomes should double the NENYF program area wineries in the next several years.

Outreach:

• In 2008, Iungerman organized “working seminar” sessions with volunteers, assisted by Richard Lamoy (seasonal horticulture field assistant) and several members of the Lake Champlain Grapes Growers Association. The working sessions covered dormant pruning, vine training and tying, overviews of vine health (disease and insect issues), bird netting, and finally, maturity and the four harvest events. Participants were contacted via postings to the NENYF program cce-cold-country-viticulture-L site and via the Lake Champlain Grape Growers email list.

• Iungerman and Lerch also participated in a dormant pruning session with approximately 20 attendees at Phil Favreau’s Stonehouse Vineyard & Winery, at Mooers, NY on April 5, 2008.

• Iungerman and Tim Martinson organized the “Cold Climate Viticulture: Wines & Vines in the North Country.” meeting at Willsboro’s Noblewood Park on June 4, 2008. The workshop dealt with vineyard establishment issues, IPM, and also the Willsboro Trial and the wine grapes of the trial, and wine types that can be made. Speakers were Iungerman, Martinson, Chris Gerling, and Grape IPM Coordinator Tim Weigle. The Willsboro planting was visited as part of the day’s program, and was followed by a wine tasting at the vineyard. The wines were obtained from Chris Granstrom of Lincoln Peak Winery in VT because they were blends of several of the wine grapes growing in the trial, most notably the Marquette grape. Seventy-five persons were in attendance. On June 5, the program was repeated at the Jefferson County CCE office in Watertown and a visit to the Yellow Barn Winery.

• Iungerman organized the “Cornell Tree Fruit & Berry Program Work Team Tour of the Champlain Fruit Production Region.” over June 17 – 19. The Cornell Baker Farm, and the Willsboro Grape Trial were among the stops in the region that Iungerman arranged.

Next steps:
Work remains to further develop optimal cropping techniques and increased production performance. The next logical step is to consider approaches to managing vigor and how such measures might impact the different cultivars and especially their wines. Such work will support extension educational practices for new and experienced grape growers alike via demonstrable practices.

Cropping practices will be geared to enhancing grape sugar and acid formation as much as possible within the available light and temperature parameters of our northern latitude location.

Additionally, we would need to illustrate how differences of practice can impact wood maturity for these various wine grape cultivars, a growth stage that is critical to the vines winter acclimation potential.

Acknowledgments:
In closing, my thanks once again, to Steve Lerch, Cornell Grape Program, Geneva; Richard Lamoy, who was an exceptional seasonal colleague; Mike Davis and the Cornell Willsboro Baker Farm Staff; the Lake Champlain Grape Growers Association; Willsboro volunteers Rob McDowell, Phil Favreau, and a number of others – all of whom have assisted this year’s work at the Willsboro Trial. Thanks, too, to the growers and CCE Extension Associations of CCE’s NENY Commercial Fruit Program; CCE; and the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, who provided the funding support for the technical and seasonal assistance and the wine making effort at Cornell.

Reports and/or articles in which the results of this project have already been published.

* Standard And Hardier Cultivars Being Evaluated For Suitability, Willsboro NY Cold Hardy Wine Grape Trial: A Subset Of Hardier Vines. Cold Climate Viticulture: Wines and a Vines in the North Country, Willsboro and Watertown, NY, June 4, and 5, 2008.

* 2008 CCE Northeast NY Commercial Fruit Program Annual Report Success Stories: “Professional Outreach and Education for Commercial Fruit Producers”, “Developing Volunteer Skills at the Willsboro Cold-Hardy Wine-Grape Trial”, and “Willsboro Cold-Hardy Wine-Grape Trial Promising Wines”.

For More Information :

Kevin Iungerman, CCE Northeast NY Commercial Fruit Program, kai3@cornell.edu

NNY Agricultural Development Program Small Grants Project 2007-2008

Cold Hardy Willsboro Wine Grape Cultivar Trial – Stage Three

Project Leader:
Kevin Iungerman, CCE Northeast NY Commercial Fruit Program

Collaborator(s):

• Local grape growers
• Extension Associations of CCE’s NENY Commercial Fruit Program (Albany, Clinton, Essex, Saratoga, Washington Counties)
• Lake Champlain Grape Growers Association
• Michael H. Davis, farm manager, Cornell Willsboro E.V. Baker Farm, Willsboro
• Steven Lerch, Cornell Grape Program, Geneva, NY
• Dr. Tim Martinson, Cornell Statewide Viticulture Extension Program
• Ben Gavitt, Cornell Wine Analytical Lab, Geneva, NY

Introduction:
The Willsboro Wine Grape Trail – Stage Three will complete the work of the prior several seasons: planting and establishment, 2005; trellising, training and deer-deterrence fencing, 2006; juice sample characterization, 2007 (a prelude to finished wines in 2008). In each year, comparative annual hardiness and vine performance data has been collected.

The objective of these efforts was to supplant uninformed and disappointing trial and error approaches practiced by individuals, with an alternative research-based effort, which was capable of jump-starting vineyard and winery establishment in the region by engaging volunteer participants directly in the research effort.

The result has been the establishment of a unique, 300-vine vineyard, comprising 25 wine grape cultivars, each planted in 4 replications of 3 vine panels, and which is now on track to produce 10 varietal wines when full cropping is realized in 2008.

Overall, the trial represents a more profitable expenditure of entrepreneurial time, effort, and investment, which facilitate local vineyard and winery establishment that can foster unique marketing links with established tourist destinations, such as Lake Champlain.

Research activities:
A) Continuing evaluation of cultivar-specific winter hardiness, and spring vigor profile and growth resumption, as chronicled in 2006-2007. (Noting such things as dates and vigor of bud break, examples of secondary versus primary growth, instances of failed buds, cane and trunk die-back, or vine mortality, and dormant pruning weights.)

B) Continuing to note cultivar-specific, base line information regarding bud break, flowering, berry and cluster formation, and maturity and yield component indices (via limited berry sampling and development evaluation in August and September 2008)

C) A stepped-up maintenance of the research plot, as regards pest, and vine growth and condition monitoring, nutrition, shoot positioning and thinning, and cluster removal for balanced quality cropping, etc. to reflect the shift from a juice end-product in 2007 to finished wines in 2008. This change will be aided by hiring a 0.25 seasonal horticultural assistant based at the Baker Willsboro Farm.

D) Conducting the harvest of all of the variety trial grapes, characterizing juices once again, and preparing 10 varietal wines through the services of the Cornell Wine Lab. These finished wines will be available for examination, critique, and tasting at one or more public sessions organized for that purpose.

Education and Outreach Plan:
One or more “work-seminars” will be organized for each activity area above (A-D). Volunteer participants will have instruction and be able to participate in all envisioned activities. Volunteer participants will be coordinated between the Lake Champlain Grape Growers Association and the CCE Northeastern NY Commercial Fruit Program. Events are open to all interested individuals in NNY and regionally. Notices of events will be similarly jointly disseminated, and also via the Seaway Wine and Grape Association, and by other unaffiliated grape persons. Progressive and final results of field assessments and evaluations will be disseminated via these same means, and also via newsletters and releases of the Cornell Statewide Viticulture Extension Program.

Time frame:
Field activities envisioned for this project stage (as described) will begin following onset of the 2007-2008 dormant season (post December 2007) and be completed prior to the end of December 2008.

Cooperating Producers:

County	Producer	Farm/Vineyard	City/Town	State
Albany	Mike DiCrescenzo	Altamont Vineyard	Altamont	NY
Clinton	Phil Favreau	Stone House Vineyard	Mooers	NY
Clinton	Richard Lamoy	Lamoy Vineyard	Morrisonville	NY
Clinton	Rob McDowell	Purple Gate Vineyard	Plattsburgh	NY
Essex	William & Kathryn Reinhardt	Blue Stone Vineyards	Willsboro	NY
Essex	Libby Treadwell	Bessboro Farm	Westport	NY
Saratoga	Michael Spiak	Kayaderosseras Vineyard	Greenfield Center	NY
Washington	Paul Dallemagne	Mountain View Winery	Cambridge	NY
Washington	Kenneth Denberg	Natural Selection Farm	Cambridge	NY
Washington	Andrew Farmer	Slyboro Cidery, Hicks Orchard andNortheast Vine Supply	GranvillePoultney	NYVT
Orange	Ed Lincoln	Maple Gate Farm	Randolph	VT
Windsor	Robert Stevens	BowVineyard	Weathersfield	VT

Background:
The Willsboro Grape project succeeded in establishing a unique, 300-vine vineyard trial of 25 cold-hardy-wine-grape-cultivar prospects with the help of private and land-grant collaborators and also the NYFVI and Northern New York Agricultural Development Program small grants funding assistance.

Planted in 2005, vine performance differences were extensive in the first year, not because of site or climate factors, but because of initial vine variability. These differences arose as a result of challenging procurement issues: the uniqueness of the vines; the many varied nurseries providing vines; the different planting forms available (bare root, softwood cuttings, grafts, plugs) and their requisite multiple planting dates; and delayed order placement stemming from uncertainty surrounding funding support and the cooperative consultative process of establishing the trial.

Despite these initial obstacles, the trial was put in place in record-time (comparable to similar evaluative trials) and in 2006; growth performance and vine pruning and training practices largely leveled initial differences. Small amounts of crop were carried to ensure that overall vine acclimation would not be compromised going into the 2006-2007 dormant period. Retained crop was utilized for purposes of identification, and also grower education and tasting.

Overall, vines were in very good condition in late fall of 2006, and it was hoped that typical winter conditions would afford a fair comparison of winter acclimation and subsequent growth and survival performance going into the 2007 growing season. Such was not the case. In point of fact, winter climatic factors since our 2005 planting have not provided sufficient stresses to evoke distinct adaptive plant responses. Contrary to expectations, virtually all of the grapes in the trial did quite well and virtually all of the cultivars produced fruit.

In 2007, differences in crop load and quality were noted, and these will serve as a basis of comparison in 2008 when more selective pruning practices (cluster thinning, cane placement and removal) will be carried out on the by then mature vines. Beginning in mid-August, weekly tasting and brix readings were initiated, and periodic juice sample evaluations also. These practices helped to establish a relative maturity sequence, which sets the stage for full cropping and finished wines during 2008.

The fall 2007 acclimation period was outstanding, superior to 2006, and indeed this was the case across all of NY. Once more, it is hoped that rather extreme – but historically normal – winter temperatures will occur over the 2007-2008 dormant season. Otherwise, mild winters may markedly undermine one major purpose of this trial, namely establishing the relative cold hardiness merits of the different vines being evaluated for our regional conditions.

Methods:
At several points in the spring, information on dormancy, bud break, cane growth, and cluster growth were noted across the different cultivars using the Eichorn-Lorenz Growth Stages format as guides. Vine mortality, and incidence of blank versus live buds was noted.
These exercises provided an approximation of the relative mortality and overwintering outcomes for the different vines. Cane prunings weights were also collected on two replications in connection with dormant pruning, and this effort suggested their prior season vigor and growth as reflected by 2006 wood production.

Over the course of the growing season, these and all normal horticultural practices required to maintain the vines was carried out as follows:

• Eichorn-Lorenz Growth Stage evaluations: Iungerman
• basic vine tying, pruning, and training: researchers (i.e., Iungerman and Lerch) and volunteers
• cane pruning weights: Iungerman and Lerch
• vine health (pest, and growth condition monitoring, pesticide applications): Iungerman
• crop protection (bird netting): researchers and volunteers
• grape maturity progression from mid-August into early September (weekly evaluation of veraison and brix): Iungerman, local grower Will Reinhardt
• harvest of grapes: researchers and volunteers;
• grape berry samples: researchers and volunteers
• grape juice sample preparation and shipping: Iungerman;
• juice sample analysis: Ben Gavitt, Cornell Wine Analysis Lab
• recording of data and preliminary summary: Iungerman.

Results – Request tables from local Cornell Cooperative Extension:
The 2007 growing season did disclose comparative differences of harvest dates, field brix levels, yield, berry weights, and information about juice sample brix, ph, and titratable acidity values for most of the grapes in the trial. Because of costs, and coordination of volunteer labor, juice samples were not taken on all cultivars.

The information presented in the table is regarded as preliminary because final crop load management was not engaged in 2007, as full cropping was not intended, and relative harvest timing was still being worked out for the site. Both aspects are expected to impact final results overall when applied in 2008, Still, we can see that harvests began on September 8 and extended until September 29, and indications of Brix readings and fall conditions suggests some grapes could have hung longer. Yields, on the basis of 12 vines totals, suggest that productivity differences will be important, as they ranged from 15.6 to 186 kg. However, final grape quality, value for wine, and demand, will also play a final assessment role, particularly as more selective crop load management and maturity evaluation mediate results.

Conclusions/Outcomes/Impacts:
Though cumulative winters (2005-2006; 2006-2007) haven’t leveled the field as much as was hoped, we are filling-in much of the information void that existed previously about hardy hybrid grapes in this region. We are thereby moving from anecdotal lore to much more credible information as it is based upon side-by-side comparisons of many cultivars grown at a single site right here in this region.

What’s more, local and regional grape enthusiasts are not only learning about different grapes, they are learning more about vineyard management and wine making needs. Notably, the site and process are fully accessible. People are learning by seeing, doing, and tasting. A number of our volunteers – from Albany, Clinton, Essex, Saratoga, and Washington counties, and one person in Vermont – are conducting adjunct wine making trials with this season’s production run-up to the 2008-cropping year.

Serendipitously, in 2007, we seem to have hit upon a novel way for dramatically reducing conventional weed control measures in young vineyards, and having participants regularly on the spot went a long way toward convincing folks of its utility.

Our weed control regimen involved a combination of raised-bed and the use of plastic mulch at planting, and alley mowing and weed-whipping missed edges. In 2007, we choose instead to arrest vegetation between the mulch and the mowed alley via a single roundup application when the vegetation edge was approximately 7- 15 inches high. Subsequent alley mowing discharges aided in toppling the killed grass over on to the mulch; there, together with the mower clippings, this comprised a further plant-based mulch atop the plastic, and so shaded the plastic, screening it from exposure to ultraviolet light and photo-degradation. The end result is that the preplant plastic from 2005 was still functioning as an effective weed control through 2007, and likely will into 2008.

Outreach:
Regular volunteers, and also particular-event sequence visitors, participated throughout the season via the “working” seminars, when we tackled spring pruning and training, and later, shoot positioning, tying, and then crop evaluation and maturity onset, the pre-emptive application of bird netting for crop protection, and finally the series of berry sampling in connection with harvest characterization, juice sample preparation, and finally, the series of different cultivar harvests.

After weighing of crop, each harvest was divided among the volunteers, and seven cooperators planned to make wine from the grapes for a follow-up tasting and evaluation session to be announced early in 2008. In all, eleven group “working” seminar sessions were coordinated in support of both the trial and in support of viticulture skill development, and in generally responding to participant questions regarding the activity, or more broadly related questions. Thirteen cooperator volunteers formed the backbone for the “working seminars”, and another 18 persons attended and assisted at various times.

Separately, the Statewide Extension Viticulture Program inaugurated a series of telecom distance-learning sessions for winemaking in June and July of 2007. One successfully registered class was in Westport, Essex County, and it was nearly exclusively composed of volunteers with the Willsboro Wine Grape Trial. The information broadened the interest and support for allied educational and cooperative ventures.

Early in 2008, a follow-up planning meeting is envisioned to look ahead to 2008 needs and supportive programming, including education, demonstration, and vineyard and winery visits. We will also gather the “adjunct” wines and wine makers together for a review and taste of the 2007 season – and its winemaking legacy.

Next steps:
Next year we will shift to more rigorous crop and cluster care in anticipation of the finished wines to be made under the auspices of the Cornell Wine Lab. Minimally, the Wine Lab will make five finished wines. Additionally, as in 2007, but more extensively, local and regional wine makers will also make wine from the 2008 harvest. The project was been fortunate to have had the support of a half-dozen stalwart volunteers, particularly over the course of numerous weekend afternoons during the harvests of September and October 2007. We will work to continue this partnership.

All of the efforts as included in the “Measures” section above will be repeated in 2008, so that cumulative findings can provide base-line information profiles for the different cultivars over the course of this trial. This information will pertain to flowering onset, berry and cluster formation incidence, and maturity and yield component indices (via limited, sequenced weekly berry sampling and development evaluation in August and September). The hiring of an on-site, part-time seasonal assistant in 2008 will greatly enhance this task in 2008. It will also allow the project leader to expand and coordinate related on- and off-site learning activities supportive of further viticultural practices skill development.

All of this cumulative information will be available for correlation with degree-day and weather records, and contrasting observations on bud break and survival, vigor, and other measures.

Acknowledgments:
In closing, my thanks once again, to Steve Lerch, Cornell Grape Program, Geneva; Mike Davis and the Cornell Willsboro Baker Farm staff; the Lake Champlain Grape Growers Association; volunteers Richard LaMoy, Rob McDowell, Mike Spiak, and a number of others; and Anita Deming, CCE Essex County, who have assisted me in carrying out this year’s work at the Willsboro Trial. Thanks, too, to the growers and CCE Extension Associations of CCE’s NENY Commercial Fruit Program; CCE; and the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, who provided the funding support allowing this work to be undertaken.

Reports and/or articles
Iungerman’s report to the Cornell Recent Advances in Viticulture and Enology (CRAVE) Conference. 2007 Program Theme: “This is What I Do.” November 15, 2007, Cornell Cooperative Extension Ag Inservice, Ramada Inn, Ithaca, NY.

Ham Davis article in Adirondack Life, September 2007, about wine grapes in the Adirondacks, which included information on the Willsboro Trial.

NNY Agricultural Development Program 2006-2007 Project Report

Cold Hardy Willsboro Wine Grape Cultivar Trial – Stage Two

Project Leader:
Kevin Iungerman, CCE Northeast NY Commercial Fruit Program

Collaborator(s):
Cornell University E.V. Baker Agricultural Research Farm at Willsboro, NY
Grape Growers and Extension Associations of CCE’s NENY Commercial Fruit Program
The Lake Champlain Grape Growers Association
Steven Lerch, Cornell Grape Program, Geneva, NY
Ben Gavitt, Cornell Wine Analytical Lab, Geneva, NY

Cooperating Producers:
Albany County: Mike DiCrescenzo
Clinton County: Phil Favreau, Richard Lamoy, Rob McDowell
Essex County: William & Kathryn Reinhardt, Libby Treadwell
Orange County: Ed Lincoln
Saratoga County: Michael Spiak
Washington County: Kenneth Denberg, Andrew Farmer, Paul Dallemagne
Windsor County: Robert Stevens

Background:
The Willsboro Grape project succeeded in establishing a unique, 300-vine vineyard trial of 25 cold-hardy-wine-grape-cultivar prospects with the help of private and land-grant collaborators and also the NYFVI and NNADP funding assistance.

Planted in 2005, vine performance differences were extensive in the first year, not because of site or climate factors, but because of initial vine variability. These differences arose as a result of challenging procurement issues: the uniqueness of the vines; the many varied nurseries providing vines; the different planting forms available (bare root, softwood cuttings, grafts, plugs) and their requisite multiple planting dates; and delayed order placement stemming from uncertainty surrounding funding support and the cooperative consultative process of establishing the trial.

Despite these initial obstacles, the trial was put in place in record-time (comparable to similar evaluative trials) and in 2006; growth performance and vine pruning and training practices largely leveled initial differences.

Small amounts of crop were carried to ensure that overall vine acclimation would not be compromised going into the 2006-2007 dormant period. Retained crop was utilized for purposes of identification, and also grower education and tasting.

Overall, vines were in very good condition in late fall of 2006, and it was hoped that typical winter conditions would afford a fair comparison of winter acclimation and subsequent growth and survival performance going into the 2007 growing season. Such was not the case. In point of fact, winter climatic factors since our 2005 planting have not provided sufficient stresses to evoke distinct adaptive plant responses. Contrary to expectations, virtually all of the grapes in the trial did quite well and virtually all of the cultivars produced fruit.

In 2007, differences in crop load and quality were noted, and these will serve as a basis of comparison in 2008 when more selective pruning practices (cluster thinning, cane placement and removal) will be carried out on the by then mature vines. Beginning in mid-August, weekly tasting and brix readings were initiated, and periodic juice sample evaluations also. These practices helped to establish a relative maturity sequence, which sets the stage for full cropping and finished wines during 2008.

The fall 2007 acclimation period was outstanding, superior to 2006, and indeed this was the case across all of NY. Once more, it is hoped that rather extreme – but historically normal – winter temperatures will occur over the 2007-2008 dormant season. Otherwise, mild winters may markedly undermine one major purpose of this trial, namely establishing the relative cold hardiness merits of the different vines being evaluated for our regional conditions.

Methods:
At several points in the spring, information on dormancy, bud break, cane growth, and cluster growth were noted across the different cultivars using the Eichorn-Lorenz Growth Stages format as guides. Vine mortality, and incidence of blank versus live buds was noted. These exercises provided an approximation of the relative mortality and overwintering outcomes for the different vines. Cane prunings weights were also collected on two replications in connection with dormant pruning, and this effort suggested their prior season vigor and growth as reflected by 2006 wood production.

Over the course of the growing season, these and all normal horticultural practices required to maintain the vines was carried out as follows:

• Eichorn-Lorenz Growth Stage evaluations: Iungerman.
• Basic vine tying, pruning, and training: researchers (i.e. Iungerman and Lerch) and volunteers.
• Cane pruning weights: Iungerman and Lerch.
• Vine health (pest, and growth condition monitoring, pesticide applications):Iungerman. Crop protection (bird netting): Researchers and volunteers.
• Grape maturity progression from mid-August into early September (weekly evaluation of veraison and brix): Iungerman, local grower Will Reinhardt.
• Harvest of grapes: Researchers and volunteers.
• Grape berry samples: Researchers and volunteers.
• Grape juice sample preparation and shipping: Iungerman.
• Juice sample analysis: Ben Gavitt, Cornell Wine Analysis Lab.
• Recording of data and preliminary summary: Iungerman.

Results – Request tables from local Cornell Cooperative Extension:
The 2007 growing season did disclose comparative differences of harvest dates, field brix levels, yield, berry weights, and information about juice sample brix, ph, and titratable acidity values for most of the grapes in the trial. Because of costs, and coordination of volunteer labor, juice samples were not taken on all cultivars. (See the appended table: “Willsboro Wine Grape Trial – 2007. Preliminary Field Information”.)

The information presented in the table is regarded as preliminary because final crop load management was not engaged in 2007, as full cropping was not intended, and relative harvest timing was still being worked out for the site. Both aspects are expected to impact final results overall when applied in 2008, Still, we can see that harvests began on September 8 and extended until September 29, and indications of Brix readings and fall conditions suggests some grapes could have hung longer. Yields, on the basis of 12 vines totals, suggest that productivity differences will be important, as they ranged from 15.6 to 186 kg. However, final grape quality, value for wine, and demand, will also play a final assessment role, particularly as more selective crop load management and maturity evaluation mediate results.

Conclusions/Outcomes/Impacts:
Though cumulative winters (2005-2006; 2006-2007) haven’t leveled the field as much as was hoped, we are filling-in much of the information void that existed previously about hardy hybrid grapes in this region. We are thereby moving from anecdotal lore to much more credible information as it is based upon side-by-side comparisons of many cultivars grown at a single site right here in this region.

What’s more, local and regional grape enthusiasts are not only learning about different grapes, they are learning more about vineyard management and wine making needs. Notably, the site and process are fully accessible. People are learning by seeing, doing, and tasting. A number of our volunteers – from Albany, Clinton, Essex, Saratoga, and Washington counties, and one person in Vermont – are conducting adjunct wine making trials with this season’s production run- up to the 2008-cropping year.

Serendipitously, in 2007, we seem to have hit upon a novel way for dramatically reducing conventional weed control measures in young vineyards, and having participants regularly on the spot went a long way toward convincing folks of its utility.

Our weed control regimen involved a combination of raised-bed and the use of plastic mulch at planting, and alley mowing and weed-whipping missed edges. In 2007, we choose instead to arrest vegetation between the mulch and the mowed alley via a single roundup application when the vegetation edge was approximately 7- 15 inches high. Subsequent alley mowing discharges aided in toppling the killed grass over on to the mulch; there, together with the mower clippings, this comprised a further plant-based mulch atop the plastic, and so shaded the plastic, screening it from exposure to ultraviolet light and photo-degradation. The end result is that the preplant plastic from 2005 was still functioning as an effective weed control through 2007, and likely will into 2008.

Outreach:
Regular volunteers, and also particular-event sequence visitors, participated throughout the season via the “working” seminars, when we tackled spring pruning and training, and later, shoot positioning, tying, and then crop evaluation and maturity onset, the pre-emptive application of bird netting for crop protection, and finally the series of berry sampling in connection with harvest characterization, juice sample preparation, and finally, the series of different cultivar harvests.

After weighing of crop, each harvest was divided among the volunteers, and seven cooperators planned to make wine from the grapes for a follow-up tasting and evaluation session to be announced early in 2008. In all, eleven group “working” seminar sessions were coordinated in support of both the trial and in support of viticulture skill development, and in generally responding to participant questions regarding the activity, or more broadly related questions. Thirteen cooperator volunteers formed the backbone for the “working seminars”, and another 18 persons attended and assisted at various times.

Separately, the Statewide Extension Viticulture Program inaugurated a series of telecom distance-learning sessions for winemaking in June and July of 2007. One successfully registered class was in Westport, Essex County, and it was nearly exclusively composed of volunteers with the Willsboro Wine Grape Trial. The information broadened the interest and support for allied educational and cooperative ventures.

Early in 2008, a follow-up planning meeting is envisioned to look ahead to 2008 needs and supportive programming, including education, demonstration, and vineyard and winery visits. We will also gather the “adjunct” wines and wine makers together for a review and taste of the 2007 season – and its winemaking legacy.

Next steps:
Next year we will shift to more rigorous crop and cluster care in anticipation of the finished wines to be made under the auspices of the Cornell Wine Lab.

Minimally, the Wine Lab will make five finished wines. Additionally, as in 2007, but more extensively, local and regional wine makers will also make wine from the 2008 harvest.

The project was been fortunate to have had the support of a half-dozen stalwart volunteers, particularly over the course of numerous weekend afternoons during the harvests of September and October 2007. We will work to continue this partnership.

All of the efforts as included in the “Measures” section above will be repeated in 2008, so that cumulative findings can provide base-line information profiles for the different cultivars over the course of this trial. This information will pertain to flowering onset, berry and cluster formation incidence, and maturity and yield component indices (via limited, sequenced weekly berry sampling and development evaluation in August and September).

The hiring of an on-site, part- time seasonal assistant in 2008 will greatly enhance this task in 2008. It will also allow the project leader to expand and coordinate related on- and off-site learning activities supportive of further viticultural practices skill development.

All of this cumulative information will be available for correlation with degree-day and weather records, and contrasting observations on bud break and survival, vigor, and other measures.

Acknowledgments:
In closing, my thanks once again to Steve Lerch, Cornell Grape Program, Geneva; Mike Davis and the Cornell Willsboro Baker Farm Staff; the Lake Champlain Grape Growers Association, volunteers Richard LaMoy, Rob McDowell, Mike Spiak, and a number of others; and Anita Deming, CCE Essex County; who have assisted me in carrying out this year’s work at the Willsboro Trial. Thanks too, to the Growers and CCE Extension Associations of CCE’s NENY Commercial Fruit Program; CCE; and the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, who provided the funding support allowing this work to be undertaken.

Reports and/or articles in which the results of this project have already been published.
Iungerman report to Cornell Recent Advances in Viticulture and Enology Conference, 2007; Program Theme: “This is What I Do,” November 15, 2007, Cornell Cooperative Extension Ag Inservice, Ramada Inn, Ithaca, NY.

Ham Davis article in Adirondack Life, September 2007, about wine grapes in the Adirondacks, which included information on the Willsboro Trial.

For More Information:
Kevin Iungerman, CCE Northeast NY Commercial Fruit Program, kai3@cornell.edu

Northern NY Agricultural Development Program 2010 Project Report

Cold Hardy Hybrid Wine Grapes: Cropping, Vigor Management, Wines

Project Leader:
Kevin Iungerman, CCE Northeast NY Commercial Fruit Program

Collaborators:
Dr. Wayne Wilcox, Cornell University Department of Plant Pathology
Dr. Tim Martinson, Cornell University Statewide Viticulture Extension Program
Mike Davis, Cornell EV Baker Agricultural Research Farm Manager, Willsboro
Northern NY Cornell Cooperative Extension Associations
Northern NY Fruit Grower-Cooperators of CCE’s NENY Commercial Fruit Program

Cooperating Producers:
Albany County: Mike DiCrescenzo
Clinton County: Jim Doud, Phil Favreau, Dave Husband, Richard Lamoy, Rob McDowell, Leo Poirier, Ken Racette, Dan Vesco
Essex County: Will & Kathy Reinhardt, Josh Schwartzberg, Todd Trazaskos
Orange County: Ed Lincoln
Saratoga County: Mike Spiak
Washington County: Gerry Barnhart

Background:
The 2010 season represented the fifth growing year of the Willsboro Hybrid cold-hardy-wine-grape Trial, a 300-vine planting of 25 different cultivars. It has had the continuing support of private and also land-grant collaborators. Notable funding support has come from Cornell Cooperative Extension, the New York Farm Viability Institute (NYFVI), and especially the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP).

For the first three seasons, the vines were minimally maintained to ensure good growth and establishment, not cropping. By 2007 vine maturity and also pruning and training practices largely alleviated vine differences owing to previously cited procurement issues at planting. Cropping in 2006 and 2007 was minimal as the vines were still juvenile; only small token crops were carried for purposes of identification, for grower education, but primarily to foster fall acclimation and enhanced winter survival over 2006-2007 and 2007-2008.

Since planting in 2005, there has been a good deal of seasonal variability. The fall 2007 acclimation period was outstanding, superior to both 2006 and 2009. We had quite a remarkable heat unit accumulation and a historically early start in 2010. In contrast, 2009 had been a markedly cooler growing season than all of our seasons to date, and heat unit accumulation was unfavorable to realizing adequate sugar accumulation and also acid reduction in virtually all the varieties.

All of the winters to date have continued to be milder than historical norms, and contrary to expectations, all of the grapes have survived, and most – with a few notable exceptions covered later in this report – have carried considerable crops in 2008, 2009, and again in 2010.

First wine production from Willsboro’s grapes began in 2008 at the Cornell Wine Lab at the NYS Food Science Facilities in Geneva, NY. These efforts were targeted to a selected subset of the more promising grape varieties being screened at Willsboro.

In 2008, with the hiring of a part-time seasonal technician, we were able to begin a shift from the purely analytic and skeletal wines that had been made at Geneva in 2008, to a local wine making effort emphasizing a commercial end-product; this began in 2009, and expanded in 2010, largely because we were able to increase the technician support level from 0.25 to 0.5 time.

Apart from greatly aiding our vineyard management needs, and boosting early season phenology and harvest maturity data collection, the additional time allowed us to kick up our local wine making focus. Our technician, Richard Lamoy, ably complemented Kevin Iunerman’s overall Willsboro Wine Trial project design and management responsibilities, including annual grant writing and reporting in connection with fund raising to support the work.

In truth, the partnership with a seasonal technician essentially allows the work to continue; particularly as Iungerman’s Extension position technically allows just a 0.3 FTE effort for all commercial grape endeavors over the five counties of Cornell University Extension’s Northeast NY Fruit Program including the Willsboro grapes.

In 2009, half of our small number of Willsboro wines were being made in Clinton County by Lamoy, and half were being made at the Cornell Wine Lab; in 2010, all of the Willsboro wine grape harvest was directed to wine making efforts locally – with a twist. For both budget need and also outreach impact, we enlisted 10 local wine makers as cooperators for turning the 2010 harvest into a truly participatory learning experiment to see what small batches of commercial product might result apart from Project effort alone.

We have had several public wine tasting and evaluation sessions to date (in 2009, 2010) and will be conducting more extensive reviews in 2011 which will critically review our own and our cooperators’ wines. To support this effort, we have scheduled a wine making workshop and also wine sensory evaluation sessions in April 2011, at Kayaderosseras Crest, Greenfield Center, Saratoga County, a very young vineyard aspiring to make its own wines, and also to supply grapes to local commercial wineries.

These two Greenfield Center workshops, to be led by Cornell Enologists Anna Katherine Mansfield and Chris Gerling, are intended to transfer and enhance commercial grade wine making expertise and product analysis, as was a comparable single program in Peru, Clinton County, on March 11, 2011, which they conducted as part of Cornell’s outreach support to the growing vineyard and winery sectors in Northern NY.

Apart from Cornell Extension, these wine workshop efforts reflect an active collaboration with the Lake Champlain Wines Association (at Peru) and with the Upper Hudson Valley Wine and Grape Growers Association (for the scheduled Kayaderosseras event). They also will contribute substantially to founding a serious evaluation of local wine making. Early discussions have begun with interested parties for a winemakers roundtable that would periodically meet to taste, discuss, and critique product, with the goal of improving overall quality and in turn, winning consumer acceptance and market share.

To date, locally made Willsboro wines have been made from Marquette, MN 1200, Sabrevois, St. Croix, and Frontenac (reds) and ES 6-16-30, LaCrescent, Petite Amie, NY 76.844.24, Prairie Star, and St. Pepin (whites). In 2010, with the help of cooperators, we will have additional wines made from the WIllsboro grapes, including from Baco, Cayuga White, Edelweiss, Foch, Frontenac Gris, GR7, LaCross, Landot, Leon Millot, Louise Swenson, Niagara, Noiret, “Not Ravat”, and Vignoles. (See Table 3.)

2010 Results – Request tables from local Cornell Cooperative Extension office:
The MN and WI hybrids, and also a number of NY Hybrids, continue to do quite well in our Willsboro Trial; of the former, these include Frontenac, Frontenac Gris, LaCrescent, Louise Swenson, Petite Amie, St. Croix, Marquette, and MN 1200; of the latter group, NY 76.844.24, Noiret, Leon Millot, and Vignoles are holding their own. (See harvest information in Table 1 et. al.).

On the other hand, winter injury, and generally inadequate cropping and wood maturation, are causing declines and/or much under-ripe fruit in Landot (especially), and in the American varieties Cayuga and Niagara. (Again, see Table 1, and especially the live node information in Table 2.) These last three are likely to be removed from the planting in the near future; what has been surprising, is that these varieties have maintained themselves as well as they have; we did not think at our latitude in NY, and our short growing seasons would have allowed their survival at all. Niagara continues to bear substantial crops (if of very low brix), and some may wish to maintain this variety on warmer sites for blending purposes; preferentially, there are better-suited cultivars to our region.

A more extensive canopy management regimen was undertaken in 2010. This involved contrasting two approaches: cane thinning and then a combination of cane and cluster thinning. As you will see in Table 4, our efforts suggest that combined shoot and cluster thinning can increase cluster mass without necessarily reducing yield. An increase in cluster mass did occur in 20 of the 25 varieties as a result of the combined shoot and cluster thinning. Interestingly, the impact on overall yield in these instances was nearly evenly divided: In 12 instances there was reduced yield; with 9 there was an increase. The varieties whose clusters increased mass follow, with a notation of + or – to indicate yield change relative to shoot thinning alone:

Baco (-), Cayuga White (-), Foch (-), Frontenac (-), Frontenac Gris (-), LaCrescent (+), LaCrosse (-), Landot (-), Leon Millot (+), Louise Swenson (+), Marquette (+), MN 1200 (-), and Niagara (+), Noiret (+), NY 76 (+), Petite Amie (-) Prarie Star (-), Sabrevois (+), St Croix (-), and Vignoles (+).

Varieties that did not show an increase in cluster mass included Edelweiss, GR 7, ES 6-16- 30, Leon Millot, Louise Swenson, St. Pepin, and an “Unknown” in our planting; the latter we refer to “Not Ravat” owing to our discovery that what we thought was Ravat at planting, later produced grapes of the wrong color! (See Table 4 for more details.)

The number of vines between our two treatments differed substantially, by a ratio of 3:1, with 9 vines of each cultivar receiving shoot and cluster thinning and 3 vines receiving just the shoot thinning, so our results are based on small numbers (See Table 4 in the Appendix for all of the 2010 results.)

Going forward, it remains to be seen if we can replicate and even extend our results. We hope to measure berry quality characteristics more closely in 2011; we did not evaluate berry characteristics in the two treatments in 2010.

Though cluster numbers decline, it is thought that better berry maturity characteristics accompany the larger – though less frequent – clusters, providing enhanced price points to offset the somewhat depressed harvest volume; additionally, fewer and larger clusters facilitate more rapid and easier picking, which can tip things favorably through efficient and perhaps less costly harvest labor expenditures.

In 2009 we experienced troubling mammalian predation on a number of vines, which we subsequently attributed to the activities of raccoons and perhaps porcupines. Our perimeter 8-foot high woven wire deer fence (in place since the 2005 planting year) had solved the white tail incursions, and apparently, also the Baker Farm’s resident turkeys, but not our small climbing mammals! To hopefully rectify this flaw, we installed a portable seasonal two-strand electric perimeter just outside of the deer fence in 2010; it appears to have indeed solved the problem. The system is effectively powered by a solar charger, which we mounted on a westerly trellis end-post inside the vineyard.

We also shifted to a new bird netting in 2010, one which was easier to apply and less harsh on the hands. At our field meeting on August 24, aside from reviewing crop conditions, we also showed folks all of our new critter defensive initiatives and demonstrated our grape sprayer, which our technician Richard Lamoy fabricated last year, and which has handled things quite well.

As in 2009, the 2010 disease situation at the Willsboro Trial undoubtedly continued to be disappointing to Cornell Plant pathologist Wayne Wilcox – for all the right reasons! I provide this comment on the basis of Wayne’s assessment in 2009 and Tim Martinson’s walk through our vines at our August field day. From a pathology standpoint, there was little to see, and the vineyard continued with little disease (or insect) issues. This good situation is not due to an absence of pathogens and pests. Rather, it is close monitoring, and limited but well-timed pesticide applications – particularly fungicides -that continue to provide excellent vine health.

Our IPM program also had the benefit again of the “Grape Boom” sprayer, which Lamoy designed and fashioned from catalog parts and some structural welding in 2009. This was reported on in our year-end report last year, and we demonstrated the sprayer again at our August field meeting in 2010. Growers expressed interest in the sprayer, and one grower (in southern Washington County) independently contracted with Lamoy to purchase a replicate model for his own operation. As we have learned, it works very well for small vineyards.

Area grape producers have looked to the Willsboro IPM program as a model for their vineyard disease and insect situations, and have requested information not only on the sprayer, but also for our IPM record. You can see all of the details on our 2010 spray program, with its focused pests/diseases, the materials used, and the intervention timing in Table 5, which is appended to this report.

As to much of our vineyard operations, and for the wine making as noted, we continue to rely substantially upon our “cadre” of loyal volunteers each year, who aid our annual tasks of vine tying, pruning, and training; with bird netting and removal, with harvests, and with other seasonal tasks. These endeavors have formed the basis for our experiential “working seminars”, where we convey a good deal of instruction through “doing”; such side by side interaction also generates “in-process” discussion and practical horticultural skills transfer. Paralleling the wine making outreach results, our periodic field and formal sessions with Cornell Extension and College personnel, and experienced practitioners have buttressed the information flow to new practitioners in Northeastern NY.

2010 Conclusions/Outcomes/Impacts:

•The MN and WI hybrids continue to do quite well, these include Frontenac, Frontenac Gris, LaCrescent, Louise Swenson, Petite Amie, St. Croix, Marquette, and MN 1200; a number of NY Hybrids are also doing well and holding their own; these include NY 76.844.24, Noiret, Leon Millot, and Vignoles.

•A more extensive canopy management regimen, which contrasted cane thinning with a combination of cane and cluster thinning, did improve cluster mass in 19 of the 25 varieties. We hope to measure berry quality characteristics more closely in connection with this work in 2011

• In contrast to the abbreviated 2009 summer and wet, cool autumn, 2010 was unparalleled year for crop maturation – but the two years underscored the potential for great variability as climate shift plays out, and this still underscored the importance of a cultivar’s short- season maturation ability.

• Faced with insufficient funds to continue an extensive wine making program with Cornell’s Wine Lab, local wine makers indicated an interest in collaborating with the Fruit Program by sharing in the harvest and agreeing to make trial wines for group review. We expect this early effort may mature into an ongoing “producers” roundtable for learning and evaluating local wine quality.

•Close monitoring, and limited but well-timed pesticide applications, particularly fungicides, continue to result in excellent disease control. Area grape producers have looked to the Willsboro IPM program as a model for their operations.

2010 Outreach and Willsboro Volunteer Events:

Apr 3 Sat – The NENYF Grape Pruning Workshop, with the Upper Hudson Valley Wine and Grape Association, at Victory View Vineyard, Schatigcoke, WA County.

Apr 23, 24 (Sat) – The NENYFP Willsboro Grape Trial Dormant Pruning on the 23rd, and Pruning Instruction with volunteers on the 24th, Willsboro.

Apr 28 NENYF Videoconference grape season programming discussion with Dr. Tim Martinson, area grape growers and also members of the Upper Hudson Wine and Grape Association and the Lake Champlain Wine Association. (Links to Geneva Experiment Station, and CCE Associations of Saratoga and Clinton.)

May 22 Sat – Cooperated in the Lake Champlain Wine Association’s Planting Workshop, at Four Maples Vineyard, Champlain, Clinton County

Jne 29, 30 – The NENYFP “Using NEWA Weather Data for Apple and Grape Pest Management” Workshop at Clinton and Saratoga CCE Associations, respectively.

Jly 7 – NENYFP participation with other agriculture researchers, in providing brief summations of work in progress, Cornell Baker Farm Open House for area public and dignitaries.

Jly 17 Sat – Assisted with Richard Lamoy’s SARE Grower Grant Research Field Day at his Hid-In-Pines Vineyard, as the SARE Grant’s University contact, Morrisonville.

Aug 13 – Conducting Shoot and cluster thinning work at the Willsboro Grape Trial.

Sep 10 – Coordinated harvest timing and volunteer recruitment for the first Willsboro Harvest of 3 varieties.

Aug 24 – Willsboro Grape Field Meeting and Wine Tasting, Cornell Baker Farm and Wine Grape Trial with regional grape growers (VT, Upper Hudson region, Champlain, and St. Lawrence) and Tim Martinson of Cornell..

Sep 11 Sat – First large group harvest at Willsboro trial obtaining cluster counts and yield data on 7 varieties.

Sep 15 – Continued the Willsboro Harvest with cluster counts and yield data on St. Pepin.

Sep 18 Sat – Conduct the second group harvest at Willsboro, obtaining cluster counts and

yield data on an additional 7 varieties.

Sep 22 – Willsboro Harvest and cluster counts and yield data on NY 76.844.24.

Sep 25 Sat – The third and final group harvest of Willsboro trial, with volunteer help, obtaining cluster counts and yield data on last 6 varieties.

Next steps.
Economically, practical information and demonstrations will need to be stepped up, now that many small new vineyards are beginning to bear fruit. Of particular need are IPM practices, and a disciplined and instructive introduction to good enology practices peculiar to the grapes grown under local and regional conditons. Hand in glove, is the related need to improve viticulture practices of site and cultivar selection, vine training and trellis support, and crop management practices to balance vine and crop need in our typically short-season region.

Acknowledgments:
In closing, my thanks to Our Willsboro Volunteers, and once again, to Richard Lamoy who was an exceptional seasonal colleague; Mike Davis and the Cornell Willsboro Baker Farm Staff; the Willsboro volunteers. Thanks, too, to the Growers and CCE Extension Associations of CCE’s NENY Commercial Fruit Program; CCE; and the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, which provided the funding support for the seasonal assistance and thus our winemaking effort again at Hid-in-Pines Vineyard.

For More Information
Kevin Iungerman, CCE Northeast NY Commercial Fruit Program, kai3@cornell.edu

Northern NY Agricultural Development Program 2006 Project Report

Project Leader(s):
Mike Hunter and Sue Gwise, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County

Collaborator(s):
Bob Pool, Professor of Viticulture, Cornell University (now deceased)

Farmer participants:
Duane Smith, Evans Mills
Mike Stone, Rodman

Background:
Farmers in the North Country have been looking for alternative crops and interest has been expressed by many people concerning the production of cold hardy grapes in northern New York. Two growers have been successfully growing cold hardy grapes for over 4 years and propagating selected varieties. These varieties are now planted in vineyards in several locations throughout Jefferson County, Clinton County and in Essex and St. Lawrence Counties.

The recognition and development of grape growing as an agricultural enterprise in the North Country will have many beneficial effects, one of which is the development of value added products. This can only serve to increase farm income and tourism for northern New York.

Methods:
Weather stations were set up at the two sites listed above. Each grower has over 30 varieties of grapes in their vineyard. Data collection began on November 1, 2006. The weather stations are tracking low temperature and wind run. The growers will measure snow depth. These factors are important in determining what grape varieties will survive in northern New York.

Results:
Data from each weather station is forwarded to CCE of Jefferson County on a monthly basis. The data is then complied in charts and forwarded to grape growers and placed on the CCE Jefferson website. Currently, we only have data from the Rodman site. There were technical problems with the station in Evans Mills and it did not begin collecting data until January 1, 2007.

WEATHER STATION DATA
Rodman, NY
November 2006

DATE	LOW TEMP.1	AVG. TEMP.1	AVG. WIND RUN2	SNOW DEPTH3
11/1	32.1	40.4	0.76
11/2	28.2	35.4	0.98
11/3	29.8	34.5	1.04
11/4	30.1	33.9	0.61
11/5	31.8	37.3	1.23
11/6	39.8	46.1	0.93
11/7	46.1	48.8	1.37
11/8	46.2	51.5	0.46
11/9	45.2	51.3	1.21
11/10	33.8	41.5	0.62
11/11	33.7	44.9	1.00
11/12	33.7	35.3	0.81
11/13	36.5	42.8	0.15
11/14	42.2	45.8	0.77
11/15	41.1	44.3	0.21
11/16	51.2	59.0	0.91
11/17	38.9	45.2	2.09
11/18	31.8	36.7	0.40
11/19	30.6	31.6	0.55
11/20	27.8	30.2	0.61
11/21	25.3	31.3	0.35
11/22	21.2	31.2	0.23
11/23	22.7	33.8	0.18
11/24	23.9	33.3	0.29
11/25	24.8	45.3	0.93
11/26	45	49.5	0.96
11/27	45.3	50.6	0.62
11/28	38.9	45.5	0.41
11/29	49.1	55.5	2.32
11/30	38.3	56.0	2.38

WEATHER STATION DATA
Rodman, NY
October 2006

¹Temperature is measured in degrees Fahrenheit.

²Wind run is measurement of the “amount” of wind passing the station during a given period of time, expressed as “miles of wind”. Wind run is calculated by multiplying the average wind speed for each archive record by the archive interval.

³Snow depth is measured in inches.

Conclusions/Outcomes/Impacts:
This project will continue until the last frost date in the spring when all grape vines at the project sites will be assessed as living or dead. This information will then be complied and made available to growers. The project will begin again next fall.

With the data that is gathered, growers will be able to determine what varieties of grapes to plant based on their survivability in northern New York. Growers will not have to waste resources planting varieties that will not survive our cold winters.

Outreach:
Growers are contacted via email as new data is posted on the CCE Jefferson website. After the vines are assessed in the spring, we will put together a reference sheet for growers listing what varieties survived and what temperatures they withstood. This will be printed for distribution and will be posted on the CCE Jefferson website. The Seaway Wine and Viticulture Association is very interested in the results of this study as per the article in Country Folks by Kara Lynn Dunn: Bring on the Cold! North Country Growers Tracking Winter Hardiness of Grapes (text follows, reprinted with permission from Country Folks):

How low will temperatures go this winter? Data from two new North Country weather stations installed in early October at Rodman and Evans Mills with Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) funding – will help North Country grape growers evaluate the winter hardiness of their favored fruit.

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County Horticulture Educator Sue Gwise says the NNYADP project will track temperature, winds, snowfall and humidity and correlate data with a spring 2007 assessment of how well different varieties of grapes have weathered the North Country winter. The varieties have been planted for different purposes – for red and white winemaking, juice production and harvest as table grapes. Gwise says, “The growers have planted varieties that are expected to do well in cold climates. Some are able to survive temperatures of thirty degrees below Fahrenheit.”

At Otter Creek Winery set to open in spring 2007 as “Jefferson County’s newest winery” in Philadelphia, NY, Rick Hafemann says, “I have seen temperatures than 50 degrees below zero and difference in temperatures from the top to the bottom of the hill here. Some of our varieties are producing beyond my expectations in spite of the weather, while some varieties that will not grow here are thriving in Clayton.”

Hafemann, who calls Northern New York “the biggest growth area in the state for grape plantings and wine tourism,” says the grape boom in the 1000 Islands Seaway area represents hope for the future of his family farm. He says, “My wife and I were going to be the last generation on the farm before our son Kyle became excited about building the winery.”

Although the Hafemanns have their own weather station, they are interested in seeing the data from the two NNYADP-funded stations and from other growers’ stations. The data will help drive their variety choices as they add one acre of new grapes each year.

Near the St. Lawrence River in Clayton, Bill and Sarah Bourquin have concentrated on tending their 2,800 vines of cold hardy grapes for sale to the regional winemakers. Due to full-time job commitments and time constraints, they have used only a vineyard thermometer to track temperatures. Bill says, “For us, having the weather stations through the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program will definitely provide good data for the different areas in the region and will help us assess winter damage and future variety options based on the temperature and other data.” #

Next steps:
Continued monitoring of winter vineyard temperatures for the life of the weather stations.

For More Information:
Sue Gwise, Horticultural Educator
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County
315-788-8450