Frontenac (grape variety)
Frontenac is a red wine variety . It was crossed in 1989 by Peter Hemstad, Jim Luby and PR Pierquet from the grape varieties Vitis riparia clone 89 x Landot 4511. Hemstad, Pierquet and Luby are employees of the University of Minnesota , where Elmer Swenson previously worked. The variety has been approved for commercial cultivation since 1996. The grape variety was named after the municipality of Frontenac .
The Rebzüchter selected with the clone 89 of the American grape Vitis riparia from a very hardy variety that they (also with the French hybrid vine Landot 4511 landot noir called) crossed . During the trial phase, the variety had the breeding line number MN 1047.
With the grape varieties Marquette , Frontenac Gris and La Crescent , Frontenac is now one of four varieties from the University of Minnesota that are used in the cold wine-growing climate of the US Northeast and Canada. In contrast to the other three varieties, the Frontenac variety is not patented.
Plantations are in the American 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 ( viticulture in Missouri ) and Minnesota ( viticulture in Minnesota ). In Canada , the variety is found near Quebec. Even in cold wine-growing climates, the variety develops high must weights of up to 25 degrees Brix , which corresponds to around 100 degrees Oechsle . In warm years this value increases to up to 28 degrees Brix. The alcohol-rich wines are rich in acid and should deplete the aggressive malic acid a malolactic fermentation through.
University staff were looking for early maturing and hardy varieties suitable for the northern United States. Frontenac is hardy to at least −30 degrees Fahrenheit (-35 degrees Celsius). Since the roots are less hardy, the variety should be protected by a sufficiently high layer of snow on the ground.
See also the articles Viticulture in Canada and Viticulture in the United States and the list of grape varieties .