Kay Gray

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Kay Gray is a white wine variety . It is a new breed between ES 217 x unknown variety, as it blooms openly. The cross was made in 1965 by Elmer Swenson on his own farm near Osceola, Wisconsin . Kay Gray has been approved for cultivation since 1981.

It is an extremely complex breed in which genes from the wild grapes Vitis labrusca and Vitis riparia are present. The variety is named after Dick Gray, the former director of the Minnesota Freshwater Biological Institute and friend of Swenson. Kay Gray later went into the new breeds Louise Swenson and Brianna . The white wines are neutral and hardly exceed the level of a table wine.

Plantings of the early ripening variety are known in the American state of South Dakota ( viticulture in South Dakota ) and in Canada.

Elmer Swenson was looking for early maturing and hardy varieties suitable for the northern United States. Kay Gray is hardy down to −35 degrees Fahrenheit (−37 ° C) and can be exposed to even lower temperatures for a short time. The variety is susceptible to the fungal diseases of powdery mildew , downy mildew and black rot .

Noble vines normally have hermaphroditic flowers and are therefore self-fertilizers. Wild vines and most American vines are dioecious . They have plants with male or female flowers. A male and a female plant are therefore always required for fertilization. The same applies to the Kay Gray variety.

See also the articles Viticulture in the United States and Viticulture in Canada and the list of grape varieties .

Lineage ES 217 ( Minnesota 78 x Golden Muscat ) with open bloom. The father variety could be the old Onaka variety. A confirmation of this assumption is still pending.

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