Viticulture in Minnesota

Minnesota
Official name:	State of Minnesota
Appellation type:	State
Year of establishment:	1858
Country:	United States
Sub-regions:	Alexandria Lakes AVA
Recognized cultivation area:	225,365 km² (87,014 sq mi )
Grape varieties:	Baco Noir , Chambourcin , Chardonnay , Concord , Delaware , Edelweiss , Frontenac , Frontenac Gris , Geisenheim, Gewürztraminer , King of the North , La Crescent , La Crosse , Léon Millot , Malbec , Maréchal Foch , Prairie Star , Riesling , Sabrevois , Seyval Blanc , St. Croix , St. Pepin , Valiant , Vidal Blanc , Vignoles
Number of wineries:	20th

Viticulture in Minnesota refers to viticulture in the American state of Minnesota . Under U.S. law, every state and county is a protected designation of origin and does not need to be recognized as such by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives .

Minnesota has a continental climate . The winters, with temperatures well below zero degrees Celsius, are more polar, Minnesota is the coldest state after Alaska. The summers, on the other hand, are hot and humid, especially in the south of the state. Cold air inrushes and blizzards can occur throughout winter . The annual mean temperature is two to eight degrees Celsius.

Due to the adverse circumstances and the short growing season, there is a significant proportion of French hybrid vines and autochthonous descendants of American wild vines. After the harvest, the soil between the rows of vines is sometimes pressed against the vines to protect the vines during the month of November. This is how you form hills around 40 centimeters high and 50 centimeters wide that protect the vine from excessive frost.

The vine breeder Elmer Swenson worked for a long time on the breeding of new, hardy vines, including Edelweiss and St. Croix . At the University of Minnesota , the state 's grapevine breeding institute, where Bluebell and later part of Swenson's grape varieties originated, increased efforts have been made to breed extremely hardy grape varieties since the 1980s. Recently, Frontenac , Frontenac Gris , La Crescent and Marquette varieties have been launched.

See also

• Viticulture in the United States

literature

• André Dominé (Ed.): Wine . Tandem Verlag, Königswinter 2007, ISBN 978-3-8331-4344-1 .
• Bruce Cass, Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Companion to the Wine of North America . Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2000, ISBN 0-19-860114-X .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Appellation America (2008). Minnesota: Appellation Description . Last access to this page on December 25, 2012