Clarion

A brand-new release from the University of Minnesota grape breeding program after 20 years of testing that supposedly makes great delicate and balanced white wine, so we’re looking forward to trying it for ourselves (there was a bit from VT in the fabulous 2024 P. strobus)!

Prarie Star

Prairie Star may be our least favorite name for a grape variety, but it makes some fabulous wine. It produces much more full body, rich white wines than what typically comes out of cool and cold climates.

Louise Swenson

An unfortunately light bodied, yet citrusy and beautifully aromatic hybrid variety that may not have star power but blends wonderfully—quite similar to Kerner or Welschriesling in many respects.

Muscaris

A muscat type hybrid from Germany selected for its disease resistance and hardiness. We don’t know a whole lot about it beyond it’s been used to make some well-regarded wines in Poland of all places, but anything muscat excites us!

Johanniter

Another German hybrid new to the US that’s supposed to make excellent alpine style white wines (with tasting notes similar to Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, etc.).

Aromella

A muscat type hybrid from Cornell that leans tropical thanks to its Traminette parent and tends towards grapefruity with earlier harvest & less skin contact. Unlike other muscat varieties, Aromella’s floral aromatics come out over time in the cellar rather than being notable in the fresh fruit, making it a fun surprise to work with. Our main grower in the finger lakes has some, but it ripens there before anything else and is loved by the birds, so it’s proven difficult to actually get our hands on the fruit, so we figured we should try growing it ourselves!

Aravelle

A long-awaited release from Cornell University—Aravelle is the result of a Riesling and Cayuga White cross in the 80s that’s supposedly got the best of both of its parents and then some, so we’re excited to see what we can do with it seeing as its parents are already two of our favorite grapes!

Chardonel (2027)

Known to produce quite similar, perhaps slightly fruitier wines to its Chardonnay parent, but with the benefits offered by native grape genes.

L’acadie Blanc (2027)

A citrus-y, super cold hardy variety growing in popularity in colder climates than ours. In our hotter, longer growing season it could easily end up flabby—a little bit of very low acid white wine can be very helpful for blending though since cool climate wines tend towards such high acidity levels. We’re also planting on a North-facing slope to artificailly shorten its growing season.

Itasca (2027)

Similar in purpose to the L’acadie, Itasca is a rare low acid cold climate white variety. It’s completely unremarkable on its own despite its potential to produce balanced wine, but makes a great blending component.

Sauvignier Gris (2028?)

Considered the gold standard of the European PiWi (fungal resistant hybrid) varieties, we’re first in line to get vines once it’s through its US import quarantine/analysis/treatment period in California. It produces similar-to-superior wines as Pinot Gris.

Furmint

With our cold winters and hot, humid summers, we naturally look to central/eastern Europe and the Balkans for what vinifera varieties do well. Furmint is one of our favorite white grapes. Only widely grown in Hungary where it’s most famously used for Tokaji dessert wines, we’ll be the first US planting we’re aware of. It makes super exciting dry white wines as well—think of it as Riesling’s edgier sibling.

Skrlet

To our knowledge, we’ll be the first domestic planting of this inland Croatian white grape variety that produces some excellent crispy, savory white wines.

Rkatsiteli

A Georgian variety best known for traditional qvevri amber wines, it’s got an exciting spice character to it, and luckily for us, seems to grow great in the Northeast!

Welschriesling

No relation to regular Riesling, it’s widely grown by its Germanic name in central Europe and by the name Grassevina in Croatia. We’re not aware of anyone growing it domestically though—probably because it’s not historically known to be as exciting as other alpine varieties. It blends well though and really shines with skin contact and in pet nats.

Kerner (2027 planting)

Appreciated by growers for being hardier and more disease resistant than most vinifera grapes, it’s typically compared to Riesling and overshadowed in reputation. Like Welschriesling and Louise Swenson, it has the potential to make excellent wine if utilized properly. We look forward to being one of the few plantings outside of Germany.

Ortega

Quite common in England, where we were introduced to this variety, but very rare to come across anywhere else (well there’s apparently some in BC too). Ortega is often described as muscat-like, and while it’s got vibrant aromatics like other muscat type grapes, we find it to be a bit more freshy fruity and less citrusy.

Garan Dmak

Again, we believe ourselves to be the first to plant this grape commercially in the US, having had to source clonal tissue directly from FPS at UC Davis (the official overseer of properly imported & quarantined/treated grapevines in the US). It’s a rare cool climate full bodied white variety native to Armenia that can make exceptional wines.

Auxerrois

Not particularly well known, in part because it’s so often blended with Pinot Blanc in Alsace that the varieties have been known to be confused for one another on occasion. The reason for often being found with Pinot Blanc rather than on its own is that while it’s a less exciting grape on its own, it excels where other cool climate grapes falter—it’s low in acidity and has more body, making it a great blending partner.

Petit Manseng (2027)

A not-super-well-known Franch/Basque grape, traditionally blended or made off dry because of its high acidity. Interestingly enough, pioneering producers in Virginia & Mid-Atlantic have shown that it holds up well for late harvest despite our humid climate, and can produce exceptionally complex and delicious wines. Small berries mean small yields but concentrated flavors—think of some of the best characteristics of Pinot Gris and Chardonnay with some extra spice and zest.

Alvarinho (2027)

You know it, you love it, and there’s reason to believe it’s pretty well suited to our climate from some great examples coming out of the mid-Atlantic. Known for crispy, mineral white wines in Portugal & Spain, it does better than many vinifera varieties in humidity because of loose clusters and thick skins. However, those thick skins are also known to mean low yields in the winery which means don’t expect much produced from these vines and high prices (we think it’ll be worth it though!)

Verona

A grape we’ve wanted to plant since the earliest iterations of our plan to start Marzae—a stunning new Minnesota bred red grape with a bit of a paradox: despite being one of the most cold-hardy varieties in existence, it doesn’t ripen in most cold climates! Our growing season is pretty much the shortest you can plant and reliably ripen Verona. It’s also a fascinating grape to work with—fresh it tastes like actual artificial grape candy, not like something that would make fine wine. It’s the inkiest grape we’ve ever encountered (yes, far more purple than the famed teinturier Saperavi) and has a deep balsamic-y depth while keeping fresh and fruity.

Crimson Pearl

Frankly, we don’t know a ton about crimson pearl (hence the small planting), in part because its release was overshadowed by its sibling petite pearl that offers the depth so many cool climate reds lack. Crimson pearl’s much lighter fruit on the other hand sounds like the makings of some great lighter reds & roses.

Petite Pearl

The most well-known grape from the same breeder as Verona, Crimson Pearl, and T.P. 1-1-12, petite pearl is often blended with Marquette to add additional depth of color and flavor, but also brings delightful black raspberry fruitiness to the party.

T.P. 1-1-12

A not quite fully released new red variety from the same breeder as Verona, Crimson Pearl, and Petite Pearl…this one’s kind of a shot in the dark but excited to see what it does!

Gamaret

We love Gamay, but it’s got an Achilles heel that makes it quite risky to grow in a cold climate—it buds very early, making it much more likely to fall victim to a late spring frost (maybe you’ve seen pictures of vineyards in Beaujolais with fires going amongst the vines at night in the spring?). Well, the Swiss (yeah, apparently, they grow some wine in Switzerland!) developed Gamaret as the answer for a hardier version of Gamay. Gamay is a full parent of Gamaret, and they share many similarities quality wise, but Gamaret has all of the desirable hardiness & disease resistance characteristics of hybrids! We’ve never actually tried wine made from Gamaret because it’s almost exclusively grown in Switzerland so are super excited to see what it does here.

T.P. 2-3-51 (2027)

A not quite fully released new red variety from the same breeder as Verona, Crimson Pearl, and Petite Pearl…this one’s kind of a shot in the dark but excited to see what it does!

Turan

A teinturier or red-fleshed grape from Hungary. Not widely planted outside of Hungary, we don’t really know what we’re going to be able to do with it but are excited to find out!

Saperavi

The Republic of Georgia’s famous red teinturier (or red fleshed) grape variety. It thrives in cool climates and produces much more balanced and structured red wines than most other cool climate red varieties, hence the growth of interest in the variety in the Finger Lakes and beyond. We do currently have a source of great quality fruit, but they’re both further away and more conventionally grown than we’d like so we’re hopeful of how Saperavi will perform on our site (its quality is very sensitive to terroir).

Pinot Meunier (Clone 01 & 06)

Most famously used in champaign, it can also make some exceptional varietal wines when grown well and treated right in the winery.

Corvina Veronese

A grape almost exclusively grown in northeastern Italy where it’s most famously made into a full-bodied wine with partially dried berries (which won’t be happening here thanks to our humid climate), it makes exciting tart, juicy wines not dis-similar from Gamay fresh.

Danakharuli

A lesser-known Georgian red grape variety that can make excellent wines bursting with juicy red fruit. We got this genetic material from FPS as well and believe it to be one of the first commercial plantings outside of Georgia period so can’t wait to see what it does!

Lagrein

A robust, sophisticated red variety sharing lineage with Syrah and Pinot Noir from the Dolomite region of Italy bordering Switzerland. Like Verona, it’s got a lot of potential in cooler climates but requires a long growing season and warmth during ripening relative to what’s found in many cool climates. It’s also apparently a bit finicky to grow and doesn’t always have great yields, helping explain why it’s not as widely grown despite the quality of wine it produces.

Feteasca Neagra (2027)

We didn’t get this ordered in time for 2026 planting, so it’ll be a year behind everything else, but we’re excited to give it a go. It comes from Romania where it’s known to be hardier and easier to grow than many vinifera varieties while producing balanced dark fruit & smokey spice oriented wines.