Crop Yield, Grape Quality, and Winter Injury of Eight Wine Grape Cultivars in Northern Virginia

Abstract

‘Chardonnay #4,’ ‘Gruner Veltliner #1,’ ‘Malvasia bianca #3,’ ‘Muscat Ottonel #1,’ ‘Petit Manseng,’ ‘Viognier,’ ‘Vidal and Chardonel’ were evaluated at Winchester, Virginia for components of crop yield, fruit chemistry, and dormant bud cold hardiness over eight crop seasons. ‘Chardonnay’ and ‘Vidal’ represented "standards" for comparison in that they were grown commercially and successfully in Virginia; we lacked experience with the others. All cultivars were trained to bi-lateral cordons and spur-pruned. The novel cultivars all possessed mid-winter, dormant bud cold hardiness superior to that of ‘Chardonnay.’ Highest crop yields were attained with ‘Vidal’ (11.0 kg/vine) and ‘Gruner Veltliner’ (10.4 kg/vine); lowest with ‘Muscat Ottonel’ (5.1 kg/vine) and ‘Viognier’ (5.1 kg/vine). High sugar accumulating cultivars were ‘Chardonel’ (23.4 °Brix), ‘Petit Manseng’ (27.6 °Brix), and ‘Viognier’ (23.2 °Brix), where as ‘Malvasia bianca’ and ‘Muscat Ottonel’ were harvested at relatively low soluble solids concentration but pronounced fruit aromas. Ungrafted ‘Chardonel’ suffered vine loss due to phylloxera. With the exception of ‘Gruner Veltliner,’ all cultivars warranted general recommendation in the established grape production regions of Virginia. ‘Gruner Veltliner’ was susceptible to increased fruit rot severity, but was otherwise viti culturally acceptable.