Grapes in Wisconsin

Bob - I haven't done much of a study, really -- I mostly just like to visit wineries. :-) A lot of them buy grapes from other places (e.g., California) as well as growing some locally, and they aren't always eager to tell you which is which. I guess I think the whites tend to be a little nicer than the reds, as far as what is grown locally. I believe there is some actual Riesling grown, along with Seyval and probably a few others I can't remember. The reds mostly are French-Americal hybrids (Foch and Leon Millot, most often) which are OK but not especially interesting, IMHO. So far I haven't seen as much interest in the newer, Elmer Swenson cold-hardy varieties among the Wisconsin wineries as there is among the Minnesota wineries. Elmer was a Wisconsinite, after all. Perhaps the MN wineries are just that much further north, on average, and Minnesotans tend to feel they are just a little south of the Arctic Circle; it's part of our collective idenbreasty, I think. Completely bogus, geographically. Minneapolis is almost exactly half-way between the equator and the North Pole, but in the middle of January, you'd find it hard to believe . . .

Doug