2008 Chateau Z Virtual Vineyard
Variety	pH	TA (%)	Brix (ref.)	date	NOTES	PHOTOS
Baco Noir	3.30	0.99	19.4	8/16/2008	Blended the early Baco Noir & Landot Noir before analysis.  Oops!
					Once again, Baco proved very thin skinned bird food.
Lucie Kuhlmann	3.22	0.87	24.0	8/16/2008	Early-ripening and dependable.  Much loved by the birds and bees
					but it is tougher than Baco Noir so hangs better.  Clusters not so tight
					as Foch so it admit sprays better.
Foch	3.26	0.9	21.0	8/16/2008	Goes very well with Lucie's pepperiness, above.  Early and closely timed
					with Lucie.  Tight clusters help keep the birds from getting their beaks
					around the berries, but cracking inside the clusters can be a problem.
					This may be from grape berry moth which seems to set it off.
America	3.27	0.69	20.6	8/16/2008	Moderate fruit set and peculiar America flavor.  A real disease buster!
					Extremely vigorous and only moderately fruitful.
Mericadel	3.28	0.66	20.0	8/16/2008	Much toned down aroma from America.  Clusters are similar to Delaware
					with somewhat larger berries.  Club end clusters like America.
Munson = Jaeger 70	3.11	1.23	18.7	8/16/2008	100% native.  A real weed in growth.  Can load up on fruit if pollinated
					well.  Peculiar in flavor like America.  More disease buster than America!
Wayne (PI588125 “Wine King”)	3.05	0.7	20.8	8/16/2008	Not Wine King as described in previous years.  VERY attractive
					to critters, especially in this drought year.  Has potent, non-Welchy fruitiness
					compared to many, but much toned down from America.  Harvested
					a bit early due to critters.
Chasselas Dore'	2.95	1.16	16.4	8/16/2008	Translucent green-yellow table grape of France.  Truly Sweetwater.
	3.59	0.51	15.8	8/25/2008	Goes to slightly acidic sugar with little flavor when ripe.  Great for	1	2
					combining with natives to ameliorate and retain their flavor.   Does
					as well as other vinifera common in VA.
Elvira	2.88	1.68	16.5	8/16/2008	Picked early just as it started to crack.  Amazingly dependable in
					its cracking!  Nice flavor, though.  Try Bell, Rommel or Wapanuka instead.
Amber	3.01	0.63	17.6	8/16/2008	Probably Minnesota Red Amber.  Scrawny vines with yellow leaves
					early.  May not like the soil here.  Tasty, mildly Welchy fruit, though.
Ravat 34	3.12	0.69	19.4	8/16/2008	A beautiful early white wine grape.  Big clusters of translucent pink-
	3.34	0.9	20.4	9/1/2008	white berries are properly compact.  Seems OK on diseases.
Cayuga	3.22	1.05	17.5	8/16/2008	23.5# off one vine on 10' of trellis!  Grows well, produces well, good
					disease resistance, pH goes up fast when ripe while Brix plateaus.
Aurore	3.21	0.69	19.0	8/16/2008	Like Baco Noir in thin-skinned-ness.  Tight clusters can start to crack if
					rain falls at harvest.  Still a beautiful thing to behold.
Romulus	2.81	0.96	18.2	8/16/2008	Shelled again as harvest approached.  Sold most at market - the people
					like it.  Tasty and later than its sisters if it would hang.
Reliance	2.90	0.6	18.7	8/16/2008	Explodes on cue almost as badly as Elvira.  I usually end up picking it
					when only half colored, but the people at the market still buy it up.
					It has a lovely grapefruit aroma at that stage.  Huge clusters, too.
Himrod	3.02	0.59	17.3	8/16/2008	Another huge cluster monster.  I cluster pruned some this year by taking
					off the main part of some clusters leaving the wings.  This worked pretty well.
					Quite a nice grape that does pretty well in our heat and humidity given
					it is half Thompson seedless.  This may be the tetraploid version.
Wiscoig	3.02	1.44	20.7	8/16/2008	David Johnson's ES2-4-7 X V. coignetiae named this year.  A female
					breeder with lots of promise for early reds.  Tasty blue fruit flavor and
					beautiful, well-formed clusters like Landot Noir.  Still a bit acidic, but that
					could be tamed in one cross.
Lindley	3.13	0.4	18.0	8/16/2008	Edward Rogers' masterpiece.  Female, big berries on medium clusters.
					Needs a good pollinator nearby.  Gorgeous, spicy, light Welchy flavor.
Gaertner	3.23	0.49	18.2	8/16/2008	Like Lindley but with bigger berries, somewhat pulpier, and with thicker
					skins.  With Lindley it proves the power of Chasselas to transform our
					native grapes through hybridization.  Somewhat more Welchy than Lindley
					and more typical labruscana in texture.
Pocklington	3.21	0.55	18.2	8/16/2008	One of my favorites.  An old self of Concord quite a bit like Diamond, but
					with more pulp-netting inside and a bit more intense Welchiness.	1
Diamond	3.25	0.56	16.8	8/25/2008	A standard old-line variety for a reason.  Healthy like Pocklington with
					easier to eat fruit having a bit less Welchiness.  Makes large crops of very	1
					pretty clusters shaped like Concord (as does Pocklington).
Delaware	3.10	0.63	20.0	8/25/2008	A slow grower.  It should probably be grafted on a vigorous rootstock
					like 3309, riparia or Clinton.  I love these little clusters of translucent	1	2	3	4
					red pearls.  I have to watch eating so many that I "lose my grip!"
Dutchess	2.98	0.69	19.9	8/25/2008	First fruit this year.  Looks like little translucent white berries in big
					clusters.  Very mild flavor.  Nice vines so far.	1
Alice	3.23	0.69	20.2	8/25/2008	This is supposed to be a Martha self.  Vine does look like Concord.  Very
					sweet and Welchy medium-sized, pink berries.  Probably would make a	1
					superb pink-Catawba style wine with no added sugar.
Cabernet Franc	3.25	0.79	19.0	8/25/2008	snore.	1
Merlot	3.32	0.72	19.7	8/25/2008	a bit earlier snore.	1
Alden	3.36	0.48	16.3	8/25/2008	Alden turns purple and sits there for a month.  A fairly low-sugar table
	3.27	0.56	14.7	9/5/2008	grape for those on low-sugar diets.  The low acidity makes it taste sweet
	3.42	0.57	13.6	9/8/2008	along with its pronounced muscat aroma.  Crispy and yummy with seeds!
NY Muscat	3.31	0.42	21.5	8/25/2008	A slow grower like Delaware that would probably benefit from grafting
					onto something vigorous, too.  Some day I'd like to make a pure varietal
					wine from it.  Its muscat aroma is equalled only by Jupiter in my vineyard.
Buffalo	3.25	0.57	21.4	8/25/2008	Superb!  Soooo much better than Concord. Delcious, mulipurpose.
					Muscatty.
Rayon d'Or	3.15	1.02	21.0	8/25/2008	Roots from pencil-lead diameter cuttings!  Much like its daughter Seyval,
					possibly with a bit more fruitiness.  Seems to crack worse than Seyval,	1
					too.
Traminette	2.91	1.12	19.8	8/25/2008	Grows wood and leaves like crazy but only moderate crop loads.  This
					is a weird vine for being half Gewurztraminer.  Tasty grapes, but what a	1
					jungle.  Got phomopsis pretty badly this year, too.
Chasselas Musque	3.74	0.57	16.1	8/25/2008	AKA Muscat of Alexandria.  Like Chasselas with bigger round berries
					and a hint of muscat aroma.  Seems to hybridize well with Natives.	1
					As healthy as other common vinifera in VA.  A delicious table grape.
Chardonnay	3.22	0.75	18.4	8/25/2008	double snore
Pinot Gris (primary clusters)	3.21	0.76	22.0	8/25/2008	Early and extremely compact clusters that miraculously did not crack	1
secondary clusters	3.11	0.71	20.7	9/25/2008	this and last year.  Great chemistry, but still needs the spray loaded on.
Gewurztraminer	3.28	0.69	20.3	8/25/2008	Also lovely in chemistry with well formed and properly compact clusters.
					Distinct muscat aroma, lots of tendrils.	1
Chardonel	3.00	1.04	19.3	9/1/2008	This thing took the drought very hard.  Only half-filled the trellis.  Definitely
					requires grafting.  Probably the phylloxera hit it so hard the roots didn't
					have enough area left to support the vines in drought.  My vines are not
					grafted on purpose. (So I can tell you about the results!)
Vivant	3.02	1.02	20.8	9/1/2008	Also a bit weak in the drought, but filled the trellis.  Not as disease
					resistant as hoped, but it makes some really nice wine.	1
SV 12-303	3.02	1.26	16.1	9/1/2008	Just a couple clusters this year.  Pulpy, but picked too early to really tell.
Vignoles	3.11	1.36	21.4	9/1/2008	See previous years of the virtual vineyard for notes.
SV 23-512	3.26	0.78	20.6	9/1/2008	Fast becoming one of my favorites.  Vigorous and highly productive.
					Neutral in flavor, medium berries in loose clusters.  So far so good on
					diseases.  Overall a very good white wine grape.
Seyval Blanc	3.11	0.87	21.0	9/1/2008	Did well again even when let to hang a bit long.  Not too shredded by the
	3.40	0.75	20.8	9/16/2008	critters, birds and hornets even though pressure was extreme.
Esprit	3.17	0.93	18.4	9/1/2008	This is a cool grape.  Big pounder clusters have med-big berries in
					moderately loose configuration.  Vines are extremely vigorous and
					hardly noticed the drought.  Good, solid wine is not Welchy.
Clinton	3.08	1.3	25.4	9/1/2008	A few clusters this year.  Much like Bacchus.  Needs to hang much longer.
Mars	3.18	0.69	18.2	9/5/2008	Mars, like Alden can hang for what seems forever if the critters don't
	3.13	0.51	15.9	9/8/2008	get it first!  Faint Concord-like flavor and seedless.  Very vigorous with
	3.49	0.4	18.0	10/16/2008	big leaves.  Quite a nice grape that is dependably productive.
XLNTA	3.15	0.87	18.9	9/5/2008	Munson's 'excellenta."  Weird flavor but interesting.  So far fruit set has
					been pretty bad, but the vines are young.  Very dark berries and juice.
Bokay	3.02	0.93	18.4	9/5/2008	Finally a crop this year and lots of flowers for breeding.  This grape has
					huge, long clusters of medium white berries with a pleasant frutiness.
					Mid-south growers should make use of it.
Ives	3.20	0.75	17.6	9/5/2008	The black, stinky wine, hybrid fox grape.  Makes stupendous jelly!
Golden Muscat	3.04	0.45	17.0	9/5/2008	Golden Muscat has kind of fallen apart this and last year.  I should probably
					get it picked when the TA goes below .75%, after which it cracks some and
					the aroma gets strong, attracting the hornets.  Berries browned and fell off
					late in the season this year.  Very tasty, though, and quite useful.
Pierelle	3.25	0.9	17.6	9/5/2008	An excellent light muscat table grape.  Great in wine, too.  Makes copious
					shoots from basal buds so it may need to be cane pruned to keep it under
					control and shoot thinning to a minimum.  Ellipsoidal berries.
Landot Noir	3.38	0.78	22.0	9/5/2008	Excellent red wine grape.  Hangs well, minimal disease.  Going into
					the 2008 "Lynchburger"
Oberlin 595	3.45	1.12	26.7	9/5/2008	The drought made the berries 0.25" or less in diameter this year.  The
					wine was black and resinous.  A stunning compliment to my Kuhlmanns.
					Very vigorous vines as usual. Good crop with no cluster thinning needed.
DeChaunac	3.13	0.98	22.4	9/5/2008	Picked too early, but located in my driest row, the vines were starting to
					suffer.  Some day I'll let it hang to pH=3.45!	1
Veeblanc	3.12	0.85	16.2	9/8/2008	A very nice, vigorous, large clustered/berry vine.  Has a novel tropical
					fruit flavor.  Wine came out neutral but a bit sulfury, possibly from weak
					yeast or too much time on the lees.  With some CuSO4 it shows promise.
					(2011 note: the wine did clean up beautifully and was a really good semi-dry.)
Steuben	3.10	0.57	16.7	9/8/2008	See previous years of the virtual vineyard for notes.  Fantastic grape.
Dattier St. Vallier	3.10	0.74	14.1	9/8/2008	Tried grafting 4 of 5 over to Wayne.  Only one took.  Will try again
					this year.  Too thin skinned to take the hornets.  Lousy Brix, too.  Cracks.
BR-13	3.00	1.18	21.7	9/23/2008	I thought this was BR-7 but genetic testing at Geneva shows it to be McGrew's
					BR-13 (http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1012137)
					Wichita refuge (V. rupestris) x Mtzvani (V. vinifera)	1
					My most upright vine.  Small clusters are tasty and should ripen to good
					wine chemistry.  Female - excellent for further breeding work.  Gets Downy.
					Great pic at: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1012081
Alphonse de Serres	3.54	1.5	21.5	9/23/2008	A superb rupestris selection for breeding (female).  Fine flavor is not wild
					at all.  Well formed, small-medium clusters of 3/8" berries.  Very dark color.	1
Norton	3.40	0.94	20.5	9/25/2008	Dig that high acidity at that pH!  I blended the destemmed fruit with
					30% Villard Blanc and Shazam - el perfecto chemico!  Norton could
					color 80% Villard Blanc dark red, so think about the possibilities!
Favorite	3.15	1.29	20.0	9/25/2008	Picked too early due to drought.  A full crop load and healthy vines, though.
Villard Noir	3.26	0.93	19.0	9/25/2008	ditto
Lenoir	3.28	1.3	21.6	9/25/2008	Big, full clusters and lots of them.  This should be much more widely
	3.42	1.2	22.2	10/8/2008	planted in the SE than it is.  A really nice red wine grape.
Herbemont	2.85	1.17	18.2	9/25/2008	Somehow the Herbemont just couldn't keep from cracking after the drought
	3.00	0.96	16.8	10/8/2008	breaking hurricane rain.  It fell apart pretty spectacularly.  We'll try again
					in 2009.
St. Vincent	3.11	1.06	18.9	9/25/2008	The birds mess with this too much before it can ripen.  The berries are
					quite large and the pine warblers love to peck on them.  Thin skinned
					compared to Chambourcin.
Croton	3.37	0.56	25.6	9/25/2008	An old line cross of Delaware X Chasselas.  Really stunning, translucent
					white fruit.  Gorgeous flavor.  Should probably be grafted.  Will be using
					this heavily in breeding in 2009.
Rebecca	3.78	0.21	17.4	9/25/2008	Dig that acidity!  This is what labrusca blood can do.  A fairly Welchy and
					small grape, but this was my first fruit on it.
Villard Blanc	3.19	0.76	20.6	9/25/2008	I missed my window due to a market commitment and lost a LOT of
	3.26	0.93	21.6	10/6/2008	VB fruit to the same brown fruit disorder that hit the Golden Muscat.  It
					seemed more like an abortive development than a rot, but I don't know.
					Maybe it was just ripe rot.
Chambourcin	3.19	0.93	20.7	9/25/2008	What a trouper.  Drought or not, crop just the same.  WHY do SE and
	3.37	1.02	22.2	10/8/2008	Mid-Atlantic growers insist on vinifera reds when they could grow this and
					make far superior wines given the same effort?
Rougeon	3.36	0.81	20.0	9/25/2008	My coloring agent for the Rosette.  Too many buds grow on old wood
					like the Pierelle so it probably needs cane pruned.  Better chemistry than
					Colobel, but earlier.
Rosette	3.20	0.86	21.0	9/25/2008	Continues to be dependable and a solid cropper.  Nice chemistry.  Came off
					early due to critter action.
04-8-48	2.73	4.12	20.4	9/30/2008	RipCord.  Wild.  Nice 'n' sour with mild cordaroma.
04-7-28	2.77	2.7	23.5	9/30/2008	a bit less sour but similar to 04-8-48	1	2
04-7-64	2.94	2.1	36.3	9/30/2008	…and even less sour.  This one changes leaf color first of all in the vineyard.
Zehnder (FL1521 X Diamond Muscat) X O.P.	3.18	1.31	23.9	9/30/2008	Will let hang later as the vine matures.
04-8-43	2.75	4.5	21.2	9/30/2008	another RipCord	1
04-7-43	3.22	1.35	24.4	9/30/2008	…and another - great chemistry for a pure native hybrid between two very.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
					sour species.	8	9	10	11	12
Foxy Vixen	3.01	1.23	20.8	9/30/2008	My wild labrusca X cordifolia.  Excellent “low” acidity compared to
					cordifolia. (see next)	1	2	3
Wagon Trail cordifolia	2.80	6.15	20.4	9/30/2008	My favorite selection from across the road from our house.  Super tart!	1
Roucaneuf	3.15	0.74	17.3	10/6/2008	Some fruit stopped developing due to drought and I dropped it.  The
					remainder was pretty well arrested in development.
Colobel	3.28	1.08	17.2	10/8/2008	Very late and very tough skinned.  Low Brix, but the wine is literally black.
					Very bird and critter resistant.  An excellent Chambourcin compliment.
					I hope to improve its chemistry some by breeding.
Vidal Blanc	3.66	0.78	25.7	10/16/2008	Picked a bit late, but the fruit was still in good condition.  Vines may be
					declining already from phylloxera.  Too much vinifera in this one.
wild V. aestivalis blend	3.06	2.35	20.2	10/16/2008	All my aestivalis fruit blended for wine.  It came out quite good.
03-2-1	3.37	1.44	25.8	10/16/2008	Acidity stays high, but fruit is intact.  Will try to let hang even longer in 2009.
					cordifolia X Chambourcin, self-fertile
04-3-2	3.34	1.47	23.9	10/16/2008	Aurore X cordifolia, female.  A smashing breeder.
04-4-44	3.27	2.02	25.0	10/16/2008	Seyval X cordifolia, female.  Also a smashing breeder.
Black Beauty Muscadine	3.36	0.75	17.2	10/22/2008	Jerry Blankenship's favorite black muscadine.  What a gem.
03-1-1	3.08	1.62	28.7	10/25/2008	cordifolia X Cabernet Sauvignon, female.  Small, straggly clusters.
03-1-2	2.80	2.26	25.9	11/4/2008	cordifolia X Cabernet Sauvignon, self-fertile.  Lots of foliar phylloxera.
03-1-3	3.29	1.64	25.6	11/4/2008	cordifolia X Cabernet Sauvignon, self-fertile.  Still small & loose clusters.
IL760-2	3.00	2.17	25.8	11/4/2008	Barrett's cinerea X Villard Blanc.  Loose, very tough skins.			1	2	3
03-2-3	3.18	1.68	24.0	11/4/2008	cordifolia X Chambourcin, self-fertile, very pretty grape.  Much like the 03-2-1
					but a bit later ripening and berries have more bloom.
04-7-53	3.43	1.65	23.6	11/4/2008	RipCord, female
04-7-59	3.71	1.35	24.7	11/4/2008	RipCord, female, dwarf.  Very low acidity for a pure native hybrid
Polk heavy bloom riparia	3.32	2.62	24.4	11/4/2008	Nice Ohio riparia
IL892-1	3.07	2.1	21.0	11/4/2008	Barrett's cinerea X Villard Noir.  Bigger berries than the IL760-2 but similar
					otherwise.
Ambers 07-30					Fink-Brower middle aestivalis X Diamond	1
Dr. Good					Nice seedless white	1
Zehnder 86-30-1 X OP					first fruit in small clusters of small-medium berries with fruity flavor	1	2	3
Zehnder (FL1521 X Diamond Muscat) X OP						1	2	3	4
Wiggins Spring V. labrusca					wild labrusca	1
Wiggins Spring V. labrusca X Lakemont					hybrid labruscana	1
vinifera fruit						1
Villard BlancX Il Primo						1	2	3	4
Teddy's quarter-20 (04-6)					Polk swamp riparia X Millot	1	2
Panther Falls Rd tannic aestivalis						1	2	3	4	5	6
Panther Falls Rd tannic aestivalis X Pocklington						1
Panther Falls Rd tannic aestivalis X Catawba						1	2	3	4
Lindley X Villard Blanc						1	2
High Peak Upper aestivalis						1	2	3	4	5	6
High Peak Upper aestivalis seedling #5						1
Grants Hollow Upper aestivalis						1	2
Delicatessen					graft	1
Cabin V. bicolor						1	2	3	4	5	6	7
						8	9	10	11	12	13
Barrett's B47 V. cinerea						1	2	3	4
Barrett's B27 V. cinerea						1	2
Ambers 05-54					Wiggins Spring labrusca X Vivant	1