Oklahoma vintners, wine lovers to benefit from Grape LOVE

STILLWATER — If it’s true, as Shakespeare suggested, that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, would the same logic hold true for grapes?

Is a grape just a grape, and would one be just as good to grow as some other with a goal of turning out a great wine?

Hardly.

That’s why, at Oklahoma State University, experts who have staked careers at the intersection of the science and business of grape growing have been busy lately establishing Grape LOVE – the Grape Library of Viticulture Extension. As it’s envisioned, it will be an invaluable resource for people, especially people in Oklahoma, who are interested in or already involved in growing grapes suited for producing fine wines.

According to Andrej Svyantek, an OSU Extension specialist in viticulture (the process of growing grapes) and enology (the study of wines), grape selection is one of the most important decisions any vineyard owner or operator might make.

“Grapevine cultivar selection at planting is one of the single most important decisions,” Svyantek said. “Selecting an appropriate cultivar that can thrive in Oklahoma requires accounting for disease pressure, climate obstacles, ripening time and final wine objectives.

“(Grape LOVE) will be the foundation for future grapevine cultivar recommendations for the Oklahoma viticulture and enology industry. This project is important because cultivars drive success for many grapevine growers and wineries.”

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry awarded more than $32,000 to the OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture for the project. According to a news release, the goal is for Grape LOVE to evaluate and disseminate information related to the performance of particular grapevine cultivars that will be useful to vintners.

The project will be the start of an expandable “grapevine library” to house materials from multiple U.S. breeding programs. It will advance studies of the potentials of particular cultivars for meeting viticulture challenges unique to the Sooner State.

“The diversity of Oklahoma growing regions and the increase in grapevine cultivar options demand a thorough assessment of cultivar choices to ensure proper recommendation can be made based on scientific observations,” Svyantek said.

As an example, he said spring frost – and especially late spring freezes – can present unique challenges for grape producers in Oklahoma. He said it is necessary to identify grapevine cultivars with acceptable midwinter, cold hardiness and delayed spring development for frost avoidance.

Through the Grape LOVE vineyard, researchers also will study cultivar susceptibility and resistance to other potential obstacles in Oklahoma, such as severe climate events, grapevine diseases and insect pests.

“For these reasons, grapevine cultivars will be purchased from breeding programs across the U.S.,” Svyantek said. “We have to figure out which ones can live in this environment, so people aren’t planting something that is non-adapted. It is a really big, uphill battle to plant something that doesn’t belong in certain environmental conditions, so we are just trying to see which doors are worth opening rather than everyone hitting a brick wall.”

It has been reported that some 52 wineries call Oklahoma home.

The Grape LOVE vineyard will serve as a resource for OSU students as well as growers through Extension efforts. A new cultivar page is to be included on the OSU Viticulture and Enology website.

In other grape research, Svyantek will focus on developing and extending knowledge about hybrid grapevine maceration, color extraction and sensory effects while also creating demonstration wines from novel, existing grapevines. The knowledge generated will allow members of the Oklahoma grape and wine industry to taste new cultivars before choosing to plant them and assess research scale fermentation treatments for how they alter the characteristics of Oklahoma’s adapted cultivars.