Rist Canyon Vineyard consists of a varietal trial containing 50 different grape cultivars being evaluated for their winter hardiness and adaptability to short growing seasons. Varieties are being constantly evaluated and replaced when they are found incompatible with the growing conditions. I generally evaluate each variety for a minimum of three years before deciding whether they should be replaced.
The vineyard is located at 7250 ft. in the Colorado Foothills. The average degree-growing days is 2000 (base 50F) with an average frost free growing season of 135-140 days. This presents a marginal area for growing grapes and hardening them off for winter but the perfect area for selecting short season varieties with winter hardiness. Temperatures have gone as low as -21F in the past 15 years. These cold winters have been rare since I planted the vineyard.
Drought and relatively mild winters have predominated the growing environment since the varietal trial was begun. Springtime late frosts and early fall frost have become more the problem to growing grapes than the winters. Each year presents new demands on the varietal trial and I am constantly learning from the growing conditions.
Ft. Collins Temp
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Neron (a Kuhlmann hybrid) at harvest time in early September, 2003. Hardy, vigorous, productive, with larger clusters and berries than either Foch or Millot.
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