Wine Grape Cultivars for Illinois

Cultivar
Berry color
Yield
(lbs./acre)*
Remarks
Aurore White 6100 Weak growing vines
Baco Noir Blue 8100 Very vigorous canes; hardy; needs long pruning
Castel 19637 Blue 7550 Early season
Cayuga White White 8250 Very large clusters
Chambourcin Blue 8000  
Chelois Blue 14800 Full flavored; large berries
DeChaunac Blue 16300 Hardy vines
Foch Blue 11000 Tight clusters; excellent flavor; phylloxera resistant
Humbert Blue 8850 Phylloxera susceptible
Illinois 179-1 White 14100 Resistant to phylloxera; ladyfinger-shaped berries; promising cultivar
Joannes-Seyve 23-146 Red 10050 Long, large clusters
Landot 4511 Blue 9050 Berries loose in cluster
Leon Millot Blue 9300 Small, compact clusters; hardy
Ravat 34 White 8900 Loose clusters; mild flavor; midseason
Rosette Blue 14200 Variable yields; late; plants only semihardy
Rougeon Blue 13650 Late season; phylloxera susceptible
Seibel 13047 White 7050 Early; very susceptible to phylloxera
Seyval White 14800 Consistent crops; hardy; good flavor
Totmur White 4700 Early; small clusters
Ventura White 12100 Berries small; winey flavored
Verdelet White 5400 Plants weak at Urbana; good flavor
Vidal 245 White 7900 Long clusters; vines only semihardy
Vignoles White 9050 Early; few seeds; consistent
Villard Noir Blue 7550 Easy to pick; produces many unripe berries
Vincent Blue 3100 Large berries; good for juice

*Performance data from Urbana, IL trials. French hybrid performance data was collected starting in 1978 and finished in 1984. There were some very cold winters included especially 1981-82 when the unofficial low was -28°F. That was the year the 'Illini Hardy' seedling was selected. The data from the labruscanas started in 1977 and ended in l990. So, most of the french hybrid yield data was an average of 4, 5, or 6 years and the labruscana data (not all published) covers 12 or 13 years.



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