North Dakota names its first 2 state-bred grapes, a major step for the wine industry

FARGO — Researchers have named North Dakota’s first state-created grapes, marking a major step for the wine industry.

North Dakota State University told The Forum last week that it released for commercial use two white grape cultivars, or a crop produced through selective breeding, in April. They have named the two types of grapes Radiant and Dakota Primus, the university said.

“Having these two introductions is our start to what I always call the super cold hardy grapes,” said Harlen Hatterman-Valenti, a high-value crops specialist and assistant head of the plant sciences department at NDSU. “From the testing that we’ve had throughout North Dakota, these two have fared really well for the environmental conditions that our growers are facing.”

As the director of the NDSU Grape Germplasm Enhancement Project, Hatterman-Valenti oversaw the experiments that led to the creation of Radiant and Dakota Primus. The two grapes underwent nearly 15 years of field evaluation at various sites, the university said.

The two grape crosses — two grape varieties from the same vine species crossbred to make a new variety — were made at NDSU in Fargo and grown at the university’s North Central Research Extension Center in Minot, Hatterman-Valenti said. Radiant was crossed in 2009 and Dakota Primus in 2011, according to NDSU.

Grape crosses were grown in various locations across the state to test how they would do in different areas, not just in Fargo, she said.

“There are grape growers throughout North Dakota, and they’re not all just concentrated here and around the Fargo area,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that this is a statewide adaptable grape.”

Cold hardy grapes have been bred in other parts of the U.S., but it is hard to produce those grapes developed in other states consistently in North Dakota, Hatterman-Valenti said. That makes having a winery difficult if one doesn’t know they will have enough fruit to make wine every year, she added.

Radiant and Dakota Primus stand up to cold winters better than other cold hardy grapes, she said.

“The improved winter hardiness of both cultivars may reduce the risk of winterkill to growers, a factor that has limited grape production in North Dakota,” NDSU said in a statement.

The North Dakota Grape and Wine Association and the Winery Association of North Dakota submitted a number of names for the grapes. NDSU Agricultural Affairs Vice President Greg Lardy chose the two names.

The university has to consider several factors before naming the grapes, including marketing, name recognition and relationship to the program, Lardy said. It also had to make sure a name is available and has not been used to identify another grape, he said.

“Dakota Primus refers to the first grape variety developed by our program, and Radiant is a name that describes something that is ‘shining brightly,’” Lardy said. “We felt this description was a nice way to refer to this variety.”

Wineries will get to choose how their wine tastes — sweet versus dry — if they use the grapes, Hatterman-Valenti said. Radiant flows as a white grape, she said.

Don’t expect to fill your cup with these new varieties soon, Horsley said. Vineyards will need about two years to get their first grapes, and the best crop won’t come until at least three years after the vines are planted, he said.

Even then, there isn’t a guarantee that the grapes will work for growers and make wine customers like, he said.

“It’s very possible that when they get to the test, they’ll find out that these grapes don’t work for them,” he said. “We hope they do like them.”

It’s not unusual for a crop tested by researchers to not work for farmers, he said, adding he doesn’t want people to set their expectations too high.

“It is exciting, but that next step is to really figure out, will this work for our winemakers in the state, and then if it does, how much of it can they use,” he said. “Time will tell.”

Still, it is amazing to have produced cold hardy grapes that North Dakota can call its own, Hatterman-Valenti said. Some grape crosses aren’t ready for release to the public for 15 or even 20 years, she said.

“To start from ground zero and to be able to have this in the amount of time that we did, I think it just shows the dedication and hard work of the people who are working with me,” she said in thanking her technician and the grad students who have devoted their time and energy to the endeavor.

NDSU would like to release a red grape that is suitable for commercial use next, the university said. When asked about when North Dakota could see its first cold hardy red grape, Horsley said the university doesn’t talk about experimental crops until they are ready for public release.

“We’re testing hundreds of new experimental’s every year in different crops, and very few of those ever get released,” he said.

April Baumgarten joined The Forum in February 2019 as an investigative reporter. She grew up on a ranch 10 miles southeast of Belfield, N.D., where her family raises Hereford cattle. She double majored in communications and history/political science at the University of Jamestown, N.D.