Growing Grapes in WV - West Virginia Department of Agriculture

Growing Grapes inWest VirginiaGrapes are grown in West Virginia in small-scale commercial andbackyard plantings. The increased interest in grapes for table and wineproduction has led to increased research and cultivar selection by theDivision of Plant and Soil Sciences of the West Virginia University DavisCollege of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Science. With carefulplanning and management, grapes can be grown in West Virginia forhome or profitable commercial use.Types of GrapesThere are several hundredwidely different cultivars of grapesgrown in the United States. Thecultivars are grouped into fourtypes: (1) European (Vitis vinifera),(2) American (Vitis labrusca and itsderivatives), (3) Muscadine (Vitisrotundifolia) and (4) French hybrids,crosses of V. vinifera cultivars withdisease-resistant wild Americanspecies.The European grape has beendifficult to grow in West Virginiabecause it is very susceptible tocold injury and requires long, warmsummers for proper fruit maturation.Disease and insect susceptibilityare also serious problems withV. vinifera types. With proper siteselection and training systems toallow recovery from winter damage,European grapes can be grownin some areas of West Virginia.Wineries prefer vinefera grapes forwine production and will often pay apremium price for them.-1-The American grape typified bythe cultivar Concord is winter hardyand disease resistant. Americangrapes are the most commonlygrown grapes east of the RockyMountains. Many new cultivars ofexcellent seedless table grapes,very different from Concord, havebeen developed.Muscadine grapes are mostcommonly grown in the southbecause they are only hardy whereotemperatures rarely fall below 10 Fo(-12 C). Few places in West Virginiameet this requirement. The fruitand culture of Muscadine grapes isdifferent from other grapes and willnot be covered in this paper.French hybrids are usuallysuperior to American types forwine and are more cold hardy anddisease resistant than Europeantypes. Several of these cultivarshave been tested in West Virginiafor their adaptability to easternclimatic conditions (see section oncultivars).