Making La Crescent Wine: Tips from the Pros

Thanks to the University of Minnesota, wine grapes can thrive in some of the coldest climates in North America (and beyond). In this issue, two winemakers discuss making wine with the Minnesota-bred, cold-hardy hybrid, La Crescent. Scott Prom, Winemaker at Shelburne Vineyard in Shelburne, Vermont. Scott’s interest in wine started in 1985 while living in Seattle and working for airplane manufacturer, the Boeing Company where he started making his own wines with the Boeing Employees Wine and Beer Makers Club. Originally from Wisconsin, Scott and his family moved to Vermont in 1996. After experiencing winemaking withdrawal, Scott hooked up with Ken Albert in 1998 and the two began the relationship that has resulted in Shelburne Vineyard. Our La Crescent is a semi-dry style. We played around with a few different styles in the past, sometimes going a little drier and other times a little sweeter, but I think it does like to have some sweetness in it. In the vineyard, we trellis the grapes on high cordon trellis as opposed to vertical shoot positioning (VSP). We sort of defaulted into