Missouri winegrapes need elevation to fight frost

<p>Canterbury Hill Winery and Restaurant in Holts Summit</p>

Canterbury Hill Winery and Restaurant in Holts Summit

Drive past Canterbury Hill Winery and Restaurant in Holts Summit, and you'll have to look up to see its signature crop.

Head to pretty much any other Mid-Missouri vineyard, and you'll notice a similar growing location. Area grapevines tend to be found on hills. That's not a coincidence.

"We plant on the tops of slopes," said Dean Volenberg, viticulture and winery operations extension specialist for the University of Missouri's Grape and Wine Institute.

That location serves as a freeze-fighter. Buds on grape plants start developing in the springtime, before frost dangers have wrapped up for the season. But because cold air tends to travel lower, planting on tops of slopes can help save the buds.

"Cold air is heavier than warm air, so it sinks," Volenberg said. "When those cold nights come, the cold air will drain off. We don't plant grapes in valleys because they would be killed by a spring frost."

In Hermann, a hot spot in Missouri wine country, hills with grapevines are more than 900 feet above sea level, Volenberg said.

Of course, vineyard managers also tend to seek varieties that can survive colder Show-Me State temperatures.

"Most of the grapes we grow now in the state of Missouri are all very winter-hardy," Volenberg said.

For instance, Canterbury Hill grows Norton grapes, a variety first cultivated by Dr. Daniel Norton, of Richmond, Virginia, and known as the official grape of Missouri.

"Norton grapes grow best in Mid-Missouri because they can better handle the freezing temperatures we experience," said Layne Wallace, Canterbury Hill event and banquet manager. "These grapes are actually fairly easy to grow and can withstand the cold Missouri winters."

At St. James Winery and Public House Brewing Company, executive winemaker Andrew Meggitt explained some growers have experimented with European varieties. Some have succeeded, he said, but Norton and a few other varieties have remained favorites.

"Traditionally, it's been native grapes and French-American hybrids," he said.

Missouri wine-growing comes with certain challenges compared to the country's most famous wine regions. For instance, winters tend to be colder than in Napa Valley, and insects are more prevalent.

"We have more extremes - we have higher highs and lower lows," Meggitt said. "The cold is probably our biggest challenge. That's why the hybrids are so successful - they can tolerate the cold winters."

At Canterbury Hill, still-growing grapes appear green and hard; they'll darken and soften throughout the summer. Meanwhile, staff spray and prune the vines, as they would other fruit crops.

Harvest time will likely arrive around September. Pest trouble or extra rain, though, can bring it earlier.

"If we have had a more wet summer or if we are fighting beetles, we sometimes have to harvest sooner," Wallace, of Canterbury Hill, said.

Canterbury's small acreage plot means staff hand-harvest, rather than drag machines through the rows.

You're not likely to find giant vineyards that stretch for miles anywhere else in the Show-Me State, either. Compared to say, corn or soy beans, the industry tends to focus less on how to boost yields. Instead, grape-growing takes a quality-over-quantity approach.

"Unlike with major commodity crops, we focus more on quality than quantity," Volenberg said. "As the quality of the fruit improves, the quality of the wine improves."