Traminette: the future, in my wineglass

It's fun to peer into the future. Even more fun, when that future is a delectable wine in your wineglass.

Traminette is a hybrid grape resulting from a cross between Gewurztraminer and J.S. 23-416. It is about 66% vinifera.

It was developed by Cornell, at its Geneva Station research facility on the Finger Lakes, being the fifth hybrid winegrape released by Cornell (after Cayuga; before Melody, and others).

As you might expect, Traminette has a remarkable spicy, floral bouquet, similar to its Gewurztraminer parent. In the mouth, you notice green apple and citrus notes. The wine could be compared to a Sauvignon blanc, though it also has some Riesling tendencies, too.

Bad wine can be made from any grape, and at our hybrid winetasting a few months ago, all three of the Traminettes we tasted were scored from "poor" to just "OK." But I kept searching, and found a superior Traminette from the Goose Watch winery (New York). It is a very good wine. My taster friends who tried that wine agreed that it could definitely be a marketable, commercial white wine here in the Northwest.

So, why, with all our Chardonnay, Pinot gris, and Viognier, would anybody want to grow Traminette in the Northwest? For many reasons:

1. Traminette is disease resistant. This means far less spraying (some years, no spraying!), which reduces the cost and environmental impact of making sprays (and even organic sprays have a cost and there is some environmental impact to produce them).
2. Less spraying means less tractor fuel, which is a big deal if you're talking someday about thousands of acres planted.
3. Most hybrid grapes ripen earlier than most viniferas. This means that the grower doesn't have to put up bird nets, further saving on tractor fuel, and on labor, and on the cost and raw materials for the plastic netting.
4. With these advantages, the hybrid grape's wine can be sold at lower cost, thereby enabling the U.S. winemaker to more effectively compete in what is becoming a tighter global market.
5. Traminette, when ripe, has much less phenolic bitterness than Gewurztraminer. It has excellent sugar, acid and pH balance, which makes the wine more problem-free to make, with a more-consistent outcome.
6. This isn't often an issue in the west half of the Pacific Northwest, but Traminette is VERY cold-hardy, much more so than Gewurztraminer.
7. The grape performs well as either a dry or a sweet wine.

The State of Indiana recognized a good thing, and declared Traminette as the state's official grape. Smart move.

Keep an eye out for the future! It will next appear, this summer, in my little vineyard!