About Us
Experienced Breeders
Peter Hemstad has been breeding grapes since becoming the Grape Breeder at the University of Minnesota in 1985. During his 30 years at the U of M, Peter was largely responsible for the introduction of Frontenac, Frontenac gris, La Crescent, Marquette, and Itasca. Those varieties have revolutionized grape growing in the northern tier of the United States, and are also grown in parts of Canada and Europe. Peter was also one of the founders of Saint Croix Vineyards, one of Minnesota's premier wineries, in 1992. SCV specializes in wines made from cold hardy grapes and has won over 100 medals in national and international wine competitions.
After leaving the University in 2015, Peter formed a new corporation (Hemstad Genetics, LLC) with his son Noah Hemstad. Noah grew up around grapes at Saint Croix Vineyards and has extensive experience growing grapes and making wine in Minnesota, Oregon, and California. Peter and Noah have visited wineries and grape breeding research stations around the world including Germany, China, Switzerland, France, Hungary, Italy, Ukraine, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden and Canada. Since 2015, Hemstad Genetics has planted thousands of new seedlings each year using a wide range of parental material ranging from classic Vitis vinifera varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling to wild Vitis riparia vines that are among the cold hardiest in the world. They have also made use of many French Hybrids and more modern interspecific varieties developed in Europe, by Elmer Swenson, or at Cornell University. Recently, Hemstad Genetics has moved aggressively into developing cold hardy and disease resistant seedless table grapes and initial results are quite promising. At the moment, HG has several thousand test vines at three different locations in Minnesota as well as in western New York. Peter and Noah have identified their first new variety for release which is now being multiplied by nurseries for eventual sale to the public after patenting and virus testing are complete.
Grapevine Nursery
The seedlings are started in the greenhouse and then planted close together and grown without any fungicides or insecticides for the first season. They are carefully evaluated for any disease or insect damage and the susceptible vines are discarded before being planted in the seedling vineyard their second year.
Fruit Evaluation
After surviving the initial nursery screening for disease resistance, vines are planted in a trellised seedling vineyard. Over the next few years they are evaluated for many viticultural traits including cold hardiness, vigor, growth habit, disease resistance, etc. The fruit is also carefully evaluated by tasting and chemical analysis. The most promising vines are selected and made into wine. They are also propagated and tested in multiple sites for a number of years before the final decision is made to introduce a new variety to the public.