WINEHAVEN AWARDED PATENT ON GRAPEVINE NAMED ‘CHISAGO’

WineHaven Winery, of Chisago City, was recently awarded a U.S. Patent for its work in developing a new grapevine that has a unique combination of winter hardiness, vigor, disease resistance and wine quality. In keeping with tradition, the grapevine is named ‘Chisago,’ after the region from which it originated. According to U.S. Patent Office records, fruit from the ‘Chisago’ vine can be used, “to produce red wines having a deep red color and desirable aromas of cherry, currant, raspberry and blackberry.”

The ‘Chisago’ grape is the result of WineHaven’s grape research program that began over fifteen years ago. Through various crossbreeding techniques, inventors Kevin and Kyle Peterson, the winery’s father/son winemaking team, identified a grapevine that was winter hardy to about -40˚F. They submitted a U.S. Patent Application for the variety in 2005. While the review process was underway, they used the ‘Chisago’ grape to make the winery’s popular Deer Garden Red wine. The Deer Garden Red won gold medals at New York and California wine competitions in 2006, 2007, and 2008 – the only WineHaven selection to win three consecutive gold medals.

The U.S. Patent Office determined the ‘Chisago’ grapevine was novel over existing grapevines, and issued U.S. Plant Patent 19,246 for the vine on September 16, 2008. The ‘Chisago’ grape is one of only 120 grapevines patented in the United States. Less than a handful of these varieties were developed by U.S. wineries.

The unique characteristics of the ‘Chisago’ grape enable WineHaven and the Peterson family to begin a new chapter in their history – the pursuit of extreme winemaking. The winery recently used the ‘Chisago’ grape to make its inaugural vintage of Red Ice Wine. Ice Wine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The natural freezing and thawing process intensifies the grape flavors and adds complexity to the wine. Only a few drops of juice can be extracted from each cluster, which is carefully guided through fermentation to achieve this rich and captivating specialty.

Although the history of Ice Wine dates back to the 1700’s when it was discovered in Germany, it is rarely produced because traditional winegrowing regions are too warm, and most grapes are too fragile. The new ‘Chisago’ grape is ideal for Ice Wine because it is extremely winter hardy and, unlike most varieties, ‘Chisago’ grapes resist splitting during the winter season. According to the patent, “the berries resist prematurely separating from the cluster, and have consistently been observed hanging on the vine well after harvest, and more than a month after a hard freeze.”

The Peterson’s named the new Ice Wine “Slippery Slope,” after the hillside vineyards from which the grapes were harvested. They had a vision for a bottle design that would match the elegance of its contents. They imported petite glass bottles from Italy that boast a spiraling gold label. The reverse side of the label is teeming with original artwork of Mother Nature growing the grapes transitioning into a scene of Old Man Winter freezing the grapes.