Dilemma™ Grapes

When a breeder crosses two varieties, he hopes the offspring will combine all the best of each parent. In 2006 I found a selection from a cross of Esprit x Himrod that combined almost all the best of each parent. The clusters are large, well shaped, handsome, with neutral but good flavor, and the vines are very vigorous and productive and appear to be healthy. Except that the grapes have seeds. In the past, seeds wouldn't have been a problem, but now the consumers want seedless grapes. BUT the combination MIGHT also have given a good wine grape, and wine grapes don't need to be seedless.

So what do you do with a grape that's essentially perfect save for one trait, and MIGHT be a dual purpose grape as well? In this case, I decided to name the grape for what it is, a DILEMMA and let you, the customer, see what it will do for you.

The parentage, Esprit x Himrod, means the vine should be hardy to at least -15 F, and could be hardy to -20 or a little more. The fruit ripens about two weeks after Himrod. The vine shows signs of having much of Esprit's disease resistance, and the clusters are much tougher than Himrod. Prune it to canes as it has enough vigor to carry a good size crop. And let me know how it performs for you.