Hurry up and grow...

I was reading the latest edition of Notes from the North, the newsletter of the Minnesota Grape Growers Association, and learned that Edelweiss is the most widely planted "wine" grape in both Nebraska and Iowa. Edelweiss, originally released as a table grape, makes for a crisp, grapey, fruity flowery wine; not necessarily the style of wine I'd choose to go with lunch.

This was the point of the article, however. As growers, we need to set our personal tastes aside and grow grapes for a developing industry. According to the article, 95 percent of the people who walk into a Midwestern tasting room like grapey, crisp, fruity flowery wine.

Edelweiss has become the No. 1 wine in Nebraska. Not the No. 1 Nebraska wine, but the No. 1 wine asked for in Nebraska, topping wines from California, France, Australia, and others. This is important news for growers who, like me, have rows and rows of Edelweiss in the ground. How far is it to Nebraska, anyway?