Meet the Everest Grape: A New Concord Variety
Attention grape growers, a new variety from Cornell Agritech could bring you new business.
The Concord grape is native to the northeast, but is typically only used for jams and juice. A new variety of Concord, called Everest Seedless, was bred to be a table grape instead of a processing grape. Flavorful and juicy, this new variety is practically twice the size of traditional Concords.
The large, seedless clusters were developed by Bruce Reisch, professor of horticulture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a grape breeder with Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, New York.
The Everest Seedless is also exciting for growers because it is cold-hardy and can withstand New York winter temperatures of 10 to 15 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). The researchers did not find evidence of any insect disturbance and the grapes are moderately resistant to downy mildew and powdery mildew. Learn more about the origin of the name and where you can find the Everest Seedless variety.
Kelsie – just noticed this. Please do not call the grapevine itself a ‘varietal’ They are ‘varieties’ or ‘cultivars’. Varietal is an adjective most commonly applied to wines made from one variety, e.g. this is a ‘varietal Cabernet Sauvignon wine’.
Hi Tim,
Thank you for the clarification! I’ve updated the article to reflect the proper terminology.