Grape Guide
Traminette
WhiteTraminette is a white interspecific hybrid of Gewürztraminer and Joannes Seyve 23.416, bred in Illinois in 1965 and released by Cornell University in 1996. It gives fragrant, spicy wines in the Gewürztraminer manner from vines that survive Midwest and Northeast winters far better than the vinifera parent, and it has become one of the leading cool-climate whites of the eastern United States.
Key characteristics
- White-berried interspecific hybrid with Gewürztraminer as one parent
- Result of a 1965 cross made at the University of Illinois by Herb C. Barrett, later selected at Geneva, New York
- Late budding, which lowers exposure to spring frost
- Moderately winter hardy, about 50% primary bud kill predicted near -15°F (-26°C)
- Highly susceptible to phomopsis and moderately susceptible to downy mildew
Typical flavors
Major regions
Indiana · New York (Finger Lakes, Niagara Escarpment) · Missouri · Virginia · Illinois · Ohio · Pennsylvania · North Carolina (Yadkin Valley)
Also known as
NY65.533.13 (Cornell selection number)
Traminette is a white-berried hybrid grown almost entirely in the eastern and central United States. Its wines are the closest that hardy, disease-tolerant germplasm has come to the profile of Gewürztraminer: rose petal and lychee on the nose, grapefruit and ginger on the palate, and a medium to full body. The perfume is generally less heavy than in Alsatian examples, and acidity tends to be fresher, which suits both dry and off-dry styles.
The variety matters commercially because it solves a regional problem. Gewürztraminer is a poor risk where winter lows fall below about -15°F (-26°C), yet consumers in those states want an aromatic white. Traminette buds late, ripens in mid to late season, crops reliably without heavy thinning and takes to canopy work that exposes the fruit to light. It is made as a dry table wine, an off-dry bottling, a late-harvest or ice wine and, occasionally, a sparkling wine. Indiana has adopted it as a state signature wine.
Traminette traces back to a 1965 cross at the University of Illinois, carried out by Herb C. Barrett. The pollen came from Gewürztraminer; the seed parent was Joannes Seyve 23.416, a French hybrid bred by Joannes Seyve (itself a cross of Bertille Seyve 4825 and Chancellor). Barrett's goal was a table grape with big clusters and Gewürztraminer flavour, not a wine grape. The Seyve parent carries Vitis riparia, V. labrusca, V. aestivalis, V. lincecumii, V. rupestris and V. cinerea in its ancestry alongside V. vinifera, so the cultivar is a complex interspecific hybrid.
Barrett passed seed to the grape breeding programme of the state agricultural experiment station at Geneva, New York, which belongs to Cornell University at Geneva, New York. Seedlings went into the field in 1968, a first crop was recorded in 1971, and from 1974 the selection NY65.533.13 was propagated. Trials in New York and, from the early 1990s, in Indiana and other Midwest states showed wines of unusually high quality for a hybrid. Cornell released the grape in 1996 as Traminette, without a patent, so that nurseries could propagate it freely. The name points to its Traminer-family parent. The American Society for Horticultural Science named it an Outstanding Fruit Cultivar in 2015. Given how recently it was released, its spread across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic in the 2000s was fast.
Traminette breaks bud roughly two weeks later than early hybrids such as Foch and Marquette, which lowers the risk of spring frost damage, and it ripens in mid to late season. The vine needs a long growing season. Winter hardiness is moderate: about half of the primary buds are predicted to be killed at roughly -15°F (-26°C), a clear improvement on Gewürztraminer but short of the hardiest hybrids. Yields are productive yet moderate, so crop thinning is rarely required. Disease is the chief limitation: the vine is very prone to phomopsis infection of canes and leaves, and moderately prone to crown gall and downy mildew. Removing leaves and keeping the canopy open helps both disease control and aroma development. It does well on its own roots or grafted, and Indiana vines planted in 1992 show no decline. Fruit in Indiana typically reaches about 22 Brix at pH 3.2.
Dry and off-dry bottlings dominate. Typical wines show rose, grapefruit, lychee, ginger and baking spice, with bright acidity; cooler northern sites tend toward floral, rosy aromas and warmer southern ones toward grapefruit and spice. Skin contact of 12 to 48 hours is reported to intensify the aromatics. Where the perfume turns heavy or flowery, winemakers sometimes blend it with a more neutral wine. Late-harvest, ice wine and sparkling versions are made, and the range runs from seriously dry to lusciously sweet. In Indiana it is marketed as a light, fresh alternative to oaked Chardonnay, and the best examples are drunk young, while the aromatics are fresh.
Where it grows
Indiana
The state's signature wine, promoted by the Indiana Wine Grape Council with support from Purdue University. More than 30 Indiana wineries made a Traminette by 2010, among them French Lick, Oliver and Buck Creek.
New York
Bred and selected at Geneva, it is planted in the Finger Lakes and the Niagara Escarpment, with producers such as Fulkerson and Deer Run. Extension material puts plantings above 100 acres.
Missouri
Surveys in 2009 counted about 105 acres (42 ha), making it one of the state's more important hybrid whites.
Virginia
About 80 acres (32 ha) were planted by 2008, with wines from producers such as Gadino and Willowcraft Farm.
Illinois and Ohio
Illinois (Shawnee Hills) had about 63 acres in 2009 and Ohio about 20 acres in 2008, with Valley Vineyards among the Ohio producers.
Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina
Smaller plantings exist in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and in North Carolina's Yadkin Valley.