Marquette sets a new standard of excellence for winter-hardy red wine grapes. It has good disease resistance to downy and powdery mildew and black rot. It has a desirable open growth habit, and could be trained to a vertical shoot positioning system. The wine is complex with berry, cherry, black pepper and spice, and more tannin than the other northern reds. Matures about 2 weeks before Frontenac.

Frontenac is a very cold hardy vine and has borne a full crop after temperatures as low as -30 F. It has near-immunity to downy mildew. Frontenac's small black berries are produced on medium to large clusters that are usually slightly loose. As a result, berry splitting and bunch rot have been rare, even in wet years. Frontenac has been a consistently heavy producer and sometimes requires cluster thinning. Frontenac is a vigorous variety and usually becomes established very quickly. Typical spacing on fertile soils would be about 8' between vines. Frontenac ripens in late-midseason, about 10 days after Foch. It is important to let the fruit hang long enough to fully mature in order to reduce the acidity to workable levels. Frontenac is a good sugar producer with 24-25 brix not uncommon. Frontenac wine typically has a pleasant cherry aroma with berry and plum evident in many cases.. The color is usually a garnet red. Malolactic fermentation is essential to reduce the wine's high acidity.

Frontenac Gris (pronounced “gree”) is a natural variant of Frontenac with light red/gray fruit. Frontenac. Gris makes a wine with a peach flavor and tropical fruit/grapefruit undertones. The wine color ranges from amber to light rose’. In all other respects, it is identical with Frontenac.

(Frontenac Gris is generally considered a white wine grape, but it’s included here, as well as in the white wine grape section, because of its connection to Frontenac, and because it sometimes makes a light rose’-colored wine.)

St Croix – Many award-wining red wines have been produced from St Croix. It is widely grown in Minnesota, Connecticut and Quebec. Clusters are medium-sized and slightly loose. Acidity is moderate, and sugar doesn’t get above 20 Brix. Vigorous grower, hardy to about –25F. Roots are a bit less hardy, unless there is snow cover.

Sabrevois is sister to St Croix. More than 100,000 vines have been planted in Quebec. The fruit ripens in mid-season, about a week after St Croix. The acidity is higher than St Croix, but very workable. The sugar content rarely exceeds 20%, even in very ripe fruit. Wines from Sabrevois have a pleasant berry-like fruitiness in the nose and mouth. Works best as a rose’, or with carbonic maceration. Long skin-contact time should be avoided. It is hardy to at least –30F.