Grappling with grapes? RHS Wisley’s Jonathan Newell shares his journey to find the perfect variety for sweet, outdoor-grown dessert grapes
I have always loved grapevines – I enjoy the look of the vine itself even without the grapes! They bring to mind a warm Mediterranean climate, and wonderful holiday memories. We already have four vines in my garden at home.
My first trip to Greece – Corfu in 1984 – was my introduction to vines plump with ripe fruit, and also to dolmades – yummy little parcels wrapped up in a vine leaf that could be found in the Greek tavernas, usually stuffed with rice, mint, dill or other herbs, and sometimes a bit of egg and lemon sauce over the top!
Of course, these were washed down with a glass of wine, or probably retsina, given we were in Greece. When I recreate dolmades at home, I prefer to pair them with a glass of fizz. Who doesn’t love a little glass of champagne, and what a fantastic plant to provide us with all of these different tastes and flavours to enjoy through f0od and drink.
One of my vines was purchased at the start of lockdown. It was to replace one that we lost after some building work – a sad but unavoidable loss. The replacement arrived, almost by accident, and it produces a rather small, black, seeded grape. These are quite sweet but with an unusual flavour that is a little hard to describe. Not many people actually like the taste (most importantly, my wife).
The other three smaller vines were given to me as a byproduct of a demonstration at RHS Wisley on taking cuttings, ten months ago. These found their way to my home and have all flourished. One of them even has a bunch of grapes on it. Although I’ve been told to cut them off in this first year, I just couldn’t, and have left them on as I want to see the grapes. I will share one with the demonstrator and donor of the plants.
I don’t know the names or cultivars of any of these and it may be that going forward, none of them will have a permanent place in our garden. So, this got me thinking – what grape do we really want?
The first question is the location – outdoors on a south facing fence in Surrey. We want one that’s going to ripen even in a disappointing Summer, plus is hardy to -10 to -15
0C for a harsh winter. Varieties with luscious green foliage may come in handy for my dolmades, but I think overall this is as secondary consideration. We’ve narrowed it down using the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) as this will give us more certainty in terms of the likely performance in our garden.
My wife and I have decided on a dessert grape, although wine grapes are generally more reliable in southern England, since they don’t need to load so much sugar over the growing season with possibly limited sunshine. However, we’re not going to have enough to make any viable quantity of wine and even if we did, I doubt it would make a very fine glass (and I certainly wouldn’t be able to get the bubbles). So, it’s to be a dessert or table grape for enjoying with a nice bit of cheese during an autumn day’s al fresco dining.
Next, I’d like it to be green/yellow or red variety, rather than black. We are looking for something quite sweet but with a bit of sharpness behind it, and I would prefer it to be seedless.
This leaves us with ‘Lakemont’, a yellow outdoor variety with quite large fruit and one of the best for disease resistance. With over 25 listed nurseries, I am confident that it will be available for me to buy.
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Pick of the crop
Look for the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) when buying vegetable seed or small plants. You can also download the RHS lists of recommended cultivars.
About the author – Jonathan Newell
Jonathan organises the programme of free daily talks, demonstrations and workshops for all at RHS Garden Wisley, known as Hilltop Lives. You can find all the details here.
