(StarTribune) - In a few years, visitors to one of Minnesota’s dozens of winery tasting rooms will be able to sample a dry white dinner wine made from locally grown grapes.

State growers are bullish on Itasca, the new grape cultivar developed by the University of Minnesota’s breeding program, and its prospects for boosting the state’s rapidly growing vineyard and winery industry, estimated at $59 million in 2011, according to a 2013 university report.

“It’s the first cold-climate grape with low enough acid to make a nice dry white wine,” said Irv Geary, president of the Minnesota Grape Growers Association and partner in Wild Mountain Winery in Taylors Falls. “That’s a piece of the market we haven’t been able to get into, and the largest segment in the white wine industry.”

The new grape produces a wine that some liken to a sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio, with notes of pear and melon — perfect for pairing with seafood — as opposed to the sweeter whites and dessert wines more commonly produced in Minnesota.

“It fills a hole we’ve had,” said Ray Winter, owner of Winterhaven Vineyard and Nursery and Indian Island Winery in Janesville, Minn.
“I think it’s a game-changer,” said Matt Clark, grape-breeding project leader at the U. “It will allow our growers to produce a new type of product, that’s more relatable to a wide audience.”
Minnesota’s wine industry is young for one elemental reason: The harsh climate is tough on wine grapes.

“Minnesota is not the center of the viticultural world,” Peter Hemstad observed dryly. The co-owner of St. Croix Vineyards in Stillwater is the former longtime grape-breeder at the university who first crossed the U’s Frontenac grape with another in 2002 to create Itasca. “A lot of grapes are barely adapted here and not happy,” he said.