(Wines&Vines) - Wine may be made in all 50 states, but not all regions can grow a great Cabernet or Chardonnay. Researchers in New York and Minnesota have developed some grape varieties that are better adapted to very cold temperatures, and scientists in Florida and Texas have bred grapes that do well in more tropical climates. This month, the University of Arkansas named two new grape varieties that offer promise for quality wines in the mid-South, a region with hot, humid summers and sometimes remarkably chilly winters.

Opportunity, a white grape formerly known as A2245, and Enchantment, a red variety known as A2467, were named by Dr. John R. Clark, professor of horticulture at the University of Arkansas. The two grapes were part of a grape-breeding project started by Dr. James N. Moore, professor emeritus of horticulture, at the University of Arkansas Fruit Research Station in Clarksville, Ark., in the late 1980s. The result of a 1987 cross between Cayuga White (a New York hybrid) and A1754, Opportunity was selected in 1991. Enchantment resulted from a cross made by Moore of two unnamed Arkansas varieties, A1628 x A1481, in 1990. It was selected in 1993.