LON ROMBOUGH started growing grapes in his early teens, went on to do graduate work in plant breeding (including Viticulture) at U. C. Davis while studying with grape breeder Dr. H. P. Olmo, and has been growing and testing grape varieties on his own ever since, for a total of close to 40 years with grapes. In addition to 200+ varieties of grapes, he grows many unusual fruits, writes articles for many publications, sells grape cuttings, does lectures and presentations, and is a horticultural consultant. He has written a book on grape growing, tentatively called "The Grape Grower" to be published by Chelsea Green in the fall of 2001. For more information, visit Lon Rombough's Homepage or Email Lon Rombough
for information about "The Grape Grower".Lon's upcoming viticultural book.
MARK HART is the owner of Mt. Ashwabay Vineyard
and Orchard (MAVO) in Bayfield, Wisconsin, started in 1995. The owner previously had a smaller
vineyard in west-central Minnesota. The vineyard is 10
acres in size and has a south and south-west exposure
on about a 10% slope overlooking Lake Superior. The site
has a very sandy, low vigor soil. Extreme winter
minimum temperatures at the site can reach -33 C, but a
lake effect brings dependable snow cover. Summer heat
accumulation is low averaging about 1050 C base 10C.
For more information about
MAVO
contact Mark Hart by EMail
MAVO (see Mark Hart above) is a research and
pre-commercial vineyard. Research primarily involves
variety trials and a breeding program for early maturing,
hardy grapes. Currently there are over 3000 vines of a
great many varieties and selections. There are more
than an additional 700 seedlings from the breeding
program. Only 1/3 of the vineyard area is currently
planted. Future plantings will include an expansion for
commercial wine grape production and additional seedlings.
