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Scientific name Vitis vinifera 'St. Pepin' Similar Frontenac, Edelweiss, Kay Gray, De Chaunac, La Crosse | ||
St. Pepin is a modern hybrid variety of wine grape, mostly grown in North America. It produces grapes suitable for making fruity white wines similar to Riesling or as a base for blended wines. The grapes also make a good seeded table grape for eating. It has the benefits of early ripening and when hardened properly in the fall it is winter hardy to at least −25 °F (−32 °C). As such, it best suited to growing in more northern climates.
St. Pepin was breed by Elmer Swenson c. 1970 and released in 1986. It is a hybrid of the male Seyval blanc crossed to a seedling of Minnesota 78 by Seibel 1000 (a.k.a. Rosette). Unlike most modern grapes, it is a pistillate female and so needs to be planted next to male vines from a close sibling variety to achieve pollination.
Parentage
To clarify the parentage of St. Pepin;