Wyoming's growing season is great for growing wine grapes. The University of Wyoming Extension is holding a grape gathering Sept. 17 in Lander for those interested in learning how to grow their own grapes. Topics covered will include instruction on how to work with Wyoming’s soil and how to establish your own vineyard for either casual or commercial growers.
Jeremiah Vardiman is with the UW extension office. He said there are benefits to Wyoming’s climate to cultivating grapes.
“That's probably the biggest shock to people, that I hear, is really we can do that here. And the answer is yes, as long as we can pick the right cultivars to grow, which are called hardy, hybrid grapes,” he said.
He also said he will be teaching participants how to work with Wyoming’s climate, and cold weather can actually be a good thing.
“That freeze disrupts our pest cycles here. So, our winters are beneficial. Our drier climates benefit from keeping that [bugs] out. And we can also just grow some really good, good grapes, specifically wine grapes tend to do the best here,” he said.
Vardiman said there is a lot of interest in growing grapes in Wyoming, but other than commercial vineyards like Table Mountain Winery in Torrington, it's still a small market.
This is a part of a Department of Agriculture grant awarded to the UW extension project to cultivate more interest in the crop.