Being a granola person (home-made with raisins of course) I would like to obtain grapevines suitable for producing raisins.

In the Smart Gardener's Guide to Growing Fruits (by Dr. Bob Gough) is the following: "Researchers in California have given a big boost to the raisin industry by creating a grape that shrivels into high-quality raisins right on the vine. The cultivar, named 'DOVine', is an early-season white seedless grape. It is a the first hybrid developed from a cross of two seedless cultivars (P79-101 x Fresno seedless). By snipping the canes when the fruit matures but leaving the fruit on the trellis to shrivel and increase in sugar, you can make raisins without the postharvest drying common for centuries." (p. 242).

Any comments as to suitability for the Willamette Valley, local sources of supply, or the effectiveness of the snipping technique would be greatly appreciated. Thanks .....

DoVine grows in the Willamette Valley but it's not well suited. 1. Susceptible to powdery mildew. 2. Ripens in Sept, hard to get uniform conditions for sun drying then. 3. Excessively vigorous. 4. Not as productive as in a warmer climate.
Best raisin grape here is Interlaken, followed by Reliance. But even they need to be dried in a drier. And remember that the drying ratio is 9:1 at least. One healthy vine will give only about 2-3 pounds of finished raisins.

Shameless plug, below.

Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
Grape pruning video: http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html View a short, low resolution clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q58zFY0B1M
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/20 ... pe-grower/

I haven't looked at statistics (and weather in western Oregon seems to have a hard time settling into any consistency), but I think of September as the third month of summer. Temperatures tend to be a bit lower than in August, but it's a pretty bright, dry month.

Thanks -- I did wonder as Dr Gough's occupation was listed as an Associate Professor of Horticulture at Montana State University (Bozeman). If his expertise were applicable to Montana, I wondered that if DOVine's were suitable for there, then I thought they might have potential for here. Maybe, Dr. Gough's more academic than practical ? ? ?

The shameless plug is well justified -- of references relating to home, organic viticulture, your's is the best. I hope you will be (like last year) at the Scion Exchange on Saturday. Not only do I want to buy a copy (Salem Public Library has to go through Inter-Library Loan), I hope to have you autograph it.

I tasted some Reliance grapes last fall at the HOS Arboretum on a day of volunteering. Wow -- they may have been the best grape I have ever eaten. The complexity of flavor and its sweetness were amazing. I would find it very difficult to not consume them all before they had a chance to dry.

Reliance raisins are very good, prepared with extra care.

You can dry them whole for 5 days in a food dryer or take the time to cut each one in half and then dry. They take scarcely 24 hours that way, and the flavor is at the peak. 5 days dry time tends to make them taste like any other brown raisin.

Ditto Himrod and Interlaken raisins.

If you have 19 kids to help you, it is a perfect operation. I don't have 19 kids.

And let me tell you, cutting them in half yourself is going to be much easier than raising 19 kids!

Will reliance cuttings be available at the HOS scion fair? I'm intrigued!

And I better get a copy of Lon's book one of these days. I checked it out of the library, and it was fantastic. I keep wanting to reference it and not having it there!

Raising 19 kids -- it's time to give kudos to teachers who make a career of it. I find it hard to believe that individuals criticize the amount teachers are paid and the fact that they have summers off. It is a wonder that teachers remain sane.

And my library doesn't even have Lon's book for reference. The closest copy is in McMinnville. Go figure.

What type of drier are you using and what temperatures? The idea of snipping the cane and leaving the bunches on the trellis for a period is intriguing. I do something similar with late season green tomatoes (to ripen them).