Post Familie fulfills prophecy of 1909 with new grape

story by Jill M. Rohrbach, travel writer for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism; images from Post Familie Vineyards

ALTUS — One seed, one vine, half a row, and almost 15 years later, Post No. 194 looks to be a winning combination for a new grape cultivar that can weather a late freeze and fulfill a prophecy from 1909.

Named Post No. 194 in the Post Familie Vineyards experimental breeding program, this new grape is a hybrid of the European Cabernet Sauvignon and the American Munson grape. The Munson was developed by Hermann Jaeger of Neosho, Mo., by marrying his No. 43 Post-Oak grape with a seedling of his Ruperstris No. 60. Originally known as Jaeger No. 70, Hermann Jaeger renamed it for the much-honored grape horticulturist Thomas Munson.

In a 1909 book titled “Foundations of American Grape Culture,” the horticulturist wrote, “When well pollinated, (the Munson) bears immense crops, and is a fine red wine grape. I mention it, so as to show the prime origin of this vigorous, hardy, healthy family that promises to play an important part in American viticulture.”

‘GRAPE SEX’
The Munson has grown in the Post Familie vineyards for more than a century. In 1994, John Grinstead, a grape breeder from Missouri and big proponent of Munson wine, visited Thomas Post.

“He wanted to come down and see our Munson and he wanted to advise me that a cross needs to be made with Munson and other native and noble varieties,” Post explained.

Encouraged to experiment with breeding the grape based on the “prophecy” of Munson, Post and his father, Mathew, began crossing the Munson with native and noble varieties such as Cynthiana, Ives and Cabernet. Post and his wife Audrey House, also a winemaker and owner of Chateau Aux Arc winery, tried two years later to cross it with Primitivo, Zinfandel and Syrah.

“In 1995 we did the cross work, the grape sex,” Post said. To breed a new varietal, a white sack is placed over a bunch on a selected vine before it opens to prevent it from being bred with anything else. “So when the other bunches on the vine are blooming then you take that off and you introduce the pollen you want on the bunch, close it back up, staple it up, record what you did on the bag and now you’ve made a genetic cross,” explained Post.

About 700 seeds were produced in the experiment. “We planted those and, of course, some of them grew up and some of them died from natural maladies.” In the first year, the seed grew into a plant that was about one to two feet tall. Post planted the seedlings from that lot in a nursery row for one more year. The next step was to plant those nursery plants 18 inches apart in a commercial vineyard setting.

“About the sixth year we had fruit on all of them and we were able to taste the fruit to see which ones had a desirable flavor for winemaking,” Post said. Out of that series, 14 were selected and a half row of each was planted.

“I grew those another four years to get them up and producing well, and I made wine out of each of the fourteen,” Post explained. “We saw that the wine on about five of the varieties was really pretty choice. So we started working with those.”

SELLING PROPHECY
The Post No. 194 made such a good wine in Post’s opinion that he decided to propagate it.

“See, this all started from one vine, one seed,” Post said. “Then we expanded to half a row. Then it takes five years to get it up to a mature vine that will produce a wine that’s going to be stable and be produced again and again.”

Now there is an acre of No. 194 planted in the Post vineyards, which is enough to make a legitimate batch of wine, he added.

The wine from experiment No. 194 has been named Prophecy. The art on the wine bottle label is of a prophet. The artwork is titled “Isaiah’s Lips Anointed with Fire,” painted by Benjamin West in 1782.

A limited supply of Prophecy went on the market this year. Post plans to apply this fall for a patent for this red hybrid varietal. Post cannot sell a No. 194 plant and still patent the new grape. However, the wine can be sold before the patent is in place because it is a byproduct of the plant.

Post added that there are another four or five hybrids from this breeding experiment that look promising but he has yet to give them the focus he has given Prophecy.

The oldest commercial vineyard between California and New York, Post Familie Vineyards has been run by five generations of the Post family since 1880. Post offers an array of wines, juices and jellies as well as an extensive line of wine-related accessories in its gift shop, and is planning to expand its visitor’s center.

Other nearby wineries are Wiederkehr Wine Cellars, Mount Bethel Winery, Chateau Aux Arc, and Cowie Wine Cellars. Each offers free tours and operates tasting rooms.