TN: The Western Game and The Great South Dakota Adventure (July 2019)

[Jeff Grossman]

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

originally posted by BJ:
POST OF THE YEARLUV THE D AND D PHOTOS ESP PHOTO 2

Looks like the expedition would have needed a good drink after that.

After the sea snakes attacked the ship, we did the rest of the adventure underwater. Really difficult gaming.

(We needed the drink last winter when we rolled huge dice for a Thunderflash spell and killed practically everything and everyone in range: all but two of the enemy and all but three of us!, doors blown off their hinges, metal objects embedded into the walls, etc. Sheesh. You never think it will happen to you....)

 

[BJ]

Sounds really intense.

 

[mark e]

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

originally posted by mark e:

originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
A belated thank you to mark e for the origin information of La Crescent.

I wonder what percentage of 'made' grapes are actually favored by vignerons. I encounter oddball varieties every now and then but it's a very small fraction of all the wine I see.

The new wave of hybrids coming out of University of Minnesota and Cornell (La Crescent, Frontenac Gris, Petit Pearl, Marquette, Noiret, etc.) are important, and changing the game for vineyards located in areas where winter kill rates are too high to make even tough vinifera like Riesling viable.

Absolutely. They are very interesting and promising for northern areas. But I think the greater interest is new, rather than the hybrids themselves.

Frontenac is from 1978 and La Crescent 1988. Petit Pearl was bred in 1996, which is more recent; still that was 23 years ago.

I knew the original Frontenac has been around a while, did not know the others had been around very long. Are those dates for their origin or "birth year"? Other sites indicate public releases in 2002 and 2000.

You make a good point in that there is often quite a lag between a perennial plant variety being bred and patented and its widespread commercial availability in wholesale nurseries.