An Oldie at Randall-Standish Vineyards

Home winemakers in the Finger Lakes region might note that Iona juice is being offered for sale by Randall-Standish in Canandaigua this year. I don't recall anyone here offering Iona before. Iona is an old Native American variety having Diana, Catawba and probably some vinifera in its background. It makes into a white wine and often is used in sparklers.

Randall-Standish is referring to Iona as a heritage variety, a nice term for a once popular wine grape that, like many others, fell out of favor over the years. Another grape also qualifying as a heritage variety is Vergennes, a wine now offered for sale by Arbor Hill. Randall-Standish and Arbor Hill are operated by the same group, so this is no coincidence. At a time when native grapes in the Finger Lakes continue to be torn out to make way for vinifera it's heartening to see an effort being made to revive some of the old varieties.

Dan, many thanks for this post.

I think that here in Ontario, they spell the grape name a bit differently: Eona - that is, if Iona and Eona are in fact the same grape, which as far as I know they may not be.

Just this past Saturday I bought Concords and Niagaras for my annual homemade wine. The Concords are beautiful this year - sweet with a balancing tang, and very, very pigmented. I crushed them last night and my feet looked like I had just come from a game of paintball ...

Also, I should note that the vineyard in question has Agawam - another heritage vinifera-labrusca hybrid that has a very Catawba-like muscatty flavour. I will likely try those next year, as Catawbas are unavailable to me since I can't find any sources in the Peninsula.