Kay Gray

Kay Gray was developed by the Wisconsin grape breeder Elmer Swenson circa 1980 and is named after a family friend. It is a seedling of Swenson's own ES 217 (a cross of MN 78 and Golden Muscat). Swenson collected open-pollinated seeds from this vine, and one seedling eventually became Kay Gray. Because of this, the male parent is unknown, though Swenson suspected it might be a nearby vine of Onaka, an old South Dakota cultivar. Kay Gray itself is female and requires a pollen source in order to set fruit.

In some environments it can produce an odd flavored wine that is vastly improved by modest levels of blending. Had it not been for its exceptional disease resistance and winter hardiness it probably would not have been selected. In subsequent years Swenson used this grape as a parent for the more conventionally flavored cultivars 'Louise Swenson' and 'Brianna'.

References

v t e Hybrid grape varieties Grape ( Vitis ) species V. acerifolia, V. adenoclada, V. aestivalis, V. amurensis, V. × andersonii, V. arizonica, V. balansana, V. barbata, V. bashanica, V. bellula, V. berlandieri, V. betulifolia, V. biformis, V. blancoi, V. bloodworthiana, V. bourgaeana, V. × bourquina, V. bryoniifolia, V. californica, V. × champinii, V. chunganensis, V. chungii, V. cinerea, V. coignetiae, V. davidii, V. × doaniana, V. erythrophylla, V. fengqinensis, V. ficifolia, V. flexuosa, V. girdiana, V. hancockii, V. heyneana, V. hui, V. jacquemontii, V. jaegeriana, V. jinggangensis, V. Kelungensis, V. labrusca, V. lanceolatifoliosa, V. lincecumii, V. longquanensis, V. luochengensis, V. menghaiensis, V. mengziensis, V. monticola, V. mustangensis, V. nesbittiana, V. × novae-angliae, V. palmata, V. peninsularis, V. piasezkii, V. pilosonerva, V. popenoei, V. pseudoreticulata, V. retordii, V. riparia, V. romanetii, V. rotundifolia, V. rupestris, V. ruyuanensis, V. shenxiensis, V. shuttleworthii, V. silvestrii, V. sinocinerea, V. × slavinii, V. tiliifolia, V. treleasei, V. tsoii, V. vinifera, V. vulpina, V. wenchouensis, V. wilsonae, V. wuhanensis, V. xunyangensis, V. Yeshanensis, V. yunnanensis, V. zhejiang-adstricta Notable hybrids Agawam Alden Alexander Alwood America Aurore Baco blanc Baco noir Bath Bell Beta Black Spanish Blanc du Bois Brilliant Cabernet blanc Cabernet Cortis Campbell Early Cascade Cayuga White Chambourcin Chancellor Chardonel Chelois Clinton Corot noir Couderc noir De Chaunac Edelweiss Espirit Flora Frontenac Goethe Herbert Himrod seedless Horizon Ives noir Jaeger 70 Kay Gray Kyoho L'Acadie blanc La Crosse Lakemont seedless Landal noir Landot noir Léon Millot Malverina Marechal Foch Marechal Joffre Marquette Massasoit Melody Merzling Muscat bleu Niagara Noiret Norton Olmo grapes Onaka Ontario Orion Phoenix Plantet Ravat blanc Regent Requa Rogers' Hybrids Rondo Royalty Seibel grapes Severny Seyval blanc Seyval noir Solaris St. Pepin Thomcord Triomphe d'Alsace Traminette Valvin muscat Vidal blanc Vignoles Villard grapes