Vermont and other cold regions of the U.S. which experience winter temperatures below-20°C produced virtually no winegrapes before the mid-1990s. Cultivar and planting system adoption have changed rapidly in the past two decades as cultivars with increased cold hardiness and wine quality potential have become available. In the mid-1990s, the first commercial vineyards were established in the State of Vermont, and consisted of French hybrid and 'hardy' vinifera as well as cold-hardy releases from public and private breeding programs. Training systems included mid wire cordon and Geneva double curtain. Private and public breeding programs located primarily in the upper midwestern U.S. released cold-hardy winegrape cultivars in the late 1990s, continuing releases into the 21st century, resulting in increased vineyard establishment. 'Frontenac' and ''La Crescent' were the first of these cultivars to be planted in any quantity in Vermont, followed by 'Marquette'. Training systems adopted for newer cold-hardy cultivars include predominantly high wire cordon, with mid wire cordon and Geneva Double Curtain used to a lesser degree. Continued releases of new cold-hardy cultivars having greater potential for quality wine and trials of advanced selections have facilitated increased vineyard plantings and replanting of older, less desirable cultivars.

Hard cider production has increased annually by 50% between 2009 and 2014 in the United States while apple (Malus ×domestica) orchards managed exclusively for cider apples are rare. Cider apples have unique flavor, acid, and tannin characteristics suited to only hard cider production. Demand for fruit by cider makers represents an emerging market for apple growers and an opportunity to diversify their production and marketing systems. The goal of this study was to compare the fruit requirements of cider makers with present cider fruit availability in orchards to identify opportunities and challenges for the growth of both industries, and we surveyed cider makers and apple growers. Growers in our study saw a market expansion opportunity in the growth of popularity of hard cider, but present apple prices were identified as a key threat. Cider makers are also expanding their operations, all of those sampled anticipate increasing their production in the next five years, but maintaining adequate fruit supply was identified as a major threat. Cider makers and apple growers have both expressed interest in dual-purpose cultivars that may be sold to the fresh market or for cider making. Apple growers have expressed guarded interest in growing specialty cider cultivars while cider makers have expressed a strong interest in increased production of cider-specific cultivars. We conclude that there are a number of potentially beneficial opportunities, particularly in increased production of dual-purpose and specialty cider cultivars, as long as price and coordination issues can be resolved.

Fermented cider production has increased rapidly in the U.S. in the past five years, which has necessitated an evaluation of apple cultivars used for cider making. Cider apples may be simply defined as any apple that is used in cider production, but the real answer is more complicated. The selection of apple cultivar is possibly of greatest concern to cidermakers for overall product quality. However, unlike in the case of grapes and wine, specific cultivars are rarely sought by the end consumer as a primary means of identifying ciders. Ciders are typically made from multiple apple cultivars, including dessert fruit as well as specialty cultivars with unique acidity characteristics and phenolic compounds that contribute complexity to the finished product. In traditional cider-producing regions in the U.K. and France, for example, specialty cultivars make up the majority of ciders produced, and are grown in separate production systems tailored to their unique horticultural characteristics which rely heavily on mechanization to make up for low fruit price. In contrast, the supply of specialty cider apples is low in the U.S., and domestic cider production relies primarily on dessert fruit cultivars culled from fresh market channels or from processing orchards. Dessert cultivars commonly-grown in Vermont generally exhibit lower levels of phenolic compounds and higher levels of malic acid than specialty cultivars. However, there is limited research on horticultural and disease susceptibility characteristics of specialty cider fruit in Vermont or surrounding regions which limits present recommendations to stakeholders for best cultivars and production systems suited to cider apple production.

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Cold climate winegrape production is an emerging "new" crop in the diversification of agriculture in Vermont and northern New England offering significant value-added and agri-tourism economic opportunities. Before the availability of cold climate winegrape varieties, commercial grape production was not recommended in northern New England because of problems with winter survival of the vines. More than 75% of Vermont has an average minimum cold temperature below-29 0 C and in the remainder of the state, the average minimum cold temperature is between-26 0 C to-29 0 C (Perry, 2003). In Burlington, VT, the lowest winter temperature can fall between-28 0 C to-34 0 C (NOAA, 2008). Vermont's low winter temperatures are well below the temperature tolerated by many winegrape cultivars (Pool, 1999; Bordelon et al., 1997).