University announces new wine grape

The University of Minnesota touts a popular legacy of apple breeding, but earlier this month, the school debuted a fruit that fans can sip on. The Itasca, a cold-hardy wine grape, will make its way to nurseries and licensed growers’ vines in 2017. It will be about another four years until Itasca-based dry white wines will hit liquor store shelves, said University grape breeder and horticulture professor Matt Clark.