General description: Suwile originates from Latvia. It’s one of the earliest fruiting cultivars in the temperate Polish climate. It grows up to 5 m high. Due to its high frost resistance, it’s an attractive variety for all areas of Poland.

Fruit: This grapevine produces medium-sized, moderately compact or loose, cylindrical grape bunches. Suwile grapes are spherical, medium-sized with a delicate tropical fruit flavour, and their skin comes away easily from the flesh.

Ripening: Suwile grapes ripen at the end of August.

Leaves: This grapevine has medium-sized, three-lobed leaves with serrated margins.

Cultivation requirements: This grapevine requires a sunny and warm location. It prefers average, humous garden soil. It can be cultivated in any part of temperate Poland. Seedlings should be planted every 1-1.5 meters, 10-15 cm deeper than in the pot they came in. Very small seedlings should be planted in a shallow hole and only covered wholly with soil in autumn. This significantly increases the frost resistance of grapevines and increases the efficiency of watering freshly planted vines.

Care: To build a powerful root system, grapevines need a lot of water. Caring for a newly planted seedling is basically limited to systematic watering. It is especially important to pay attention to watering in early summer and as the grapes ripen. Each young vine requires up to three buckets of water per watering.

Pruning: In the first year after planting, it’s recommended to prune only one to three stems. In the following years, trimming depends on how the vine is to be shaped. Thinning out, to obtain high quality fruit, is advised. Generally, stems should be pruned to a moderate length and care should be taken whilst selecting which stems and shoots are to be cut, to leave well-fruiting ones on the plant. It is best to leave pruning until late autumn and winter (well before the beginning of vegetation), although, as mentioned, trimming in summer helps control expansion and should be done after new shoots are partially lignified. To ensure abundant fruiting, pruning should be moderate to heavy.

Props: The Suwile grapevine is perfect for growing on all kinds of fences, pergolas and arbours, trellises and other garden support structures.

Overwintering: This grapevine withstands temperature drops of down to -26°C, however it is recommended to protect young vines for the winter (for e.g., by using agrotextiles). At the beginning of November, cover seedlings by piling a mound of soil with peat about 30 cm in height over the plants. This not only insulates them from the cold, but also shields them against flooding during the thaw.

Origin: Latvia.