Today I picked my first Michigan grown grapes of the season - Marquis Grapes. They were grown by Spiech farms in Lawton, Michigan and found their way to the shelves of my local Meijer store. They are green colored grape, or what would be called a white grape is juice or wine where being made from them. Some people believe they are the best eating grape grown in the eastern part of the country.
Marquis grapes were developed in 1964 through a breeding program at Cornell University. It was made by crossing Athens and Emerald Seedless.
My Experience with these grapes
Tart/Sweet: Sweet with a tart finish
Seed/Seedless: Seedless
Grape Flavor (Rating Scale 1-10): 8
Overall Feeling: This grape is a winner. It is sweet but finishes tart in your mouth. The flavor resembles that of a concord grape, which is interesting to experience in a green colored grape. It is a slip skin grape has the inner pulp comes out of the skin when you bite down on it. Great out of hand eating grape. If I get some more and don't just eat them out maybe I will see how good of a jelly they make.
Availability: Marquis grapes ripen 10 days before Concord grapes. They are considered a mid-season variety. They are available from late August to November. First time I had them was from a Meijer store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This year I picked them up at my local farmer's market a week before Labor Day.
Tim Spiech
Hello, i was doing some research on the marquis grapes for a customer of mine, and i ran across this post! i just wanted to say thank you for supporting us and writing this review!
thanks again - by the way, marquis will be starting 8/26/11 you should see them in meijer by the 1st, another good one to try is the himrod, i know its a bad name, but it is very sweet and should be in the stores in a few days!
Thanks again
Tim Spiech