Grapes to Grow in the Desert

Q. I am from San Miguel Community Garden, a non-profit garden located near the North Las Vegas Airport. We are considering adding more grape plants to the Garden.  We have Flaming Red and Thompson grapes.  You said you have grown many different varieties in the Las Vegas Valley, and I was wondering if you would share with me other varieties that were successful for you so we can explore them as well. 

Barbera Wine grape grown in the Eastern Mojave Desert. Notice the unevenness in berry ripening during the time of harvest. This is a common problem when growing wine grapes in the hot desert.

A. I grew about 20 different table grapes and 18 wine grapes in the Las Vegas Valley starting in 1996. Some perform better than others. Still lots out there to try!

Grenache wine grape grown in the Mojave Desert.If wine grapes are grown with proper soil amendments and the soil around them covered with woodchip mulch, I had no problem with their acid and sugar balance. None of the grapes that I have grown were allowed to "struggle" as some of the romantics have suggested.

            Some table grapes to consider growing include Thompson seedless and Flame which you mentioned, as well as Concord, Thomcord, Perlette, Italia, Black Monukka, Fantasy and Ruby. Right now, the jury is still out on Canadice, Summer Royal, Suffolk Red and Crimson Seedless since they are only into their third year.  These table grapes should get you started.

Alicante bouschet wine grape with uneven berry ripening. Some of this might be controlled with changing the irrigation schedule which we could not do.

            Table grapes are usually seedless (except Italia) and used for fresh eating, make seedless raisins or eaten frozen. Table grapes aren’t as demanding as wine grapes since wine grapes are oftentimes used for high quality juice or wine must.

Fantasy table grape grown in the Mojave Desert, one of my personal favorites particularly for making raisins.

            Don’t forget wine grapes. You don’t have to make wine with them. Wine grapes come in an assortment of different flavors, more than table grapes, and can be pressed into juice and the juice used by itself or to make a variety of different jellies and fruit leather. They can make excellent raisins if you don’t mind their small size and seeds.

Zinfandel wine grade demonstrating particularly good bunches even under unusual nighttime temperatures.

            Some wine grapes to try include Zinfandel, Golden Muscat, Malbec, Syrah, Tempranillo, Barbera, and Sangiovese. These should get you started. Basically, the grape varieties grown in hot dry climates worldwide are best for growing in the Mojave Desert.

Italia, a seated variety and one of my favorites because of its musky flavor, develops very large berry size in the desert heat if it's given regular irrigations without much thinning.

            I would strongly suggest improving the soil at the time of planting with compost and then covering the soil around them with a thick layer of woodchips. Many people agree wine grapes should “struggle” to make good wine. I think just growing in this heat and lack of humidity is plenty of “struggle”. So I grow them "happy" and don't let them struggle too much. Let them do what they do best...produce fruit!

Some said it couldn't be done. I don't recommend growing this grape in our desert climate but I always love this variety. This is Pinot Noir, a cool season variety and is not recommended for the hot dry desert. But it developed good flavor and acceptable sugar acid ratios.

            So far, we haven’t needed to grow grapes that are grafted, unlike growing grapes in California. Most of the grapes grown in the US and sold here can be grown in the Eastern Mojave Desert on their own roots. However, if you are faced with buying grapes that are grafted, most grow well in our desert soils on these rootstocks: 1103P, 110R, Schwarzman, Salt Creek, Harmony and many others.