DeChaunac, Seibel 9549 is a cold-hardy, vigorous, highly pigmented and very productive variety. It tends to over crop yielding a poor quality fruit.  Wines from over cropped, unripe grapes will be of poor quality. 

Large, loose clusters of thick-skinned berries with red stems seldom show late season harvest-time cluster rot.    It  has low susceptibility to black rot, Botrytis, crown gall, Phomopsis and downy mildew.

A lot of DeChaunac was planted in the Finger Lakes Wine Region before wineries contracting it realized it was not the quality wine they anticipated.  Contracts were cancelled -(it is only a piece of paper) and some small wineries were started as a result...

 It is still a favorite with our winemakers.  DeChaunac has good color and ages well in wood or with wood additives.  We advise a shorter fermentation on the skins.  Keep notes on your technique that gives the best results.  It blends well with Chancellor.  Dechaunac has a moderate acid and a brix range of 16-22 and pH from 3.0 to 3.40.  It ripens late September to early October in our eastern cold climate region.

Due to over-cropping resulting in poor ripening, we have planted our own DeChaunac in our vineyards, so we can better manage it and provide a higher quality grape and juice for our winemakers.  Our acreage is limited and some years we only have enough to fill grape orders and do not have enough to fill juice orders.