Saddle Vineyards is a new company that is using advances in biotechnology to grow vinifera (noble) grapes and make fine wines in Waimea on the Big Island. For the first time in the history of Hawaii, we are successfully growing and ripening Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay grapes and have recently added Sauvignon blanc and Shiraz (Syrah) grapes to our experimental vineyards. Before our efforts, only hybrid wine grapes that are less widely accepted in the marketplace had been sucessfully grown in Hawaii. We will be making our first experimental wines from Hawaii-grown vinifera grapes his year.

California's $33 billion per year wine industry is being threatened by a disease (Pierce's Disease) that does not exist in Hawaii. While other pests and diseases do exist here (even some that do not exist in California), we are overcoming the obstacles to the development of a winegrowning industry here one by one.

How would you like to have a bottle of an outstanding
Hawaiian Cabernet Sauvignon with your next meal at a local restaurant?

Our hypothesis is that conditions exist on the high saddles between Hawaii's volcanic mountains that will support optimal growth of such great Vitis vinifera wine grape cultivars as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Our goal is to identify well-adapted clones (of scions and rootstocks) and develop cultural techniques that would allow the growing of noble grapes in the higher elevations (2,500-5,000 ft) on all the islands. We hope this, in turn, will generate many skilled agricultural jobs that will pay agricultural workers a living wage. We have been sharing our knowledge and clones with winegrowers developing other vineyards in the islands and regularly post the findings of our research on our website.