I have only seen it ripe a couple seasons here in Western WA but we are a lot cooler than you for sure.
It should dry to raisins if you let it, in New Mexico.
Had wanted to use it in grape breeding, but never got to use the pollen , since Vinifera grapes bloom later than the native American species.
The clusters are large and very full, and have a mild subacid flavor, and a small soft seed trace, that gives the raisins a bit of a crunchy quality.
It is slightly suc. to powdery mildew, but not as bad as some.

I grew it in CA near Fresno, very hot and long season. The bunches were very large and big berries, you'll be impressed there also. My only concern would be winter freezes. But it's worth a try.

Fruit was OK for my taste. Probably as good as most of the more hardy seedless. Have you tried Jupiter or Reliance?

Mildew probably is not much of a problem in New Mexico, with all your dry weather, but it will probably need a couple of sulfur sprays/season. Sulfur is a cheap spray, so not a big issue. Wish we could grow it here, but it only ripens about once every four years locally. As Vinifera types go, it is not highly prone to mildew but will get it in a bad season.

I've never had a hint of mildew on grapes in Texas and doubt it would be an issue in NM. I know that may be amazing given how bad it is in CA. None in my greenhouse or outdoors.

I'll have Jupiter, Flame, Princess, Summer Royal, Crimson, Autumn Royal, Summer Muscat, and more this year. I'd be amazed if Jupiter beats Summer Royal for taste or production. They all bear as soon as the vine is large enough and the Vinifera are mostly very vigorous.

Thanks for all the feedback...

I'm also trying Glenora, Mars, Reliance, Himrod, Cayuga, as well as Flame. The latter was not bothered by this winter's -8 low in December (against a south wall), so I'm not too concerned about Black Monukka in a similar location.

The main reason I bought the BM is because of how impressive the bare-root vines were, probably 4 times bigger than all the American species for the same price (and the same age I'm sure). Maybe I'll get some more BM vines if I think I can find a spot for them come May.

I'm lazy when it comes to my garden, vineyard, orchard, etc. Small labor inputs add up quickly. If it needs to be sprayed, I won't grow it.

My mother grows Black Monukka on the Wasatch Front in Utah, where it is dry enough that there is no mildew problem with this variety. She loves it, but it ripens in cool fall weather and I think it would be sweeter in California.

As I recall, Trader Joe's sells big Black Monukka raisins during the holiday baking season. Once upon a time, you could get raisins made from muscats with the seeds removed for boiled raisin cake, etc. Black Monukka raisins are a reasonable substitute.

A guy who runs a Thompson Seedless vineyard near Fresno told me that Black Monukka would hang on his home vine into December unless rains were heavy. Not that this information does you much good where winters start earlier.

There is a commercial variety of black seedless grape from Australia or New Zealand which is fabulous. I've only tasted it once and I can't remember its name. At the time, growers were guarding test vineyards. Black Monukka is a parent.

While a bit off topic, if anyone has heard of someone using Monukka Pollen as a breeding parent, I'd sure dig on growing a Monukka x American Species hybrid up here. I had the vine once, but it bloomed later than my Native Vines so I could never make a cross of the two.
I am into grape hybridizing.
This is one of my hybrid vines. Alden x Saint Pepin.

{{gwi:62271}}

The Monukka offspring I tasted was a European type and I can't say if Monukka was the male or female parent, but it had great flavor. Ambitious breeding project, Boizeau.

Carolyn:
I've been researching the latest, hottest grape varieties,
and I'm pretty sure the one you tried was SunWorld's Sable, (Sugrasixteen) it's a black seedless, heavily protected proprietary variety, with a tropical/muscat/lychee/parma violets flavor. Parents are Black Monukka x Sugrafive.
Read the patent on it to see how they bred two seedless grapes together and did "embryo rescue."
http://www.google.com/patents/USPP11749
It would be fun to try it as a backyard grape, but someone would have to sneak into a SunWorld plantation and smugge a cutting out, like a gobstopper in Willy Wonka's factory.

----Mark Miner

Monukka will take the cold. Prune after frost has done it's damage.

Sable sounds fantastic, Mark.

The offspring (reportedly) of Black Monukka which I tasted was Black Maroo. Very flavorful. I have no idea where one would get this Australian variety.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maroo (Black Maroo) grape

This post was edited by carolync1 on Thu, Jul 18, 13 at 16:18

Black monukka seems popular as a breeding parent. Breeding grapes sounds pretty ambitious to me.

I'm trying to do a few simple melon hybrids this year, and that's challenging enough. Bees are better melon pollenizers than people. Some fruits seem to be "sticking", though.

How much cold, nature freak?

I've bought large Monukka grapes for years in Lodi Ca, delicious!

I've had its vines growing on the Wasatch Front in Utah for 7 years.

I've tried everything but get no grapes,

They're planted against a south facing 6' white vinyl fence and get sprayed by my sprinkler system.

I grow them on wires strung about 3 and 4 feet high, like Thompson seedless

Probably too much water and not enough heat.

They grow very dense, voluminous foliage even climbing up my apple trees,

I'm about to trash them.

But since I see they need more heat, I'll try one more year.

I'll try stringing them up the fence to see if more sun exposure will help.

I've successfully grown Flames like that growing up and over a patio cover.

Does anyone have any suggestions to get Monukka grapes instead of leaves?

I started this old thread going on 4 years ago (different username now!).

My black monukka have done absolutely nothing!

Not only have they not fruited, but they have barely grown. In the meantime, my Mars, Reliance, and Canadice vines have grown big and fruited, some of which are are younger than the BM, and all were smaller vines when originally planted (remember I bought BM because I was so impressed with the size of the bare root vines at the store).

I would not hold out much hope in Utah, but I know it is a pain to have to plant another vine and wait the three or four years until fruiting...