backyard vineyard
With all the excitement of harvest and crush in the air, it’s easy to forget about planting. But if you’d like to start a small, backyard vineyard next spring, there are some important things to do before winter arrives. It’ll make it easier to get your vines in the ground when the weather warms up.
The most important elements in any vineyard development project are research and resources. And the most important resources are other grape growers. Try to find folks in your region who are growing decent grapes. Then bring them some good wine and ask as many questions as they’re willing to answer.
When and what did they plant? Are the vines on their own roots or special rootstock? What resources — favorite books, local growers or nurseries, the county agriculture department — do they use? How much and when do they water? When and what do they apply to the grapes to control mildew, rot or insects? Is there a local university or community college, like UC Davis in California or Cornell in New York, that offers courses on vine growth?
La Honda Winery Photos
Here are ten questions you’ll need to answer before you plant your vines next spring. The more research you do at the beginning of your project, the less backpedaling and problem-solving you’ll have to do once the vineyard is growing and producing.
This is pretty easy — just grab a shovel and dig a nice deep hole (up to three feet for a good sample of subsoil) where you plan to grow some grapes. Once the hole is dug, scrape soil off the side of the hole into a large Ziploc bag. Scrape soil from 1 to 12 inches into one labeled bag, and scrape some soil from two feet and deeper into another labeled bag.
Consult your local Agriculture Extension Office (county branch of USDA) for a laboratory that can evaluate the soil for wine grapes. Soil samples will alert you to nutrient problems before planting. A neutral pH, around 7, is optimal. Lower pH is considered acidic, higher is considered alkaline. If the soil has always produced healthy vegetation or vegetables, chances are vines will do fine in that ground. Rich soil tends to produce herbaceous flavors, clay is to be avoided, well drained soil and sandy loam is best.
Backyard Vineyards Take Off In Santa Clarita
You ideally need between 150 to 200 frost-free days to produce mature vitis vinifera fruit. This classic wine-grape family includes renowned varietals like Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. A lot depends on the timing the last frost. Pinot Noir, Gewirztraminer and Riesling do better in later frost areas and Chardonny, Merlot and Cabernet, need 190 frost free days or more. If your climate is less than ideal, you should select something from the hardy North American vitis labrusca. family or try hybrid vines, such as Norton, Chardonnel, Chancellor, or Baco Noir.
The key is to find what your neighbors are planting and what vines produce the best wines. If you can’t find any local winegrape growers, call a few nurseries and make inquiries about what varieties of grapevines might do well in your backyard.
To make sweeping generalizations, vitis vinifera thrives in the West and Northwest. It also does well in selected locations in the Southwest, Midwest and Northeast (a prime example is the fine white wine from Michigan and New York, where lakes tend to moderate the climate). Vinifera has also showed limited success in niches not normally known for quality vinifera production. From Virginia to Pennsylvania and Maryland, many growers are having limited success with small vineyards. I even received an e-mail a year back from a gentleman who mule-farms Pinot Noir in Kentucky. Talk about a challenge! Due to hard winters, Canada grows mostly vitis labrusca, but microclimates in the lake Erie and Ontario regions produce Chardonnays and Rieslings and British Columbia produces some top rate dessert wines. Most good vineyards in the East seem to lie within a rough triangle that extends from Rochester, New York (in the northeast) to Virginia (in the south) and Martha’s Vineyard (on the eastern seaboard). As a vinifera grower in California, my expertise in the area of v..labrusca and hybrids is limited. Again, local experts should be sought out and bribed with fine wine.
Post a Comment for "backyard vineyard"