Vineyard Management Practices

[toddwulf]

Well, The house is being built on our 12 acres in Northern California and I've already put 50 hours on the tractor since end of October. Now that construction is under way, I can turn my attention sligthly towards preparing, selecting, planting and growing wine grapes.

On another post, I was engaged by another "small vineyard" owner preparing the same scenario and thought I'd start a thread and see what wisdom and insight others who are experienced or otherwise could offer. This is one of the best forums for getting good, honest feedback and input. So have at it.

Here's to a glass of wine planted in '02 with first harvest in '05.

Todd in Placerville, CA.

'98 NH 1920 4x4

 

[MikePA]

I can't offer any vineyard advice, but I'd glady purchase a bottle of your first merlot or cs!

 

[mdbarb]

I look forward to some input on this thread.
I am planning a small vineyard (less than 300 vines) in Marin County, California. Probably half chardonnay and half merlot. It's a south facing slope very near the water, cool foggy mornings, hot summer days, a little breezy at sunset.
I have pretty good soil for grapes (sent samples to be tested to "Fruit Growers Lab" and am in the process of amending the soil now. Then unfortunately I need to surround it with a deer fence. Will order the rootstock in the next few weeks and plant in the spring of '03 and have the good stuff by '07. I plan on spacing them very close 2-3', rows running north and south about 7' apart. I'll be taking the class at UC Davis in Feb. There are also some classes at Sonoma state I 'll check out.
The vineyards have spread like wildfire around here. Used to be mainly in Napa and then Sonoma but they are creeping down into Marin - Must be some good money in it for the big boys!

MB

 

[Calpyro]

Hello,
I live in Napa and have had several friends install private vineyards on their property. Some have done it all and some have gotten the help of a vineyard management company.
From what I have seen, the vineyard management companies that install vineyards earn every cent of what they charge. They all have special equipment to set posts, string the wire that are not available to rent borrow or steal. These items alone save so much time that you should inquire having a management company come and do at least some portions of the job to reduce the tedious stuff.
The people I have seen do it themselves, have spent their entire summer setting tee posts and tying wire. While it sounds very romantic to build and maintain your own vineyard, the reality is that it is as fun a building a barbed wire fence.
There are several very good farm supply and irrigation companies in the Napa Valley that can sell you all of the hardware to build any type of trellis that you desire. They are very knowledgeable of their products and would help design it if you promised them your business. Additionally, their is a UC Davis viticulture program with an office on Oakville Grade Road that has examples of every type of trellis, irrigation, and root stock available. If you need any formal classes the Napa Valley College has a good viticulture program at a reasonable price.
Cameron

 

[Anonymous Poster]

http://www.hardygrapes.tottenham.on.ca/
I live in Canada (north of Toronto) and have found a very experienced vine grower in my area. He sells cuttings all over the world. He has a lot of experience/knowledge you my find helpful. Please contact him though his home page listed above. Your area may require some different practices. If he is not sure, I'm sure he can refer you to someone in your area. Good luck mate.

 

[3rdbase]

Excellent thread idea, and timely for me. I've got 30 acres and we are planning on putting about five in grapes. A very successful winery just north of the property has already stated they would contract to buy every grape I grow, if I grow what they bottle and stick to their spray schedule. This area of Virginia is about as far north as you can grow merlot and cab grapes, I'm told. There's a lot more work involved here than in the Napa Valley area-I used to live there. A somewhat useful web sight is grapeseek.com. I plan on starting mine in another year, but deer is a hugh problem here.

 

[mdbarb]

The deer allow us to live on the property here too. I don't see any fencing at the commercial vineyards around here. But I see no other way to keep them out than a perimeter fence. Another reason I'm only planting about 250 vines

 

[3rdbase]

I've talked to the commercial vineyard managers around here, and they use dogs to keep the deer away. Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate, has a very succesful vineyard operation. They let two beagles out at night. They say that on the rare nights the beagles aren't out, their grapes and other plants/vegetables get hit really hard. Seems easier than fencing. I don't live on the proerty I'm going to put the vineyard on yet, so dogs won't work for me just yet.

 

[mdbarb]

Well I've made the leap!
Today I ordered my dormat root stock.
Chardonnay clone 548 on rootstock 101-14 and Merlot 181 clone on 101-14.
Now I guess I have to get going on prepping the soil - only a year away....

 

[Robert_in_NY]

In NY the farmers average around $1k per acre for processing into Jams and juice. We have a lot of wineries poping up here now also but the main variety is Concord and some Niagara's. In front of my house is over 2000 acres of Concords that run down Rt 20 for about 3 miles and are owned by 4 different farmers. Another friend of mine has over 1000 acres of grapes spread out over Dunkirk and Fredonia and he has 3 harvestors for when the time arrives. How are most of the grapes harvested in California, do they still hand pick or do you use Wine grape harvestors like Braud's