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ibglowin

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OK so its not really a vineyard, more like a "Wine Garden"

I have a thread going over at FWV forum and thought I would cross post over here the success to date with growing cold hardy hybrid grapes at altitude here in the desert Southwest.

This project began like all others of this nature as a labor of love. I am at ~6400 ft elevation. We average over 300 days a year of sunshine. Warm Summers, cold (but sunny) Winters. Most of the precip comes in the July-August monsoon season or through snowfall in the Winter. We average about 40" here at the house in White Rock and about 65" up in Los Alamos which is higher and closer to the mountains at ~7300 ft in elevation.

Soils are thin with very little organic and volcanic in nature (the entire area is an ancient lava flow bed) with tons of basalt rock just under the soil line. Getting an 18" hole dug with a manual post hole digger was difficult to say the least with more than a few abandoned due to rocks that were just too darn big to try and dig out (some are medium sized boulders). As a result, my rows are not very straight but most will be connected one way or another by some type of trellis system. All vines are on a drip system with a (1) GPH drip head. Watering is daily for 45 mins during the hot months of May and June and until the monsoons kick in and then shut off and on as needed.

As some of you may recall, we suffered through the worst fire in the history of New Mexico in June with the townsite being evacuated for an entire week but luckily no structures lost in Los Alamos (this time around).

The monsoons were pretty much a no show the whole month of July but they did finally arrive towards the end of the month and are here big time the whole month of August (so far). I feel like I am living back in Houston for goodness sakes its so humid outside but the grass and wine garden are loving it as you can see.

The vines were planted last Spring/Summer and have come back pretty solid after the coldest winter on record (-21 degree lows for 2 days back in February) as well as a killing late freeze on April 21. I guess these guys are going to make it if they can make it through that heck of a first year!

I have just over 30 vines total of Marquette, Corot Noir and Noiret. The Corot Noir and Noiret and doing the best with the Marquette some are doing well and others not so vigorous at the moment (which could be a good thing).

A few low hanging clusters escaped my eyesight somehow and managed to bloom and set without me seeing them so I let them go just to see how they would ripen as well as the timeframe for ripening. Looks like they are only a 2-3 weeks out from fully ripening. I also am interested to see what pest I encounter (rabbits, birds, etc) now rather than later.

Cant wait for next year to see their continued growth and development.

Thanks for looking!

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Very nice start to some good looking vines you have going there.
 
Great pictures and thanks for sharing and starting this thread Mike. Your vines in the beginning stages reminds me of hops growing straight up like that. I'm sure J. Cook would be proud of you! :)
 
How weird is this? Its almost the end of August and I walked out to the garden to check on the vines and spotted this unusual sight on one of them.......

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This was not there last week, just formed over the last few days. Is it normal for a vine to do this in late Summer?
 
Looks really good there make sure you post more picture next year
 
I Enjoyed Your Garden Photos

My compliments on your attractive garden. I expect, as those roots become more established, you will find an increased output. We're having are grape harvest now and it will continue through October. Are there others in your area growing grapes? I was wondering when you might normally expect to have your grapes mature. At that altitude I figure your a bit of a trail blazer when it comes to growing grapes there.

My compliments on your green thumb.

Paul
 
Hey Charles, thanks for the kind words. New Mexico has the distinction of being the oldest commercial wine-growing region in the United States. In 1598, wine was introduced here by the Spaniards. In 1629, a Franciscan monk and a Capuchin monk planted the first grapevines on the east bank of the Rio Grand near present-day Socorro.

I am in the Northern region and we have wineries spread out all over the state with the most being in the lower altitude Central and Southern portions of the state. Most of the wineries are small with only an acre or two of vinifera planted on the estate. Down South in Deming, NM is our "Mecca" wine region with over 800 acres planted of vinifera. This area supplies the bulk of the fruit for the entire state.

The three varieties I have going all are cold hardy hybrids from Cornell or University of Minnesota. These all have some DNA from Pinot Noir and will ripen in our shortened Summer/Fall season. We had a late frost in late April and I have one very nice cluster that looks to be just about fully ripened. Our average first frost date is Oct 7th so we still have a good month to month and a half left till the average first frost.

They look pretty darn happy for being only in the ground for just over a year. Can't wait to see how they mature over the next few years. :p
 
very nice, well thought out and so clean....wish I only had 30 to look after. Keep a close eye on the birds and I am sure by now you have developed a spraying program of some sorts. Thanks for posting
 
Spraying program? Whats that...... :)

I have not spayed anything whatsoever and don't think I will need to. We are just so dry (humidity wise) compared to most other places, and we don't have many bugs as well...... Time will tell I guess but so far so good. Here is a pic I took today of my prettiest little cluster. So far the birds and the bunnies are leaving it alone.


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Spraying program? Whats that...... :)

I have not spayed anything whatsoever and don't think I will need to. We are just so dry (humidity wise) compared to most other places, and we don't have many bugs as well...... Time will tell I guess but so far so good. Here is a pic I took today of my prettiest little cluster. So far the birds and the bunnies are leaving it alone.

Wow ... I'm jealous ... I so want to plant a few vines but don't know where to start.
 
When will you get your first harvest? How much wine could you guess you might get off your 30 vines?
 
First you dig a hole..... LOL

I know they are trying like crazy to develop a wine region in the Hill Country but without much luck. Last I heard they had dug most everything out and were trying Spanish varietals since they seem to do better in hot/humid conditions. I would talk to the local county extension in Kendall County and pick their brains first, then try the wineries and see how their plantings are doing. Find a source for the varietals you want now so you can plan a small plot and get it ready in time for next Spring.
 
They say one mature vine will produce one gallon of wine. Looking at Grapeman's vineyard, he has some of the same varietals and seems to be getting more than that after only 3 years. I would be happy with 30G of this. These vines make a very nice wine something akin to Pinot Noir since they have Pinot DNA running in the vines.

When will you get your first harvest? How much wine could you guess you might get off your 30 vines?
 
If I can get 30 holes in our rocky volcanic soil you can do it the limestone in South Texas! You can rent an auger for a day or do like I did. Manual post hole digger and a breaker bar. Sometimes you hit a rock and its small enough to break up or pry out with the bar and sometimes its not. If its not , then you move over a foot and try again. I would wait till it cools off before trying this in your neck of the woods, like November!
 

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