My intro post!

[Bizzidy]

Hello wine making talk. I am a new Vineyard owner and winemaker in a very hot climate in Chico California. I planted my vineyard in the spring of 2018. My first harvest was August 2019. I’ve made wine every year since with some success and a lot of failures. I have about 1.75 acres of grapes with 1 acre being Sauvignon Blanc in the 3/4 of an acre being Syrah.
Finally my 2019 Syrah has aged to be a nice wine. I have had pretty good success with the Sauvignon block despite the hot temperatures.
This year I made Syrah Rosé.

A couple things I am trying to improve upon is Vineyard Maintanence, and reducing volatile acids in my wine. I also am trying to learn about fertilizing in the Vineyard. I fertilized in 2021 for the very first time with a balanced fertilizer in the spring. I feel like it is time to do this again in the spring of 2024.
Thank you for reading my intro post.
Matt Barron

Attached are a few pictures from this last harvest.

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!

You'll find a lot of mentoring on grape growing and winemaking.

If you have specific questions, try the Grape Growing & Vineyard and Wine Making from Grapes forums.

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!

Gorgeous grapes!

 

[Bizzidy]

Thank you.

 

[David Violante]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[ChuckD]

Welcome. An acre is a heck of a hobby vineyard!

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Bizzidy]

Welcome. An acre is a heck of a hobby vineyard!

Ha. Well I considered an orchard but in my area a couple acres of orchard are not worth the work. I love the beauty of a vineyard so I planted the front yard with it. I worked a deal with a friend who has a winery and distillery and he takes 85% of the grapes (he gives me back bottles wine in small amounts). It’s a trade and no money changes hands.

I make small batches with the rest. I usually end up with about 100 bottles of my own wine granted everything works out. Often times the undrinkable wine goes to a friend who does small batch brandy.
What I’ve found is despite being very careful with the fermentation and transferring process and storing process at least half my wine has a bad VA problem. I’m careful with sulfite and adjust the sulfite amount to the pH of the juice to get the ppm right.

The hobby of continual improvement and knowledge accumulation is so satisfying. I also have a couple local buddy’s that make wine as well and we frequently bounce ideas and advice off each other.

I’m excited to meet a whole world of wine makers, in this forum, to chat and exchange ideas about winemaking.

 

[GSMChris]

Welcome to WMT! I’m a fellow Californian hobby vineyard owner - just a few years behind you - from near Paso Robles.

Do come join us in the vineyard sub board - lots of good discussions which may be of interest to you take place there.