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I am getting ready for a lighter harvest this year, 600 lbs if I am lucky. My new house has a workshop and I would like to move my winemaking into this space, but the room gets southwest exposure and is a little too hot for wine storage, or for me on hot summer days. I will see if the insulation...

I have the opportunity to buy some Sauv Blanc juice from Monterey county, and I am tempted to try to make another white wine. I have made Chard in the past. My preferred style of Sauv Blanc is the very grassy citrusy New Zealand type. Unfortunately I am pretty sure this juice will not produce...

I entered two of my wines in the Santa Cruz county fair wine judging competition, the Cabernet Sauvigon class and the Bordeaux Blend class. 2021 vintage, and I hope that the bottle shock has subsided. Fingers crossed, hopeful, but really I just want feedback, good or bad. I entered a...

Haha, okay it seems like all I do is field complaints on Winemaking Talk. First my wine was bitter, now it is sour. (the other wine is no long bitter BTW) I will get some numbers posted, but what I did for 2022 vintage is backwater and acidify to a level to reach 4.8 g/L TA. Which I feel was...

Hello fruit lovers. I am trying to identify this tree. Here is a pic of the fruit so far. It is not ripe yet.

Here is the start to my vineyard at our new home. We are taking a week-long vacation and I needed to get these vines in the ground ASAP. I have had the vines lingering since February and they were itching to get out of their pots. I have 20 potted vines of Zinfandel on SO4. I was able to fit 14...

This year I am going to break out the vineyard tending thread from the winemaking. It was confusing in the past and hard for some people to find the thread. No pictures yet. I was too busy suckering the vines today. But, I am going back tomorrow to spray and will show how the vines are doing...

I am reaching out to know if anyone has a good resource on building a head trained vineyard, especially the spacing between vines. I have a small front yard and I have an internal debate about going "water smart" and turning it into a xeriscape. Why not get some benefit in the form of grapes...

This is Cabernet Sauvignon in a vineyard with known eutypa. There are sections of the vineyard where some vines, after three years, canes never grow past 2 feet long. The overall plant is stunted. On other vines that are growing well, I am finding some spurs have canes where the leaves are...

My local supply store had $5 BOGO labels in a 30 pack. Now I am wondering if I have to hand write my labels or does anyone have experience putting strips through a laser printer. Maybe I will separate the labels and print like a letter.

I have two vines that have a stunted shoot with spotty leaves. The vines appear to be healthy. I wanted to ask here before I do some research on the issue.

I spent a little time in amongst the vines today, testing the sprayer and sorting out the leaks. Then did some light shoot thinning and rubbed off buds and suckers. I have better luck with shoot thinning in phases, making multiple passes over time. The high temperature reached 97F, so I decided...

I am starting to get organized for bottling 2020 Cab and Merlot and did a sampling of carboys with friends. I noticed a bitterness on the back end of my wines that I did not seem to notice before. I guess that bitterness comes from seed tanins. I am fermenting on the skins to 1.004 SG, so...

I just got back to the vineyards today after 2 weeks of camping and vacation. Whew it has been hot and some of the vines are taking back that precious moisture from the grapes. I am seeing some shrivel. So, ALERT ALERT harvest begins this weekend! Brix is all over the map. Merlots are in the...

Backyard Wine Grapes There is a sale at backyardwinegrapes.com until 8/21 on many bare root Cabs and a smattering of other varieties. I have used this store and I am very happy with the vine quality and shipping.

I thought I would give a shout out for the Pest Prophet phone app, in case others are not aware of it. Pest Prophet I used to spray sulphur about once a week on the grape vines, which was more than necessary. Now I use this app to time my spraying, which follows the UC Davis grape powdery...

The Cab Sauv blossoms in San Jose have just started opening sporadically throughout the vineyard. I have a question that I cannot find answered about sulfur spray. Will sulfur damage the blossoms? In the back of my mind I recall avoiding sprays during this time, but maybe I am imagining this...

I am halfway through my second racking. Finally I am adding Kmeta because it took this long for the MLF to complete. The characteristics of the Merlot and Cab are starting to develop. One thing that stands out is the "cranberryness" of the Merlot. Is this a common Merlot flavor? I am hoping it...

I planted 16 Merlot vines where Cabernet Sauvignon vines were located. I am pretty darn proud of the work. those boulders in the aisles were pried out of the ground by me. Whoever put the vineyard in originally thought it would be fine to plant some vines directly on top of a rock! Well, it’s not.

I have used a bumper jack to pull out fence posts. Wrap a chain around the post, and jack up until the post is out of the ground. Would this work for a vine? I fear that I will be using a shovel to dig out 14 vines soon!