Alabama winery shows cab grapes can grow in South

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jswordy

jswordy

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This is fascinating to me...makes me want to know more than the story tells!

HOKES BLUFF, Alabama -- When Jim Lee was a boy growing up on a farm in Fords Valley, his mother said something he never forgot.

"Jimmy, I think grapes are a special gift from God," she said. "Grape vines will grow almost anywhere."

This may have been on Lee's mind several decades later in 2005, when he contacted Bob Herrick, the owner of a grapevine nursery north of the Napa Valley in California. Herrick picked up on Lee's southern accent when the Alabamian said he wanted to start a vineyard and grow Cabernet Sauvignon. That was the beginning of Maraella Winery, which Lee went home to start in Hokes Bluff.

Lee was assured the vines would never grow in Alabama, given the hot, humid climate and their susceptibility to disease, insects and parasites.
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More...
http://blog.al.com/east-alabama/2013/07/maraella_winery_disproves_nays.html
 
Yeah, and then wait until pierces disease hits. Bad idea, plus you would have to spray constantly and then might have a cab that you could just as easily order from CA. Or...you could grow a great norton or even chambourcin with half the problems.
 
good read..thanks
I have been throwing all my sediment from rackings in my orange tree well.
It has new growth every where on it, while my others dont.
Also, i have been throwing all my seeds from mashed fruits along a fence row and stepping on them and watering.
have black berrys and strawberrys and blue berries coming up.
 
bigdrums2 said:
Yeah, and then wait until pierces disease hits. Bad idea, plus you would have to spray constantly and then might have a cab that you could just as easily order from CA. Or...you could grow a great norton or even chambourcin with half the problems.
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Oh, I dunno. They are new to it but seem to have little trouble selling the wine. We also have members here doing similar work. Personally, I am going to plant Norton and probably carlos muscadine. But it is neat to see the advances being made in growing Old World Southern vines.

UC-Davis has a viticulture program in cooperation with Auburn University to try to develop grapes tolerant to Southern conditions and Pierce's resistant.

I just naturally root for people who do not quit.

Here's a video, too:

http://videos.al.com/birmingham-news/2011/12/alabama_wineriesmaraella_winer.html
 
Excellent post js. As for pierces disease. the research has shown while in alabama and the southeast diffusely it is less of a problem as one gets higher in elevation. I am not sure what the elevation is in Hokes bluff but I say good for him. And yea, one could by it from California for less headache but what fun is that. Being able to make something from scratch by hand using your own terroir, vines and own methods is exciting and special and while I am on many pre release lists from California and oregon I can promise you I will go buy from him and will be super excited to try something different. Roll Tide
 
Excellent link js. I am very excited about what they are doing at Auburn.
 
nucjd said:
Excellent post js. As for pierces disease. the research has shown while in alabama and the southeast diffusely it is less of a problem as one gets higher in elevation. I am not sure what the elevation is in Hokes bluff but I say good for him. And yea, one could by it from California for less headache but what fun is that. Being able to make something from scratch by hand using your own terroir, vines and own methods is exciting and special and while I am on many pre release lists from California and oregon I can promise you I will go buy from him and will be super excited to try something different. Roll Tide
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I agree, as I have several different varieties that i grow myself. I do know many that have tried different vinifera (including myself) only to quit on them later. It's one think to work hard and craft something that might work and another thing to work at something that will work, and produce a high quality wine. As for terroir, European vines in Alabama soil isn't exactly natural but I won't really get on that. I just know that it requires so much spraying down here that its is really not healthy for the soil, wildlife or people. I also know that the academic data says 1500 feet kills pd or stops the spread of the gws, but I know people that live up to 2000 feet that have seen it in their northern Alabama/Georgia vineyards. Again I do say more power to them for trying, but have a good plan b, because until uc davis releases those genetically bred pd resistant vines, we'll all be relying on the regular hybrids.
 
nucjd said:
Excellent post js. As for pierces disease. the research has shown while in alabama and the southeast diffusely it is less of a problem as one gets higher in elevation. I am not sure what the elevation is in Hokes bluff but I say good for him. And yea, one could by it from California for less headache but what fun is that. Being able to make something from scratch by hand using your own terroir, vines and own methods is exciting and special and while I am on many pre release lists from California and oregon I can promise you I will go buy from him and will be super excited to try something different. Roll Tide
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I had to look them up on google map after reading the interesting article in the Mobile Press Register. Definitely a different terrior than down here in L.A. (lower alabama that is), plus the bugs probaby don't live year round either. But they're growing cab/merot grapes in North Carolina/Georgia so why not N. AL. I'll stick with the scuppernongs and blueberries for now.
 
bigdrums2 said:
As for terroir, European vines in Alabama soil isn't exactly natural but I won't really get on that.
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Nothing in wine grapes is natural, including European vines on American rootstock in California AND THROUGHOUT EUROPE. It was the American rootstock that saved Europe from the Phylloxera plague, caused by an American pest that was inadvertently transported over there on some bare stock.

So nothing is really what it seems in wine grapes, other than our muscadines/scuppernongs, concord, and perhaps the Norton/Cynthiana hybrid.

On a side note, it is cool that UC-Davis has made such progress in the grapes! Makes me want to take a trip to the research station again. (Been there before.)
 
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jswordy said:
Nothing in wine grapes is natural, including European vines on American rootstock in California AND THROUGHOUT EUROPE. It was the American rootstock that saved Europe from the Phylloxera plague, caused by an American pest that was inadvertently transported over here on some bare stock.

So nothing is really what it seems in wine grapes, other than our muscadines/scuppernongs, concord, and perhaps the Norton/Cynthiana hybrid.

On a side not, it is cool that UC-Davis has made such progress in the grapes! Makes me want to take a trip to the research station again. (Been there before.)
Click to expand...


I was going to say the same thing js but I figured it was not worth it.Heaven forbid we actually use our dirt in Alabama. Only Europe can lay claim to the good dirt. I am sure that was said to folks in Oregon and California in times past

Also thanks for the link ibglowin !
 
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Yeah, that's cool stuff on the genetic research. Eventually we will get there. I have emailed the Principle Investigator at Auburn to see about release of the Alabama tested grapes. I also have a friend who has access to the testing station. Can you say fall cuttings? ;)
 
I am so jealous js!!!! I would LOVE to get my paws on some of those vines
 
Email from Auburn:

The process of releasing about 12 PD resistant vinifera selections among which the above mentioned has been initiated this spring according to the breeder. It is uncertain when it is going to be completed, but in general it takes a few years.

I work with the Alabama Wine and Grape Growers Association which currently has a membership of 125 and we are very excited to observe the development of these selections in our environment. We are looking forward to the opportunity to expand our state's grape industry to include a successful V. Vinifera culture and wine production.

Elina Coneva
Associate Professor
Department of Horticulture
 
If the repliers to your post haven't tried to grow grapes in Alabama then they are guessing. The higher elevations in North Alabama are completely different than the imagined scenes from a Burt Reynolds movie. The sandy mountain top soil and subsoil and hilly drier conditions with constant breezes aren't conducive to mildews and systemic pesticides will fight off Pierce disease as well as they do in SoCal. Research, research, research and cross verify what you find. I have yet to lose a vinifera vine to anything.
 
I have been doing quite well too dwhill40. I am growing north of Bham with good results ( Chardonnay, Merlot, Mourvedre and Syrah). With that being said, Fungus has been horrible this past growing season due to the rain and seems to be my biggest issue.
 
My next block will be a sandy poor dry steep hillside planted with 110R rootstock. I've acquired a bundle of petit manseng that I will graft to it in 2015 along with some Zinfandel and Petit Syrah. I have found like with most things, no one can know all the variables so experimentation within the body of science is the only way to truly know. Phylloxera doesn't like sandy soil(even my bright orange subsoil test came back labeled as Sand). I'm trying own rooted varieties as well. NUCJD we should trade email so we can collaborate info.
 

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