SteveH
Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2016
- Messages
- 77
- Reaction score
- 36
Hello!
(Short version). Hi, I'm Steve. I live in North East Ohio on a farm very near the Grand River Valley (Ohio's wine country) area. Started our first wine kit, I'll be planting my first 35 vines I just received soon and have some cuttings trying to root. Long term goal, to make and market a wine from our own grapes.
(Long version)
I'm Steve from north east Ohio. I enjoy most things outdoors and love working in the woods and fields. I pruned vines in our local vineyards in high school. I live in "Ohio Wine Country" with at least 19 (just counted) wineries within 30 minutes of our farm. Most are 10-15 minutes away : ) it was my senior year in high school when I thought I never wanted to drink wine again when my friends and I got in to some Mad Dog (is that really even wine!?!?) one night. I had to go to school the next day, and then had to go to the vineyards and prune vines. I had no lunch and all I had to eat was a pack of Reese's Pieces to ease my queasy stomach. Never again!
Fast forward a few decades and I appreciate and love good wines, mostly off dry whites. Our "house wine" we buy by the case is Vidal Blanc by our favorite local winery, Ferrante. I do occasionally appreciate some slightly sweeter semi-sweet wines such as their Bianco, and White Catawba.
For me, my appreciation for wine is about the vine and the grape. On our farm we've retired from all live stock, 20 years of 50-80 head of meat goats and planting crops and hay to feed them. The last 6 years we have been a cash crop operation planting corn and soybeans. We now lease and plant my neighbors farm too (he just bought it and lives out of state). There are 4 rows of grapes there and he had mentioned they didn't make any grapes last year. I don't think they had been trimmed for the last ten years. I volunteered to prune them. Then I asked what he's was going to do with all the grapes and it hit me! We should make wine!!!! While I was doing the final pruning and tying, the idea took on a life of its own and I really want to get into this. I hope to buy local grapes this fall and in the future until my own vines start producing enough. Just bought 35 vines and I'm trying to root some cuttings and get our first little patch going. We have several idle acres we can expand our planting into next year. I'm an information hound now and have found many good reads here. We started our first kit two Sunday's ago and just transferred it for secondary fermentation today. I'm eager to advance to using grapes and getting some equipment. I know I'm going to enjoy this! So many questions, but through this forum and other resources I'm finding the answers.
(Short version). Hi, I'm Steve. I live in North East Ohio on a farm very near the Grand River Valley (Ohio's wine country) area. Started our first wine kit, I'll be planting my first 35 vines I just received soon and have some cuttings trying to root. Long term goal, to make and market a wine from our own grapes.
(Long version)
I'm Steve from north east Ohio. I enjoy most things outdoors and love working in the woods and fields. I pruned vines in our local vineyards in high school. I live in "Ohio Wine Country" with at least 19 (just counted) wineries within 30 minutes of our farm. Most are 10-15 minutes away : ) it was my senior year in high school when I thought I never wanted to drink wine again when my friends and I got in to some Mad Dog (is that really even wine!?!?) one night. I had to go to school the next day, and then had to go to the vineyards and prune vines. I had no lunch and all I had to eat was a pack of Reese's Pieces to ease my queasy stomach. Never again!
Fast forward a few decades and I appreciate and love good wines, mostly off dry whites. Our "house wine" we buy by the case is Vidal Blanc by our favorite local winery, Ferrante. I do occasionally appreciate some slightly sweeter semi-sweet wines such as their Bianco, and White Catawba.
For me, my appreciation for wine is about the vine and the grape. On our farm we've retired from all live stock, 20 years of 50-80 head of meat goats and planting crops and hay to feed them. The last 6 years we have been a cash crop operation planting corn and soybeans. We now lease and plant my neighbors farm too (he just bought it and lives out of state). There are 4 rows of grapes there and he had mentioned they didn't make any grapes last year. I don't think they had been trimmed for the last ten years. I volunteered to prune them. Then I asked what he's was going to do with all the grapes and it hit me! We should make wine!!!! While I was doing the final pruning and tying, the idea took on a life of its own and I really want to get into this. I hope to buy local grapes this fall and in the future until my own vines start producing enough. Just bought 35 vines and I'm trying to root some cuttings and get our first little patch going. We have several idle acres we can expand our planting into next year. I'm an information hound now and have found many good reads here. We started our first kit two Sunday's ago and just transferred it for secondary fermentation today. I'm eager to advance to using grapes and getting some equipment. I know I'm going to enjoy this! So many questions, but through this forum and other resources I'm finding the answers.
