Bob
Rich is right and I am wrong about one thing for sure....too fancy of a canopy can make things somewhat harder early on until the whole project becomes second nature...there is a learning curve that can be directly associated with an effort curve and an ability to give to the project. the only person who can make the ultimate decision is you...only you know the time you can dedicate to this. And right now if you are like me, in the dea dof winter you can only guess at what you can give. I did learn it took a lot more time and effort than I understood going into my vineyard.
In terms of your vineyard I am looking at things in a results (amount of good crop) fashion to maximize your efforts and passion for this project.
The neat thing is that since your first year should be dedicated to root growth only, you can ascertain what the best route to choose is after assessing the real life year of experience that you will be accumulating this first year. This next growing season will steer you in what direction you wish. This year, after the initial planting ( the easy part) the rest of your vineyard year will be about timing:
when to weed and how often (dont underestimate hahaha
)
when to spray and how often(dontunderestimate hahaha)
double this in the second year
when and what to prune and how often(dont underestimate hahaha)
double this in the second year
so calculate the man hours as this all occurs and see how it fits in with all the rest of your life's duties.
Since you will be cutting back the growth to pencil thickness and best two buds ( and this could be anywhere from 12" -maybe 36" from the ground) after the first year anyway, then your upper trellis wires could all just be poly wire this first year and you may just make your trellis decision then for what works for you personally and that really matters because this is *your* vineyard and then bring in the 12.5 guage or whatever you choose for whatever you decide you can best manage!
