Hi,
My name is Sean Coston. sure am glad I happened upon this website as it seems to be a nice community with a lot of aggregate knowledge and experience.
My friend Jess and I just bought a home in Corrales, NM that has a small vineyard on site. According to the seller of the home, there are 4 old Chardonnay vines and most of the rest of the vines are Cabernet Sauvignon. I don't know if they are on grafted root-stock, but they are reportedly productive and appear to have grown well in upper Corrales' sandy soil. A neighbor I just met tells me they can be very productive if well cared for (he's been in the neighborhood for 15 years). Then at the far end of the vineyard, there are supposedly 3 ZinfandeI vines that "have never really done well." There is a lot of empty space in the vineyard, and I plan on populating the empty areas with new vines this spring. Corrales and Bernalillo communities along the Rio Grande have a long history of wine making, but not all grapes do well here. For the new vines, I've chosen half Chamboursin and half Errante Noir. I have a friend who grows Chamboursin grapes a few miles north and on property a little more fertile and closer to the river, he also has Baco Noir, which apparently NEED the more fertile soil... He makes very good and complex red wine, and I'm hoping the Chamboursin take well at my site. The Errante Noir decision was based on some research I did online about growing in sandy southwest soils in high hot areas (all characteristics of my vineyard), and I'm hoping it's a good decision as well.
The previous homeowner made wine in his garage. I'm building a workshop and digging a small cantina basement area for winemaking - to store carboys, barrels, vats, tanks, etc. I'm hoping the cantina will help me to control temperature and humidity better than in a garage. The vineyard area is only about 4 tenths of an acre. The cantina basement area I'm planning is only 15 x 20ft.
I guess what I'd like to hear from the group here is what things should I be thinking about when designing the cantina, and any considerations for the new vines going into the ground? Pointing to specific posts here and other resources would be helpful.
For the Cantina: For such a small vineyard, Is that too large or is it too small? I'm planning on incorporating a mini-split into the cantina in case the temperature does not control itself... It can get fairly hot here in summer. I'm going to put a drain in the floor and have a sewer pump to get drainage up to a french drain at 18" below ground level away from the building (we have septic systems, no sewer lines, and the home's septic field is on the other side of the property).
For the new vines: Is it ok to "mix" planting grapes in a row or in areas of the vineyard as long as I keep track of what is what? When I plant the new vines, should I modify the soil with compost or anything (The vines already in the vineyard look like they'e grown really well here despite very sandy soil with little loamy character)?
I am attaching some pictures of the vineyard and some concept images for my workshop/cantina/studio...
Happy to join this community. Hoping to gain a lot of knowledge, and eventually, to be able to contribute with experience... Right now I'm a super noob... Never made wine before, but looking forward to the adventure.
Sean
My name is Sean Coston. sure am glad I happened upon this website as it seems to be a nice community with a lot of aggregate knowledge and experience.
My friend Jess and I just bought a home in Corrales, NM that has a small vineyard on site. According to the seller of the home, there are 4 old Chardonnay vines and most of the rest of the vines are Cabernet Sauvignon. I don't know if they are on grafted root-stock, but they are reportedly productive and appear to have grown well in upper Corrales' sandy soil. A neighbor I just met tells me they can be very productive if well cared for (he's been in the neighborhood for 15 years). Then at the far end of the vineyard, there are supposedly 3 ZinfandeI vines that "have never really done well." There is a lot of empty space in the vineyard, and I plan on populating the empty areas with new vines this spring. Corrales and Bernalillo communities along the Rio Grande have a long history of wine making, but not all grapes do well here. For the new vines, I've chosen half Chamboursin and half Errante Noir. I have a friend who grows Chamboursin grapes a few miles north and on property a little more fertile and closer to the river, he also has Baco Noir, which apparently NEED the more fertile soil... He makes very good and complex red wine, and I'm hoping the Chamboursin take well at my site. The Errante Noir decision was based on some research I did online about growing in sandy southwest soils in high hot areas (all characteristics of my vineyard), and I'm hoping it's a good decision as well.
The previous homeowner made wine in his garage. I'm building a workshop and digging a small cantina basement area for winemaking - to store carboys, barrels, vats, tanks, etc. I'm hoping the cantina will help me to control temperature and humidity better than in a garage. The vineyard area is only about 4 tenths of an acre. The cantina basement area I'm planning is only 15 x 20ft.
I guess what I'd like to hear from the group here is what things should I be thinking about when designing the cantina, and any considerations for the new vines going into the ground? Pointing to specific posts here and other resources would be helpful.
For the Cantina: For such a small vineyard, Is that too large or is it too small? I'm planning on incorporating a mini-split into the cantina in case the temperature does not control itself... It can get fairly hot here in summer. I'm going to put a drain in the floor and have a sewer pump to get drainage up to a french drain at 18" below ground level away from the building (we have septic systems, no sewer lines, and the home's septic field is on the other side of the property).
For the new vines: Is it ok to "mix" planting grapes in a row or in areas of the vineyard as long as I keep track of what is what? When I plant the new vines, should I modify the soil with compost or anything (The vines already in the vineyard look like they'e grown really well here despite very sandy soil with little loamy character)?
I am attaching some pictures of the vineyard and some concept images for my workshop/cantina/studio...
Happy to join this community. Hoping to gain a lot of knowledge, and eventually, to be able to contribute with experience... Right now I'm a super noob... Never made wine before, but looking forward to the adventure.
Sean
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