Recommended reading for the total beginner?

[winerocks69]

Hello everyone. I am a long time lover of wine and have always intended to make some of my own one day. For the past 4 years my wife and I have been building a group of small sustainable farms with great variety. We're located in NW Oregon and have a small vineyard that already existed when we moved here that's at about 550 ft of elevation.

We have learned a lot about caring for all of our various plants and animals and have taken our time and carefully chosen what we've added and managed. We chose heirloom/heritage varieties that are suited to living in our climate. We are intent on growing things with a sustainable philosophy and will become "certified naturally grown" soon, as our small business grows.

My wife is a master gardener and I have learned a lot from her and have taken a few grape vine pruning classes. So over the past few years I have tried to properly prune back the vines. Last years we received lots of grapes! All mystery variety. We have recently befriended a man who grew up on this farm and that his father planted these vines. That they were wine grapes and that he had made wine with them and had won some awards at the Columbia county fair! Grape varieties are still unknown however... Some red and some white!

I have a great respect for this forum and apologize for being long winded... I am looking for recommendations for books that would be good for a beginner such as me.

Thanks for anyone who has read this far!

Happy wine loving to you all!!!


Sent from my iPad using Wine Making

 

[wildvines]

Welcome!


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[wildvines]

Can't tell you too much about readings. I mostly read every thread in this forum. I have 5 acres of Malbec in Argentina. But learned from the locals about pruning, irrigation, clones, etc. but have a Managment team running things in the community so never had a chance to get really into it since mostly in the states. But plenty of very knowledgable peeps here


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

As for reading material, you could do a lot worse than to start with this free e-book from the oenology program at UC Davis:
http://wineserver.ucdavis.edu/content.php?category=winemaking

 

[HillPeople]

Recommended reading

For Whites:
http://www.morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/wwhiw.pdf
For Reds:
http://www.morewinemaking.com/public/pdf/wredw.pdf

I found these guides to be very accurate and concise.

 

[winerocks69]

Great! Thank you so much everybody.


Sent from my iPad using Wine Making

 

[dwhill40]

The more I learn the more I realize it's all about growing the dirt.

http://www.bunchgrapes.com/mycorrhiza.html

 

[winerocks69]

Thank you dwhill. I've actually a student of Paul Stamets and have met the author of the article you referenced. I love using mycorrhiza to increase overall plant health and happiness...


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[TicinoVintner]

The more I learn the more I realize it's all about growing the dirt.

http://www.bunchgrapes.com/mycorrhiza.html

Couldn't agree more.
I have read many books and online publications from different universities and my advice would be to get the book "From Vine to Wine" by Jeff Cox. Perfect for the beginner and as a reference. It covers everything without being too technical. Also check out the free monthly publication Wine Business Monthly, lots of good free info there.


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[dwhill40]

Last March I was given about 30 Cab/101-14 vines that had grown a full year and were dormant. I had to dig them and get them in the ground 200 miles away and on a weekend so I really didn't have enough time to properly prepare the soil. My soil test had come back as 5.2 ph in the top soil and 4.9 in the subsoil and 5 pounds per acre of phosphorous and K was low also. I have washed out 80 yr old sandy fescue and bermuda cow pasture. I dipped them in Myke and dug a cup of bone meal and a couple of shovels of black decomposed oak tree dirt into the hole. Through the year I amended the soil with digging in lime and finally this fall dug in soft rock phosphate and azomite. No chemical fertilizer at all. I can tell you my farming family and I stood back in wonder watching these things turn into beautiful monsters. I almost needed loppers to prune a few of the bigger limbs. It was the rainiest year in a probably a century. Leaves formed well with only a little K mottling, no mildew at all. The only pestilence was minimal japanese beetles. Yes, I am a firm believer in miccorhizae.

 

[dwhill40]

...and btw, my little experiment is in north Alabama on a high plateau(what we call a mountain there) near Huntsville.

 

[winerocks69]

All of this is so helpful. Thank you everyone!


Sent from my iPad using Wine Making

 

[seth8530]

Welcome to the forum, I am sure you will do great here. You might want to start with a wine kit or perhaps some juice concentrate just to learn how everything works. That way you can also figure out what kind of equipment you might end up needing for your own setup. Reading this forum is a great way to learn a lot about making wine. If you have any questions it is perfectly ok to ask!