# Oak Circle Vineyards



## Mike89T (Apr 3, 2012)

Well I finally received my order from Double A Vineyards and got my vines in the ground this weekend. And so begins my little back yard vineyard.

So I put the following vines in the ground:

6 - Viognier
2 - Barbera
2 - Tempranillo

Based on how the different vines do here in the desert, I will eventually be adding more. I've attached an image of the vines soaking prior to being planted.


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## Rocky (Apr 3, 2012)

Good for you Mike. Best of luck with your vineyard and we expect big things in about 3 years! Keep us informed and let us know what you are making in the meantime.


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## ibglowin (Apr 3, 2012)

Pics or it never happened on this forum! 

Congratulations and looking forward to the updates!


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## Mike89T (Apr 3, 2012)

ibglowin said:


> Pics or it never happened on this forum!
> 
> Congratulations and looking forward to the updates!


 
Ha! Just as you posted I added a photo of the vines soaking in a bucket prior to me planting them.


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## Mike89T (Apr 4, 2012)

Bud break on the vines I planted a few days ago!


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## Mike89T (Apr 4, 2012)

Snapped a photo of my 7 year old Red Flame vine that I have trained up the side of my patio.


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## OldCanalBrewing (Apr 4, 2012)

Make sure to not let the vines grow on the house itself. You'll be in for nothing but problems in the long run. Ive seen plenty of damage from that.


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## Mike89T (Apr 4, 2012)

OldCanalBrewing said:


> Make sure to not let the vines grow on the house itself. You'll be in for nothing but problems in the long run. Ive seen plenty of damage from that.


 
Yep. I have it trained on wires and keep it cut back from the house.

Thanks,

Mike


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## Mike89T (Apr 26, 2012)

Well all of my 10 newly planted vines have started growing!

Both of my Barbera vines are already putting out flower clusters as seen on one below. I've since pinched them off:


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## Mike89T (Apr 26, 2012)

Here are my 6 Voignier vines all doing well!


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## Mike89T (Apr 26, 2012)

And here are my older vines. A small Muscat that I'm nursing back to health and my huge Red Flame that is loving the warm arizona weather right now.


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## ibglowin (Apr 26, 2012)

Looking good! Are they on a drip system of sorts?


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 26, 2012)

And I see a Weber Smokey Mountain in there too. Very nice!


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## Mike89T (Apr 26, 2012)

ibglowin said:


> Looking good! Are they on a drip system of sorts?


 
Yep. The vines here in the desert take a ton of water.


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## Mike89T (Apr 26, 2012)

Boatboy24 said:


> And I see a Weber Smokey Mountain in there too. Very nice!


 
I was wondering if any BBQ fans would notice that. I still haven't put it away from the St Louis Style Pork Ribs I cooked last weekend. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.


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## saddlebronze (Apr 26, 2012)

Looking good! Was just there last week, and it was so hot, I'll bet you could hear your vines growing!


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## ibglowin (Apr 26, 2012)

True dat!

I water my vines ~30 min a day durning the summer and we are not anywhere near you as far as heat. Bout the same for humidity though!



Mike89T said:


> Yep. The vines here in the desert take a ton of water.


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## Mike89T (Jan 10, 2013)

Pruned my vines over the Christmas break. Several of my new vines didn't grow long enough to make a main trunk out of this year. So I decided to start all of the main trunks over this year to keep things uniform. All of the vines have healthy looking buds. Can't wait to see year 2 growth!

Also started a Kit wine that is bubbling away. Went with a Cabernet Merlot blend.


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## Mike89T (Feb 27, 2013)

Finally bottled my first batch of wine! Sorry about the poor photo quality. I used my cell phone to take the pictures late last night. The labels look way better in person.


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## ibglowin (Feb 27, 2013)

Nice, love the labels!


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## Mike89T (Feb 27, 2013)

And the rear label:


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## Mike89T (Feb 27, 2013)

ibglowin said:


> Nice, love the labels!


 
Thanks! Spent a lot of time trying to get them just how I wanted. I'm really happy with the final product.


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## BobR (Feb 27, 2013)

Nice looking labels and good luck on those grapes. You'll have to keep us posted this year with more photos. How often do you water them?


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## Mike89T (Feb 27, 2013)

BobR said:


> Nice looking labels and good luck on those grapes. You'll have to keep us posted this year with more photos. How often do you water them?


 
This will be year 2 on the grapes. I cut them all the way back last december and will be growing the main trunks this year.

They get about 30 gallons a week during the hottest part of the summer.


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## Mike89T (Jul 27, 2014)

*My first harvest*

After 3 years I finally got my first very small harvest of wine grapes. Lost most of my vines to the excessive heat but 2 vines have done pretty well. My older Muscat I have been able to bring back to life. It is producing really well. Also one of my Tempranillo vines is doing good and produced for the first time this year. 

Got just enough grapes to make about a gallon of juice. I combined them both and am going to make a rosé type of wine. I'm using the Vinter's Harvest CY17 strain of yeast. This is more of an experiment if anything.


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## ibglowin (Jul 27, 2014)

Looking good! So how many vines are still alive?


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## Mike89T (Jul 27, 2014)

ibglowin said:


> Looking good! So how many vines are still alive?


 
my big red flame table grape vine is going strong and has a trunk as big as my forearm. However I didn't do any bird prevention on it and lost all of the grapes.

My 1 Muscat is doing really well. Got about 3 pounds of grapes off it this year.

I have 1 tempranillo going strong and producing and 1 vine that is struggling to survive.

I have 1 struggling Barbera and one that I lost.

I have 2 Voigneir vines left that are hanging in there but the few grapes clusters that survived turned to raisins in the heat.


So far I have lost 1 Barbara and 3 Viogneir vines which are all located in the direct sun. The vines that are doing well get a little bit of shade from other bushes/trees or structures in the yard.

Since I only have a few vines I stapled paper bags around the individual grape clusters to protect them from the birds. I was actually shocked when I pulled off the bags and I had grapes that looked like grapes. Kind of caught me by surprise.


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## ibglowin (Jul 27, 2014)

Gotta be a tough place to keep a grape vine alive!


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## Mike89T (Jul 29, 2014)

Going for a Tavel style Rosé. My daughter helped me crush and after 2 days in the bucket with skins I pressed and removed the skins. Didn't get as much juice as I had hoped but it should make at least one bottle.


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