# Forgotton Vineyard Revival?



## gush (Jun 5, 2011)

So this may belong in the newbie section but i think it will get more traffic here..

Here's the deal. When i was ~12-13 I went with a close friend of the family to one of his friends houses to pick wine grapes and make some wine. I dont remember much beyond the crazy amount of bees that were around and the picking/moving of the grapes.

Fast forward to now (i'm 25). I got this person's contact information and gave them a call because i have recently (within the past 6 months) gotten into the hobby and wanted to help around the vineyard if he still had it running because its been a pipe dream for me for a few years now. He apparently had somewhere close to 340 vines which all came directly from california grafted root stock.

Unfortunatly about 8-10 years ago his wife/girlfriend died and he ended up retiring and forgetting about the vineyard. We walked the vineyard today and found that there were still actually grape vines growing through some brush etc. The trellis system is still somewhat intact and i believe some of it can be saved. He has given me and my wine making partner full reign over his vineyard and said do what we want with it as i am in between houses and dont have my own land to plant currently. I believe we found some chardonay grape vines in the mess and we plan to clean up all the brush around the good grapes. We will do some cluster thining on the vines this year and may end up with a few gallons worth of must. I saw atleast 3 vines that were still alive without digging too much through the brush.

This gentlemen also has a basement full of ~15+ carboys, multiple stainless/aluminum variable volume tanks, a bladder press, motorized crusher/destemer 2 large open plastic primary vats, etc. He is was the "money" to the operation as he told us many times that he let people manage his vineyard and he would just make the wine from the harvest. 

What he has said we can do is... 
-cut down the trees/brush in the vineyard
-maintain current vines (or replace)
-plant any number of vines we want (he suggested 25-50)

What he brings to the party
-Fermenation tanks
-pumps/filters
-landscaping equipment
-crusher/destemer
-bladder press

We need to do an inventory of his equipment (because he is unsure of what he has) and survey the damages to the vines that are left and the trellis systems. He was making wine from roughly 1994-2001 (when he lost his wife/girlfriend). He does bring some good experience to the table but not much as far as the growing and pruning aspect goes. He also mentioned that his sanitization was pretty laxed. We tasted 2 of his yr 2000 vintage bottles but unfortunaly they had since gone to vinegar (or we think). The bottles had a dark film where the wine had been in contact with the glass and it had small black specks in it as well as a brown tinge to it when poured, not to mention the very tart flavor. He mentioned that he wants to jump in our grape order this fall and use his equipment to process it. We have a lot of cleaning and scrubing to do with the equipment as well as the vineyard. He understands that this project we will be doing is simply a stepping stone and wants to help us get to a point where we can do this on our own and know what kind of gear we will need to do more then the occasional 5-6 gallon batch that we started with.

The short of the long: The vineyard is a mess, and we have a chance to get some experience doing heavy pruning and rescue of forgotton vines, not to mention possible planting/trellising experience. I will be posting pictures and updates here looking for some advice as some of his methods seem to be pretty old school/laxed and he doesnt have much knowledge on the trellis system or growing aspect. 

I plan to be out there at the latest of this weekend to take some pictures and start the weedwacking so feel free to give any advice before then, and come back for the pictures!


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## Racer (Jun 5, 2011)

Looking forward to seeing some pictures! Sounds like you have a bit of work in front of you though.


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## grapeman (Jun 6, 2011)

Good luck with your adventure. Sounds like a great opportunity with a lot of learning and work. It would be a lot less work to just start your own little operation, but hey, these vines are started and should be able to be salvaged.


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## Runningwolf (Jun 6, 2011)

Good luck to you. I look forward to you keeping this thread going and hearing about your future ventures.


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## Flem (Jun 6, 2011)

WOW!!! Do you have your work cut out for you. It really sounds exciting. Good luck with your "hobby" and I hope it turns out well for you. As they said in the previous posts, keep this thread going so we can follow the progress.


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## UglyBhamGuy (Jun 6, 2011)

Congrats & Good Luck.


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## jtstar (Jun 6, 2011)

Good luck with your adventure you never know where it will take you keep us posted on your progress


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## wvbrewer (Jun 6, 2011)

Wow, That sounds like a adventure. You know a lot of us will be jeallous, but post some pics so we can see you progress.

Dave


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## gush (Jun 12, 2011)

Spent the first 2-3hrs of work there today. I found atleast 1 vinifera vine and i think half a row of concord? They also have peaches, pears, and concord grapes on the wall that they used to make preserves from. If we can get a harvest out of the peach/pear trees i might try and make some cider and jelly from them. The owner of this vineyard also used to have bee hives and has all the gear to spin your own honey as well! More pictures to come of the equipment and vineyard as we make more progress. 



overgrown:




overgrown:




roses on end of posts:




before:




after:




memories:




grapes:




grapes:


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## Runningwolf (Jun 12, 2011)

Gush thanks for the updated pictures. This truly a labor of love.


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## jtstar (Jun 12, 2011)

It's starting to look up do you know yet how many vines are still alive


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## gush (Jun 12, 2011)

Runningwolf said:


> Gush thanks for the updated pictures. This truly a labor of love.



This guy is a very interesting man, he used to work for the dea in the 70s and was a portfolio manager for stocks etc later on. His g/f passing away 10+ years ago definatly played a big role in the vineyard being forgoton. They also used to raise alpacas and bees etc but he stoped everything and retired soon after she died. He told me tonight that he wants to replant a part of the vineyard this spring and he is joining me and my partner this fall in our grape purchase from m&m. 

If i can take away 10% of his knowledge from these talks i will be a smart man. I only hope to learn more about his farming and adventures, the vineyard is only a tool to do so. He is about 72 years old and has alot to share and no one to share it with. Its rewarding enough going over there because i can tell he is enjoying himself and getting excited about making some wine again!


jstar:
There are definatly more then a dozen or so vines within the area that i started clearing. The condition of them is unknown and the trellis will need to be worked a little bit. If we get a gallon or two out of the vines this year that is great! I can see more vines down the way a bit but have more clearing to do. Unfortunatly i was working solo today and could only get so much done on my own. I do expect to have enough of a crop to do something with, even if they just end up as really good table grapes. I probably wont be touching the side that is really overgrown and full of bushes because i dont think im going to find much over there. We will continue to clear the area i started as he mentioned that was his most productive area. Dont worry, more pictures and details to come!


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## grapeman (Jun 13, 2011)

You will want to start a spray program for the vines. The last picture you show is infected with black rot which will ruin the crop if left untreated. The brown spots on the top of the leaves is the black rot. Here is a link showing it. I am also providing another link to fact sheets from the NYS IPM program- Integrated Pest Management.
http://nysipm.cornell.edu/factsheets/grapes/diseases/grape_br.pdf
http://nysipm.cornell.edu/factsheets/grapes/default.asp

Good luck with the project. I wish I had someone show an interest like you do closer to me.


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## ibglowin (Jun 13, 2011)

Man you got some eye there Rich!


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## grapeman (Jun 13, 2011)

Mike it comes from years of scouting using IPM techniques. You can spot spots from a long ways off and then the trick is to figure out what is amking them. You will catch on after a while.


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