BigJohnD in the house...

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BigJohnD

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I am excited about finding and using this forum. My intial lurking of it tells me I am going to spend a fair amount of time in here. Please be patient with my seeming infantile questions. I hope to get up to speed as quick as I can.

My wife and I are set to retire this year. We have been in the Denver metro area since 86...and it is time to get back close to our home towns of Telluride (me) and Moab (her). But that is just part of it.

We just bought a vineyard down in the 4 corners area of Colorado. Not sure what went wrong with the previous owners, but we want to give it a run. It has 1,100 grape plants (not sure what kind just yet), fruit trees, and berry bushes. It has a fairly decent sized garden for the veggies as well. Our experience has been limited to small batches of wine and beer at home. Nothing on this scale. The place is set up, it is just a matter of getting it back to the glory days that it was a couple years ago.

We have been in training for the last ten years at the place we live now. It has a quarter acre garden, along with the fruit trees and grapes that we put in. It is all set up with drip irrigation, as is the new place. It is a smaller operation than the new one, but we will have the time of retirement to devote to the new place.

We have been canning for some years now. All the produce that can be canned, gets canned. If you have not had jalapeno jam, then you are missing something. But we can jams from various items in the garden. And now it is time to step up to the vineyard and all it brings.

So...there you have the windy version of "Hello...my name is John". Hope to make some friends in here...and I hope they do not think I am a zombie with how much I will pick their brains.

And thanks to the site owners, administrators and MODs...for giving me a place to land. I will try to not cause any bells to go off on the MOD panels.

Oh yeah...I said I like motorcycles. I ride dual sport now. Own a BMW 1150GS. Usually I am out touring when I have the time. But that might change now. Might have to keep it to the most beautiful roads in the country by staying close to home (the new one).
 
Wow, sounds like a great retirement and right up my alley. Motorcycles and wine, what could be better especially with someone to share it with. Welcome. Hopefully in about 10 years I will be there.
 
congratulations on your new life. Gonna be an exciting ride. Best of luck to ya.
 
Welcome to the Wine Side! Life as you know it has come to an end! MWAahahahahahaha.

Just kidding, but you will lose a lot of spare time when you get involved in the vineyard. By the way 1100 vines is pretty small for a commercial vineyard so you will need to plant more or buy grapes/juice to fill in.

Great Luck to you!
 
Welcome to WMT. Alot of great info here. Everybody is willing to share problems and success stories. BTW Durango is one of my favorite cities. Bakervinvard
 
Welcome to WMT. Alot of great info here. Everybody is willing to share problems and success stories. BTW Durango is one of my favorite cities. Bakervinvard

We will be close to there...Dolores is the address, but it is about halfway between Cortez and Dolores.

I am stoked...
 
Hi BigJohnD,

Welcome to winemakingtalk. And dam you for saying you are retiring!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My husband and I have 4 more years to go but congrats on being where some us would love to be!!!!!!!!!
 
welcome aboard John! Trust me, if these great folks can put up with my questions, you will e fine!!!
Ask away, it is a great community!
 
Welcome BigJohnD. I spend quite a lot of time on this board myself. A lot of great information and helpful people.
 
Thanks to all for the warm welcome. I am really enjoying the information here.
 
Well it is official.

We are the proud owners of the vineyard.

Have been moving some stuff down...got all the locks changed out.

Not sure when we will be there full time...but it is on the horizon for sure.

I keep reading threads...and have to say, this place is full of great information.

Guess at some point I will have to put our vineyard in the registry. Gonna call it "The Vineyard at J&D Ranches"....
 
So what types of vines did you "inherit"! LOL

Congratulations!

That remains to be seen...at its peak it had 1,100 vines...not sure what type or what may still be viable. It was a bank repo...

But we are game for it...bring it on...
 
Wow, your saying there was no one around who knew? I wonder if a neighbor might know? A mystery vineyard!
 
Congrats BigJohn! That's pretty exciting! You'll have to share pictures of your new vineyard with us.
 
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