Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[ibglowin]

So sad. You need to advertise for a harvest party "workshop" next year for sure!

 

[OilnH2O]

Gee, Rich - I was concerned that the snow I saw on the news in your part of the country had affected you. Sorry to see all that - I'm not sure why mine turned out so well but feel for you... I agree with Mike - hate to see you miss it at the end of all the hard work!

 

[grapeman]

Don't feel bad for me. While I hate to see a lot of fruit go bad the reality of it is that I knew I did not have enough room to pick all the large crop. I gave some fruit away to others and offered some wineries near me the opportunity to get some but they didn't want it. I did not get extra help because I simply could not handle it all. If all goes well, I will expand the winery in the next year and increase tank storage.

On another note, the growing season is officially over with the temperature bottoming out at 24 degrees F this AM. Yesterday we even had some flurries at the winery but not accumulating snow like I saw at the Saranac Lake Farmer's Market yesterday. Sinply beautiful seeing snow on the ground and fall foliage on some trees.

 

[ibglowin]

Maybe try a U-pick ad on Craigslist if it happens again.

 

[barbiek]

Maybe try a U-pick ad on Craigslist if it happens again.

Or on here would be much better!

 

[grapeman]

Dave here is some of that snow you refer to. It is a short ways from where I was at the market yesterday just outside the Bobsled runs at Lake Placid.

 

[OilnH2O]

Dave here is some of that snow you refer to. It is a short ways from where I was at the market yesterday just outside the Bobsled runs at Lake Placid.

Amazing! Still a beautiful autumn here with mid-60s as I "pen" this! But you are right... a little color among the foliage with new snow is a pretty sight!

THANKS!

 

[grapeman]

And then this afternoon it started to snow like heck all of a sudden in front of the winery. Five minutes later I looked back out and took this picture. WTH!

 

[GreginND]

NO NO NO, I'm not ready!

While we have dipped down to the 20's a couple of times, we have sunshine and 60's in the forecast for the next couple of weeks. YAY.

 

[OilnH2O]

And what growing zone is this??

People ask why I'm growing grapes in Montana... I say "I'm bettin' on global warming!"

 

[grapeman]

After a winter of record warmth in December and balmy most of January, the cold temperatures have settled in. Yesterday morning it was -14F with stiff winds. I warmed to -2F by early afternoon. At 4 PM it had dropped back to -12 but the winds had died back somewhat. I got up this AM to -22F with 10 mph wind, so the wind chill was around -43F. Needless to say it is much colder in the mountains to our west.

It will be interesting to see what there is for bud damage when we begin pruning in a week or so.

 

[ibglowin]

And here we are in the "banana belt" enjoying a little taste of Spring. It was 70 degrees yesterday in ABQ. I may water the vines and grass in the backyard this afternoon.

 

[GreginND]

We're sitting at +14 this morning but we we -14 yesterday morning.

I presume your cold hardy vines should be ok with the -22 but how much does the wind affect them?

 

[grapeman]

Mike I could try watering here. You must have seen those videos where they throw some boiling water into the air and it freezes in mid-air. I think it would be like that right now. Greg the wind shouldn't be that much of a factor. I was hoping for a mild winter all the way through. Previously it hadn't gotten below about -10 this year at all.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MfDrhyTKUA[/ame]

 

[GreginND]

Well, better to have low temps now rather than late fall before the vines are completely hardened off. After a mild fall we had less than -20 in early november last year that knocked my vines back to the ground again.

 

[grapeman]

I don't care where anybody is, there are always problems of some kind. There is cold and heat, rain and drought, insects and disease of all kinds depending where you are. The real challenge is learning the best ways to deal with them and lessen their impact. Part of the reason I love/hate farming!

 

[mgmarty]

The real challenge is learning the best ways to deal with them and lessen their impact. Part of the reason I love/hate farming!

Well said!

 

[grapeman]

I wish the weather would make up it's mind here this year. The snow has gone away- a few times now. It was sunny and I pruned in 20 something temps 2 days ago. Yesterday it was 20 in the morning and there was 2 inches of slushy snow covering the vines. I got soaked pruning for a while and then the sun came out a bit and it got to the mid thirties melting the snow gone again. This morning, it has begun snowing again and is just miserable and cold. I am staying inside today since I have developed a cough and don't want to get real sick.

 

[ibglowin]

You better hope you don't get what Denver got yesterday! We got a rock as usual as of late, just 60mph winds.........

 

[nephils]

I wish the weather would make up it's mind here this year. The snow has gone away- a few times now. It was sunny and I pruned in 20 something temps 2 days ago. Yesterday it was 20 in the morning and there was 2 inches of slushy snow covering the vines. I got soaked pruning for a while and then the sun came out a bit and it got to the mid thirties melting the snow gone again. This morning, it has begun snowing again and is just miserable and cold. I am staying inside today since I have developed a cough and don't want to get real sick.

Hi Grapeman, just want to say I have learned a lot by reading your posts. In this picture, what is the row orientation? Just curious because I'm evaluating approximately 3.5 acres of my property for an acre planting, but the problem is that the contiguous space is wooded. from that pic it looks like you are surrounded by woods. My propety is also surrounded by 8,000 plus acres of pine/oak forest to the west-southwest.