Experimenting with wine and apples in Texas

[Tracy Dubcak]

I have a small test vineyard and a future cider apple orchard (this fall begins this journey) in central Texas. I have over 200 grape vines and am still trying to narrow down what does best here. I am viticulture trained from TTU so I have some experience on grape growing. The majority of my vines are Norton and Blanc du Bois. I am trialing Blanc du Soleil and Caminaire Noir among other vinifera and Native American varieties to see what will grow best in my area with the least amount of chemical assistance. I am focusing in on Norton, some of the Munson varieties and Blanc du Soleil currently.

The apples will be for cider and are old Southern varieties, many of which have been grown in Texas in the past.

We have our first batch of Norton in MLF right now and it has been quite a fun learning experience lol.

 

[Rice_Guy]

welcome to WMT , , , , hard ciders yum.

The grapes to grow are the ones which your neighbors found suitable. The longer is am in this the more I like apple. There is enough genetics available that one can build soft tannins (grape skin tannin taste) or harsh tannin (grape seed and stem taste). Colored apple polyphenols are more limited but combinations as 0.5% aronia produce a nice color. I wonder how neiderkranzana would grow in Texas?

 

[Musissa]

I have a small test vineyard and a future cider apple orchard (this fall begins this journey) in central Texas. I have over 200 grape vines and am still trying to narrow down what does best here. I am viticulture trained from TTU so I have some experience on grape growing. The majority of my vines are Norton and Blanc du Bois. I am trialing Blanc du Soleil and Caminaire Noir among other vinifera and Native American varieties to see what will grow best in my area with the least amount of chemical assistance. I am focusing in on Norton, some of the Munson varieties and Blanc du Soleil currently.

The apples will be for cider and are old Southern varieties, many of which have been grown in Texas in the past.

We have our first batch of Norton in MLF right now and it has been quite a fun learning experience lol.

Welcome! I am also a new member on this forum, happy to have such a knowledgeable person here. I have 3 years of experience in grape vines growing but have just realized that I did almost everything wrong. I also prefer to avoid chemicals as much as possible. My fruit trees are young so everything we harvested had been eaten fresh. Later I hope to learn how to make fruit wines made from my own apples, plums, peaches, tart cherries, raspberries and red currants.

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[Texas Winer]

I have a small test vineyard and a future cider apple orchard (this fall begins this journey) in central Texas. I have over 200 grape vines and am still trying to narrow down what does best here. I am viticulture trained from TTU so I have some experience on grape growing. The majority of my vines are Norton and Blanc du Bois. I am trialing Blanc du Soleil and Caminaire Noir among other vinifera and Native American varieties to see what will grow best in my area with the least amount of chemical assistance. I am focusing in on Norton, some of the Munson varieties and Blanc du Soleil currently.

The apples will be for cider and are old Southern varieties, many of which have been grown in Texas in the past.

We have our first batch of Norton in MLF right now and it has been quite a fun learning experience lol.

Hi Tracy:
I'm in Texas also, but in Northeast Texas, specifically Red River County. I have only 40 vines rn, which I hope make it they had a long journey from buckets to a recently purchased 50 acre farm, but they seem to be alright. I also am interested in growing apples, but not sure where to begin...what is your plan and how do you get started growing apple trees? I'm curious about peaches too if you know what works best in Texas (of course I realize what works best in one place might not in another).

My vines so far that are doing well are Barbera. They seem to like my dry, cracked soil and when I say cracked in Red River County you can look down 4 feet in the ground (not everywhere, but in some places). But we have water all under us, springs coming up everywhere and 2 ponds as a result, so I am very excited about the potential. I have 40 more vines coming in the spring and will keep growing my vineyard.

Good luck to you and so excited for you, our daughter went to TTU also, she was a soccer player, Alli Murphy. She went on to play professional soccer in Europe and just retired and is now having a baby, so not much soccer for the next 9 months.

Have a great day!
Ann in Clarksville, Texas and Mckinney, Texas

 

[Tracy Dubcak]

Welcome! I am also a new member on this forum, happy to have such a knowledgeable person here. I have 3 years of experience in grape vines growing but have just realized that I did almost everything wrong. I also prefer to avoid chemicals as much as possible. My fruit trees are young so everything we harvested had been eaten fresh. Later I hope to learn how to make fruit wines made from my own apples, plums, peaches, tart cherries, raspberries and red currants.

We are going to be making cider and fruit wines from our apples. I also prefer to avoid chemicals if possible. And we are in the trial and error stage too on the wine making right now. My Pambianchi wine book is looking pretty dog earred I have referred to it so frequently!

 

[Tracy Dubcak]

Hi Tracy:
I'm in Texas also, but in Northeast Texas, specifically Red River County. I have only 40 vines rn, which I hope make it they had a long journey from buckets to a recently purchased 50 acre farm, but they seem to be alright. I also am interested in growing apples, but not sure where to begin...what is your plan and how do you get started growing apple trees? I'm curious about peaches too if you know what works best in Texas (of course I realize what works best in one place might not in another).

My vines so far that are doing well are Barbera. They seem to like my dry, cracked soil and when I say cracked in Red River County you can look down 4 feet in the ground (not everywhere, but in some places). But we have water all under us, springs coming up everywhere and 2 ponds as a result, so I am very excited about the potential. I have 40 more vines coming in the spring and will keep growing my vineyard.

Good luck to you and so excited for you, our daughter went to TTU also, she was a soccer player, Alli Murphy. She went on to play professional soccer in Europe and just retired and is now having a baby, so not much soccer for the next 9 months.

Have a great day!
Ann in Clarksville, Texas and Mckinney, Texas

Ann,

What are the grapes you are planning on planting in the spring? Also, how old are your Barbera vines and have you had any issues with diseases? I have some Barbera that are 4 leaf and they have taken forever to get to the cordon wire and actually thicken up. And they are susceptible to anthracnose and black rot here. But that seems to go for all my grape varieties except for Norton. I have reds: Barbera, Norton, Lomanto, Tempranillo, Caminaire Noir and whites: Blanc du Bois, Blanc du Soleil, Voigner, Albarino, Ambulo Blanc, Villard Blanc. My best whites have been Villard Blanc and Blanc du Bois. The Blanc du Soleil is a trial grape that should do well- but they are 2024 vintage so no data yet.

My TTU viticulture certificate was long distance and super helpful. Fritz Westover is helpful too!

 

[Texas Winer]

Tracy,
As I am a hobby farmer, I just pick and choose and plant and pray! These are what I have ordered for Spring delivery:
Sangiovese (because I have discovered my soil is more of a clay and my research said these might do well)
Merlot Kanthus (same as above)
Frontenac Blanc
Himrod
Kerner
Marquis
Niagara
Petite SIrah
What I have in the ground already:
Ambulo Blanc
Elvira
Barbera (which seem to be doing the best)
Edelweiss
Tempranillo
Chardonel
Chambourcin
Itasca (seem to be doing the worst)

Who is Fritz Westover?