Hello From Indiana.

[Allen]

Hi Everybody!


I am not new to wine, but I am new to winemaking. I have been brewing beer for about 12 years (even though a dry red wine is my drink of choice), and just purchased 2 WE Selection International kits; Australian Cab, & Australian Shiraz. I plan on starting the first one next week!


I have allways wanted to make wines, but every time I have tasted home made wine, the best I could do was 'choke it down', so, sinceIdid not want to make bad wine, I had chosen to stick with beer.


However, a couple of things recently have encouraged me go for it.


One, I come from a long line of winemakers in Europe. Both my mother'sparents are from a small villiage south east of Vienna Austria. This June, I brought my wife & two teenagers there to meet the families for our first time. Our relatives there have four wineries, from 2 small "Vinotechs" to 2 large international wineries.


After spending time with them, the've convinced me that I have to continue the tradition out here. So, I went to my home brew shop to get started, and they turned me on to the Wine Expert kits as a good place to start, and told me that I couldn't make a bad wine with these, unless I tried to. (Which was reason #2 to go for it).


So, in the process of educating myself, happened across this site!!

My Austrian cousins tried to send me home with (10) 1 year oldZweigelt starts, but the US Department of Agriculture had some different ideas.

Since then, I have been trying to find a source in North America for Zweigelt starts, but have been unsuccessfull.


Next year, we plan on planting 10 plants each of 4 varieties, and hopefully one of them will be the Zweigelt. I have heard the variety is one of the most widely new planted variety in Canada right now, so there must be some sources out there. If it will grow and produce in Canada, then surely it will do the same here in Indiana!


Anyways, I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions!

 

[vcasey]

Welcome to the forum!
I have just started bulk aging a Cellar Craft Zweigelt, first taste at racking - Yum! My husband brews beer because he decided it took too long for the wine to age. Now he has started making beers that need to age for a year.
Looking forward to hearing about your adventures in wine making.
VC

 

[Allen]

OK,


I know I'm jumping the gun here, but is it wrong to design a label before I've even started the wine?

Here's my inital layout of the mini-vineyard:

 

[smurfe]

Welcome aboard. I look forward to following your progress in this venture. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Tom]

Welcome!

Looks like you already have your helpers

 

[grapeman]

Welcome Allen. It's great that you come from a winemaking background.


Zweigelt is still a hard to obtain variety in this country, but give me time and I can track down a source for you. Double A Vineyards here in NY carries them, but they are already listed as not available for 2009-2010. I would give them a call and they can at least put you on a list of ones to call if they get extra while grading. They are very conservative with estimates while they are growing and often grade out more than they expect, and then they call people from this list. I have heard of others in the US having them and I'm pretty sure I can track some down in that small quantity. They are grown quite a bit in Canada, but remember that plants are not supposed to travel cross border without the proper papers to protect crops on both sides of the borders.


Find out what the vineyards grow in your area. Parts of Indiana are a bit inhospitable to vineyards and then you would need to grow hardier hybrids. Good luck. I'm sure you will have lots of questions.

 

[rrawhide]

welcome and good luck -
you have found the right place to be.

you may want to consider 10' or 11' between rows IF you have the room.
Just worked with a 10 1/2 spacing and it sure was nice - tractor missed everything!!!

You might also check with www.vintagenurseries.com in Fresno, Ca. They may be able to steer you in the right direction.

rrawhide

 

[Allen]

Thanks Appleman,


I did talk to Double A yesterday, and they said they would not have any available until 2011, but I did not think about asking to be put on their "extras" list. I'll give that a try. You may be right about the borders, but when I was talking to the US Dept. of Ag, they said I could only plant vines that come from North America. I did not specifically ask about crossing the Canadian border, I only assumed.


If you (Or anyone else) could help me find a source for these. I would be grateful!


By the way, when you say that some parts of Indiana are inhospitable to grape vines, what areas are you talking about, and what would make them inhospitable?

 

[Allen]

OK, I just talked to a guy in MN who has ONE zweigelt plant, and he thought he got it from a place in Oergon called Rain Tree. Anyone familiar with this place? I can't find anything on them with a net search.

 

[Allen]

OK, quit looking, I found some!!


http://www.idnursery.com/

 

[hannabarn]

Welcome Allen, As you can see you have come to the right place for advice. However, from the looks of your post, it won't be long and you will be the one giving advice. Good luck!

 

[ibglowin]

From one (semi-fading) newbie to another welcome!

There is a vast amount of knowledge floating around the internets on this forum. I started back at the beginning of July and I am now on my 5th kit with the 6th in route as we speak.

If you like a nice bold red then stick with the bigger kits (16-18L) or the All Juice (23L) kits. Kits with grape packs will give you more mouth feel than a kit without one.

Ask a lot of questions, take good notes, pay attention to detail, be patient and you will be rewarded in 12-18 months with some amazing wine!

 

[grapeman]

Thanks Appleman,


By the way, when you say that some parts of Indiana are inhospitable to grape vines, what areas are you talking about, and what would make them inhospitable?

Glad you asked. See the USDA Hardiness zone map for Indianna. Thelight green area takes a good cold hardy variety to survive. Vinifera won't do well in those areas.


http://www.growit.com/bin/USDAZoneMaps.exe?MyState=in


Thedark green areas would support the Cornell Varieties -light green need the Swensen and U Minn varieties to thrive.


The yellow zones are more foregiving.

 

[Allen]

Well, that maps a little hard to see, so I can't tell for sure where I am on it. However, I am in Hendricks County, which is due west and right next to Indianapolis (Marion county), and I think I am in the lower portion of the light green.


Does that mean I can't grow the Zweigelt?

 

[grapeman]

You will want to check locally and see just where you are on the map and what is the normal low temperatures for the last 10 years at least. I would say you are very boderline to being able to grow the Zweigelt. Maybe try a few and see if they do alright. If they will ripen in lower Canada, they might do alright there.


This is what I meant by some of Indiana is inhospitable to grapes. Good luck!

 

[NEBama]

Welcome to the forum.AL

 

[Waldo]

Welcome Allen

Glad to have you onboard

 

[Allen]

You will want to check locally and see just where you are on the map and what is the normal low temperatures for the last 10 years at least. I would say you are very boderline to being able to grow the Zweigelt. Maybe try a few and see if they do alright. If they will ripen in lower Canada, they might do alright there.


This is what I meant by some of Indiana is inhospitable to grapes. Good luck!

I found a good source for local information from Purdue University, it is a flyer titled "Growing Grapes in Indiana:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-45.pdf It shows my county in Zone 5b, with average annual minimum temps -10 to -15f. Also, it shows our average frost free season between 171-180 days. So, with that information, do you think it helps or hurts my chances?


By the way, there is a lot of good general information on this flyer that pertains to grape vines everywhere.

 

[grapeman]

You will be very borderline being able to grow them there. You can probably grow them alright and they would probably even ripen, it's keeping the buds from freezing too badly over the winter. Some people go to extraordinary means like burying the lower part of the vine with soil or straw to protect them over the winter. A vineyard your size would be a lot of work.

 

[nursejohn]

Welcome aboard! You will find a ton of information on this forum. Good luck with you winemaking projects. My family and I were up in your part of the country this summer; beautiful country up there.