Live in wine country - have no experience

[Tandrup]

Hi all,
Although I live in the middle of “wine country” in Sonoma County, I really have no idea what I’m doing. I'm here to learn and exchange ideas and contribute with my experiences and learning as I go along.

I wanted to just post this as an introduction - I’m sure I will have a lot of questions as we move along. I found a couple of local hobby winegrowers and spoke to two local “for real” vintners and have just planted phase 1 of our vineyard this past weekend: 60 Chardonnay vines. Focus now is to let them grow a bit and then next year plant phase 2 (probably 200-250) vines with Cab Sauvignon or Zinfandel.

in the meantime, my plan is to start making wine from a couple of kits, then buy some fruit from some local vineyards this fall and to get more and more experienced in the winemaking before I get to harvest from my own vineyard.

 

[Cynewulf]

Beautiful setup! Sounds like you’ve got a good plan. Welcome and I look forward to tracking your progress!

 

[srcorndog]

Looks very good

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome aboard!

 

[ruhbarb76]

Hi all,
Although I live in the middle of “wine country” in Sonoma County, I really have no idea what I’m doing. I'm here to learn and exchange ideas and contribute with my experiences and learning as I go along.

I wanted to just post this as an introduction - I’m sure I will have a lot of questions as we move along. I found a couple of local hobby winegrowers and spoke to two local “for real” vintners and have just planted phase 1 of our vineyard this past weekend: 60 Chardonnay vines. Focus now is to let them grow a bit and then next year plant phase 2 (probably 200-250) vines with Cab Sauvignon or Zinfandel.

in the meantime, my plan is to start making wine from a couple of kits, then buy some fruit from some local vineyards this fall and to get more and more experienced in the winemaking before I get to harvest from my own vineyard.
View attachment 73866

 

[ruhbarb76]

It is an impressive system. I am particularity interested in how your watering system actually works. Is it a drip system and are the boxes set down in the soil to channel the water more directly to the roots? Actually, I intend to come up with a watering system for my wife's roses and may be able to canniblize some of your system. Thanks

 

[Tandrup]

It is an impressive system. I am particularity interested in how your watering system actually works. Is it a drip system and are the boxes set down in the soil to channel the water more directly to the roots? Actually, I intend to come up with a watering system for my wife's roses and may be able to canniblize some of your system. Thanks

It's really nothing special. It's just a standard irrigation control box, two control valves (just because I wanted to be able to run two zones), and then standard water pipes down to each row (under ground), up through the white pipes for each row, and then I connected black irrigation tubing with a 1 gallon/hr drip emitter close to each vine. I have located the drip emitters so they provide water close to the vine, but outside of the protectors to not get too much water on the foliage.

The black irrigation tube sits 16"-18" over the ground to make it easier to get in the rows and remove the weeds. It is hooked to the lowest wire with standard hooks/pigtails just to prevent too much sagging.

I then hooked that up to my Rachio controller so I can control the watering based on predicted rain (not that there is any rain between now and Thanksgiving) and change runtimes, schedules, etc from my phone. I'm happy to elaborate a bit if you have specific questions or send you some pictures of any details you want to see.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome!
California is interesting land, good luck on the venture! ,,, as a midwesterner grapes have been years of learning curve learning how to grow them.

 

[Tandrup]

Welcome!
California is interesting land, good luck on the venture! ,,, as a midwesterner grapes have been years of learning curve learning how to grow them.

CA is definitely interesting - I am a transplant here and it's unique trying to settle down here. I was born and raised in Denmark and moved to the US because of work. There are plusses and minuses - and as with everything in life, we are trying to make the best of it. Being able to establish a vineyard is absolutely on the "big plus" side.

 

[ruhbarb76]

Hi Tandrup, Sorry for the late reply but I'm in the midst of trying to order parts for my 1993 Olds (it's been a headache). Your input for the irrigation system is right on point. And I can use the drip emitters to keep the roses alive this year.
Thanks.

 

[sour_grapes]

Sorry for the late reply but I'm in the midst of trying to order parts for my 1993 Olds (it's been a headache). Y

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