New Vineyard HELP Please!

[vscottcolorado]

After 6 kits since April I am reallyaddicted to this. Have lined up some Grapes for this fall (500 lbs. CA Cabernet) to venture into the full path of wine making.I still have a lot to learn but would really like to turn a side yard into a small vineyard. Don't even know if it is possible to get a variety that would do well here. There was a small Winery here, Pikes Peak Winery, but they tilled that up a couple of years ago and built homes and a golf course. They also were 1500' lower in elevation then we are.
Here are some knowns:
Location: East side of the house with pretty much all day sun. Slight slope running east to west.Also we get quite a bit of wind during the summer months but the East side is somewhat protected.
Colorado Springs, CO 80921
Area to Plant: Roughly 60 x 100
Elevation: 6980'
Soil: Has some clay, actually quite a bit. 8 years ago when we built the house had to do an over dig on the foundation. The side where I would like to plant has had a natural Pine Mulch on it for 8 years. Every couple of years I top dress it with new Mulch. I do know that the old mulch composts down each year. Somewhere I do have a soils report but don't know how in depth it is.
Temps: Spring-(March/April)/May 50-60's days, lower 40's night
Summer-June/July/August 80-90's days, mid 50's to lower 60's nights
Fall- September/October/First week of November 70-50's days upper 30's to mid 40's nights
Winter-It's all over the place. I have played golf in January/February in 60 degree weather. But normally highs of 20-40 and lows of upper teens to 20. We can have a week or two of below 0 lows and highs in the single digits. But that is not the norm. Colorado Springs boosts about 325 days of sunshine a year, but I believe that they count it as a day if the sun comes out for 10 minutes.
Rainfall/Snowfall: The last few years we have been in a drought but in June we had 2.89" and already 1.8" for July. But we are starting into our dry time of year now. I know that does not sound like much to all of you in the Midwest and east coast, but I'm loving it. We can also have snowfall before Halloween, 39" in 2000, but that again is not the norm. Usually 4-8" and it is gone in 2 days.


Need some advise if possible.
Where do I start?
What variety?
How many vines for this area?
Where to get them, (vines)?
Would you plant all the same variety?
Any books on high altitude vines and growing?
Is it to late to get things started this year?


Any Help would be greatly appreciated. Scott

Side where I would like to plant. A small gazebo in the upper left hand corner where the wife and I and friends could sit and drink some wine or a whiskey and watch grass/vines grow.

 

[gaudet]

I can't help you with the vineyard, but I got a good name for you... Mile High Wines.....

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Maybe this can help,


http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/LARIMER/mgnr.2006.a.10.07.htm


or lead you to help. Good Luck!

 

[AlFulchino]

you can do it....that is the easy of the hard parts

the BIGGEST thing that you can do now in conjunction w soil prep etc is go taste as many varieties of wines from grapes designated as being able to be grown in your climate and area

if this is only for wine you want to drink then you need to find those varieties now..and if it is to really be commercial then you need to consider what varieties will reach a person willing to pay you for that bottle

other than that..its farming...its weeds....its pests and diseases...its sunshine...rain...mud...drought....high winds...early mornings....late days

did i say beauty? because there IS beauty

its reallytoo late to plant this year...but you can do soil prep...trellis work..dont skimp on this...get wires up BEFORE the vines go in

there is more and as you can see you got two good answers before mine and more will come no doubt

since your winter type temps can hit you late in the spring, you should think about late bud opening varieties so as to not lose early flower clusters

last but not least (for now) you are in the spraying business very 7-10 or 10-14 days ......

ready? go!

 

[grapeman]

Dave- OilnH20 is probably one of the closest growers to you on the forum. He is in Montana so the climate should be similar to yours. Al gives you a few good pointers and I am sure we can come up with many more. If you have been mulching with pine for quite a while, check the pH. Even with clay there, the soil could be getting acidic from all the pine composting.Grapes like the pH around 5.8- 6.2, but will tolerate a wide range.

 

[R Ziegler]

Sounds like you might want to check out this website if you where looking for something a bit different than mainstream varietals.


http://www.vineconnections.com/argentine-wine/education/winemaking-regions.php


Vineyardsin Argentina are some of the highest in the world and seem to be about the elevation you are at, but your temp might get a bit cooler.


Torrentes is a white varietal that some cooler places in california are
experimenting with currently.
Also, I would check with other vineyards in colorado. Last year colorado wines took top honors in an international wine competetion over california, there was even an article that stated with global climate changes occuring - "Is colorado the next california"


If you are looking to go commercial (which was mentioned earlier as a reply) you should make sure you look into zoning laws. But if not, then as long as you are under the 200 gallon limit (which is about 1/4 acres of vines) you should be good to go.


Using some rough calcuations you should be able to get about 96 vines on your site if you use a 7ft rowx 6ft vine spacing (total size would be 84' x 48' ). This is if I understand the direction of the area you are placing this on.


Here is another site you might try - it is a pdf about 82 pages long.


http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/550a.pdf


BTW - i would be interested in knowing what the soils report said.

 

[vscottcolorado]

Thanks for the responses.. To clear up a couple of things.I am not looking to go commercial. Just something to research and play with. It was funny that both JWMINNESOTA and R Ziegleram posted links to Colorado State University. My son will be a Jr. there next year andnext Wednesday I was planning a trip up to help him move into a new town home. Made some calls yesterday and will be meeting with a grad student at CSUnext week whileI am up there majoring in Varietal Science. This should be interesting

.I think my concentration now will be, 1). Find out what varieties are hardy for my climate. 2). Taste a few of those to determine if we would like them, 3). Get a new soils report, maybe this should be the first thing I do.4). Site prep. If any of you have thoughts as to question I should be asking next week at CSU please list them.
Al, thanks for the heads up. I have been following applemans post here and I knew it would involve a lot more work then just planting a rose bush or 2. I guess I have a ton of research to do just to see if I want to commit to this, but I feel the end results could be very rewarding!
Thanks to all

 

[AlFulchino]

"Al, thanks for the heads up. I have been following applemans post
here and I knew it would involve a lot more work then just planting a
rose bush or 2. I guess I have a ton of research to do just to see if
I want to commit to this, but I feel the end results could be very
rewarding!
Thanks to all"

the biggest things to go over now is to realize that winemaking for your personal interest and tastes may not jive w the grapes that you can grow in your climate ( this is tru for us all)....see what others are growing and taste the wines....investigate what varieties are POSSIBLE TO GROW in your climate and see if you like or CAN like those wines and if not then you can always operate a vineyard *just for fun* and the looks and the appearance

 

[vscottcolorado]

Still proceeding with research on this project. Meet with the grad student at Colorado State, and just sent in my soil sample for analysis. $ 10 bucks, not bad! He told me when they get it completed he will get with a few others and decide what may work for me in Colorado Springs. They actually have a small vineyard on the Western Slope, (Grand Junction, CO area). One of my big concerns is Deer! Even though we are in a pretty populated sub division, we are right across the interstatefrom the Air Force Academy. Up until a couple of years ago, when the environmentalist got involved, they use to have controlled hunts for 2 days to thin the herds.It was like shooting bambi! Now things are getting out of control again. Just ask my Aspens..
I'll wait and see what CSU has to say then tackle the deer issue.
Many thanks to all

 

[R Ziegler]

Well, depending on city ordinances - a fence is the best way to deal w/ deer, but is needs to be pretty tall for the most part. 6ft is usually ok w/ most cities, but a 8ft to 10ft fence would be more ideal, cause those little

can really jump.
Other than that, a number of bags of human hair from the local barber/salon or slices from a bar of irish spring hanging by each vine (6 or8 pieces from each bar of soap) That amount of soap might be a bit much, but I hope someone can chime in on the correct usuage of soap chunks - but I think that is what I read somewhere.

 

[OilnH2O]

Scott, let me tell you about deer!

You can read my "Missoula Vinyard" thread if you want to cry, but it is a big frustration. I tried the Irish Spring soap, and found they ate up to about a foot from it, skipped that section, and went to the next! Tried dog hair, but that didn't work. You can buy bobcat urine south of here (really!) that is used to keep deer out, and it works, but I don't want to risk it somehow getting into the grapes, then the wine. (Of course, I'm sure some of the members on the forum here could come up with some great names and labels!

)

One other thing I've learned this summer, is that while deer netting kept them out the last two years, this year they have pushed through and torn the netting repeatedly. I've repaired several times, but have now resigned myself to a fence -- at least 8' tall -- with some sort of wire -- probably of a size to keep out the neighbors' cats and dogs, too.

(BTW, I was "across the interstate" yesterday for A-Day, where my Able Assistant from earlier posts in my thread is now a part of the Class of 2013 -- "Best To Be Seen; Big, Bad, and Mean!" I saw him for only a couple hours but it was worth the trip!)