Which grape varieties to plant? Location: Austria

[cimbaliw]

I certainly don't mean to interrupt this fairly intense discussion about grape growing but I have to tell you that it was Viennese Red that perhaps was the final straw in getting me to start wine making. We were on the U making our way to Stephansplatz. We inadvertently got off at the Grunengargasse stop and ate a quick meal at a sausage cart. The wine was honest and drinkable, the sausage, bread and mustard were delightful. I wish you all the best in your endeavor. Chocolate in Vienna is an art form.

 

[blumentopferde]

Sorry nobody (I) never answered any of this

1 - Yep, wet-feet is basically water logging or the ability of your vines to "sit in a swamp" persay

2 - If theres no lime in the soil, I would think that the lime resistance of the variety wouldnt matter a whole lot.. Resistance wouldnt hurt, but its not like you're going to have a flashflood of lime from some odd direction

3 - Some do, or they'll choose something with medium or high vigor, then split the canopy in something like a Lyre system.. Can pull a somewhat larger crop, without losing too much terrior, when its done with care and balance

4 - Drought resistance is a big-one for me personally.. I wont have much a irrigation system myself and I'm probably going to see more/worse dry spells than you, but I would have definitely considered it

5 - C3309 is said to influence ripening by 2-3 weeks (earlier) although I'm not sure about many others.. It's a noticable difference though

6 - This, I'm unsure of

I know its a bit late for all this as you've already made the purchases and stuck them in the ground but I thought I should toss my 2-cents out there anywho..

Thanks for the clarifications! I figured out that worrying about rootstocks is not really worth the effort as most nurseries don't leave you a choice on the rootstocks anyways! :-|
But 2-3 weeks difference in maturity sounds worth the effort - where do you have these numbers from?

It looks beautiful, you've done a great job. Hopefully you'll keep us updated as the years go so we can see how it comes into bearing age and hopefully pull some crops

"Pics, or it didnt happen!"

Thanks for the compliment! I hope I don't mess it up next year!

I certainly don't mean to interrupt this fairly intense discussion about grape growing but I have to tell you that it was Viennese Red that perhaps was the final straw in getting me to start wine making. We were on the U making our way to Stephansplatz. We inadvertently got off at the Grunengargasse stop and ate a quick meal at a sausage cart. The wine was honest and drinkable, the sausage, bread and mustard were delightful. I wish you all the best in your endeavor. Chocolate in Vienna is an art form.

Hah, these sausages look like Debreziner! Great that you enjoyed Vienna, I like it also a lot even though I could visit it more often than I actually do! But are you telling me that this glass of coke on the first picture got you into winemaking?

Thanks for the wishes!

The next bunch of vines has already been ordered! I'll keep you updated!

 

[blumentopferde]

Dry spell

More than 3 weeks without rain and temperatures above 30°C (86°F) and my vines just look pitiful. I do water them once in a week but it doesn't seem to help. Obviously I planted them too late - but who could expect such a hot and dry summer after such a cold and rainy spring?

only a few of the new vines still look healthy:


many turn dry:


most are totally dried up:


Even the older vines don't look good:
This one has a grape on it, but the leaves look horrible:
Many leaves are really tiny. I wonder if this is a virus, a symptom of malnutrition or if it is still an after effect of the overdosed sprays, that burnt the leaves months ago... What do you think?



I also have a totally new problem:
On the part of the property that was a vineyard 25 years ago, there are suddenly many rootstock varieties growing:




I think they're coming up now because the heat has burnt all of their competitors on the field...

Many of them show symptoms of phylloxera:



That's why I want to get rid of them quickly and thoroughly. Do you know how I could do that effectively?

Best Regards,
blumentopferde

 

[blumentopferde]

Update:

Not many of the vines I planted last year survived: Especially the ones that were planted in June were hit hard by the hot summer: Only one Silvaner out of eight and two Traminer out of 12 survived. Overall I lost about half of my vines. What a waste!


I planted a few new varieties this year:
- 4 Blauer Wildbacher
- 4 Blauer Portugieser and
- 4 Gewurztraminer

This time I was earlier with planting so I hope they will do well...

I also ordered some rootstock varieties (SO4 and Binova) which I successfully made callousing and forming roots. Next year I'll try to graft the vines myself so I don't have to waste so much money on replacing the dead vines...

 

[Bartman]

Bummer about the loss of your plantings last year. I'm sure you will have better luck with your new plantings.
I just had some Gewurz (from a kit) tonight at dinner - is there a difference between the "Traminer" and "Gewurztraminer" breeds?

 

[blumentopferde]

I just had some Gewurz (from a kit) tonight at dinner - is there a difference between the "Traminer" and "Gewurztraminer" breeds?

Hard to say. As far as I know all Traminer types are mutations of one and the same plant. German speaking winemakers make a distinction between Traminer and Gewurztraminer, that might be different in other languages.

In Austria we distinguish between "Gelber Traminer" (=Yellow Traminer with yellow berries), "Roter Traminer" (=Red Traminer with red berries) and "Gewurztraminer" (has red berries as well but comes in more aromatical than the red Traminer. Visually they are hard if not impossible to distinguish).

To sum this up: Gewurztraminer is the name for several clones of the Red Traminer type. In the end it might be a decision of the winemaker which name he chooses. Traminer is commonly used for more elegant, dry or semi-dry wines and Gewurztraminer ("spicy traminer") for the more heavy, aromatic and sweet wines.

 

[grapeman]

Better luck with the vines this year.

 

[blumentopferde]

Thanks!

Unfortunately a few more young vines have dried up. No idea why.
I've sprayed them a week before so maybe it was (once again) the spray that killed the vines. Maybe the very young vines are more sensitive than the slightly older ones or there are differences between the varieties and some are simply more sensitive to sprays...
Maybe it wasn't the spray and I need to install an irrigation system.

Especially the Traminer gives me a hard time. Other varieties do much better...

 

[blumentopferde]

Update:
Now the hardest time is over and the clusters are on their way. Time to have a look on my vineyard:

Most of the surviving vines that were planted 2 years ago look very poor:
Just a few leaves and most of these leaves show necrosis (variety: Pinot Noir):


A few do better but show a weird coloration of the leaves (variety: Marzemino - a red Pinot-Noir-like variety):


Those are the only surving Gewurztraminers. At least they do fine:


The old vines do much better, but only one vine formed beautiful clusters:


The others show no clusters at all or only very small ones:



Those seem to be rootstock varieties:





Here are some examples of what you can do wrong in your vineyard:

Glyphosate damage:


Destroyed bark from mowing between the vines. They will turn yellow in a few weeks


At least the new vines do fine (variety: Blauer Wildbacher - Austrain red variety).



I don't think that I can get the 2-year-old vines over the winter. They just don't have enough foliage. I hope the damaged old vines will come back next year. They are very old and have a well-established root system... For the new vines I can only hope for a moderate winter.

I also have a new spraying routine, which seems not cause leaf burn:
copper against downy mildew, milk against powdery mildew and "Aminovital", a bilogical fertilizer, as wetting agent.

to be continued...