Winter 2011 Vineyard and Winery Catchup
Published Tuesday March 1st, 2011
It is March 1, 2011 and its been a long time since our last entry. Several turn of events transpired since the last entry that affected our little enterprise. First, we experienced what ended up being pretty much a 99.9% crop failure for our 2010 grape crop. It wasn't that there were not plenty of clusters on our vines, its just the weather of 2010 didn't cooperate in a manner condusive to wine grape ripening. The late start to the growing season; the cool, damp summer; and then the cold wet fall (along with wasps, birds, etc) all came together to cause the loss. We were able to only harvest a few 5 gallon buckets of grapes. Although it ended up not mattering, the winery side of things didn't go much better. The company we ordered our SS variable capacity tanks from was very late in delivery and then delivered the wrong tanks. So to make a short story long, the only winemaking that was done involved a very, very small amount of rose. Perhaps all this was the best though because in Novemeber of 2010 I went in for the first of two knee replacement surgeries. Oh well, there's always next year!
OK, so now its the beginning of March. Lucklily we managed to get all the pruning and vine tying done by mid-February before this latest round of colder than normal temperatures and snow. The next step is to spray for weeds and get an intial spray done during the next warm (relatively) and sunny spell. We will also have to do our annual check/repair of the irrigation tubes. The vineyard looks good though. We also just made an important decision regarding the future winery operations. We have chosen to delay any attempted opening of a commercial winery for another year, concentrating on getting a good grape crop and at least one true harvest and winemaking season under our belts before opening as a commercial, bonded winery. So we are delaying our winery bonding process as well as some other winery related lose ends for at least another year. This will also help take the pressure off my next knee replacement surgery as well. However work will continue on the tasting room, pizza oven, and the grounds landscaping. The delay in commercial winery operations will also allow us to get our expanded orchard in the ground and protected from the deer. Hopefully, we may in the future have some u-pick fruit to add to the island mix. In the mean time if you are visiting the island and would like a tour of the vineyard, please just send us an email using the link on our site or through: andersonislandvineyards@gmail.comEarly Spring 2010
Published Wednesday April 21st, 2010
Its now April 18th and we have spent the weekend in the vineyard, rubbing buds and finishing up the trellis work. I also sprayed a few rows with Roundup that I had missed last time. Its almost time to roto-till some more, but would like to pick up some rocks before doing that. I'm testing and repairing the drip irrigation system as time permits. I got somewhat sidetracked by rebuilding the storage shed so that it will more closely resemble the house and winery. We have also ordered some of the winery equipment since our last entry.
We also just returned from a short trip to the Hill Country of Texas. While driving around our old, college stomping grounds outside of Austin, we visited several small wineries, trying to stick with ones that also had vineyards. However, most, if not all, Hill Country vineyards get a lot of their grapes from other parts of Texas and even from California, Oregon, and Washington.Progress
Published Wednesday February 10th, 2010
Unfortunately, its been well over a year since our last entry. However, a lot has happened. The grapes had a great summer growing season last year, especially after we installed a drip irrigation system during the big "heat wave" of 2009. In the vineyard we have just completed installing over 500 line posts and are continuing to install the trellis wires. Those vines with sufficient growth have been tied to the fruiting wire and the others cut back to 3 or 4 buds. We now have 33 rows now, with an average of around 85 plants per row. We are planning on having a partial crop this year.
Also, since our last entry, we have finished building our house and the garage/winery building. Smaller projects continue as we fine tune both the grounds landscaping and the interior of the winery building. We have started other projects such as several pergolas around the property. Sometime soon we will have to get serious about getting bonded and related chores such as label design and equipment purchasing.
Finally, some non-vineyard/winery projects are going on, such as garden development and the planting of different varieties of Christmas trees for a possible future u-pick operation. Last summers first attempt at a garden was wildly successful, as we harvested good quantities of corn, beans, peas, tomatoes, beets, potatoes, squash, and even some watermelons. This year we plan on having less of some things, but more variety.
I promise to keep up now with this blog as we move into the new year.
Weekend Spent in the Dirt
Published Thursday June 5th, 2008
We picked up 1100 or so rooted cuttings from the nursery on Wednesday and by Sunday early evening they were all planted and watered. Each day the routine was pretty much the same. Gayle marked rows with string and marking paint while I followed with the tractor and auger. She then started planting and I pitched in to help when I could. The full sized auger was probably a bit of overkill, but the deep holes should provide a good home for root growth. We still have to install the bamboo stakes and grow tubes, which will be our chore this weekend. I'll try and put the latest vineyard pictures in the website once we get the stakes and grow tubes installed. In the meantime, ground was broken on the future winery (now garage) with an actual below grade storage room feature added. We really have no true schedule on when it will become a real working winery. One thing at a time is the motto for now.
Our First Heat Wave
Published Monday May 19th, 2008
We survived our first two day heat wave here on Anderson Island by buying bunches of water hoses and running them up the hill to the vineyard from the well house. There was enough water pressure to dribble water on each planted cutting for 4 hours on Friday and Saturday, moving up and down the rows. This works for the 600 or so vines we have now, but something else has to be done for the 1,300 new cuttings coming in a few weeks. Our builder is planning to run us a water and power line up to the vineyard from the house being built, so I will be able to design some kind of system that is more efficient time and water wise. But that will be a while yet before it happens. On the positive side, the cuttings appear to be alive, growing and leafing out in their grow tubes.
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