How To Grow Grapes For Making Your Own Wine
By Laura Eggers

Have you been thinking of making your own wine? You can buy the wine grapes in bulk, but if you have a little plot of land and the right climate, you can learn how to grow grapes and harvest them yourself.

Once you plant the vines, usually in early spring, it takes about three years for them to bear fruit.

The Basic Necessities

First, you'll need sun, and lots of it. That's why California has such an abundance of vineyards. On the other hand, all that rain in Oregon hasn't seemed to hinder their booming Pinot Noir production.

Next, your soil will need good drainage. A slope is best, as vines don't do well in standing water.

The third basic necessity is nutrient poor soil. For wine making, you want the grapes to stay small and undernourished, because the more skin and the less juice in the grape, the more flavorful the wine is going to be.

Combine a good slope with southern exposure for maximum sunlight, add a dollop of patience and you're off to a good start.

Choosing The Type Of Grape To Grow

This will depend a lot on the climate where you live. Even in Napa, the type of grapes grown varies between the hills, the valley, and the Carneros area, which gets more bay breeze and fog. Check with a local nursery or department of agriculture or viticulture for the type of grapes that grow best in your locale.

Vinifera grapes are the European style, but they don't do well in extremely cold winters and are more susceptible to fungus diseases. Vitis labrusca is a hardier, American grape and are frequently used to make jelly and jam. For the United States, try to start with a French-American hybrid grape for best results of homegrown grapes.

Ordering The Grape Cultivars

In general, one vine will produce about five to ten pounds of grapes for about a gallon of wine per year, assuming all goes well. Potential hazards to the vines include insects, frost, rot, birds, frost and disease.

Order your grapevines well in advance, planning for them to arrive in early spring, so you can plant them right away. Use a nursery with a good reputation.

Planting the Grapevines

When planting the rows of vines, run them north to south so that both sides of the plant get sun as it moves across the sky. Space the rows and the vines about eight feet apart.

Plant them in deep holes, with lots of room for the roots to spread. Dig the soil fairly loosely for optimum drainage. Post three-wire trellises for the grapes to grow on. The lowest wire should be about three feet high and the highest wire about six feet high.

Tending The Vines

As the vine grows, and the shoots are around ten inches long, tie the strongest shoot to the wire with a piece of string. Prune away any other shoots coming out of the trunk or side. Once this strong shoot reaches the top wire, (probably the second year) tie it there and prune all but a few buds at each wire.

In the third year, you'll tie side shoots horizontally along the wires on each side. There is much more detail to pruning and training grapevines to the trellises, which can't fit into this article.

Time To Harvest

The point at which you pick the grapes affects the resulting wine. The grapes may look ripe, but the sugar quantity may not be high enough for another week. If you wait too long however, the grape is spoilt. You want the seeds to be dark, no longer green.

Pick the grape clusters gently, and remove any discolored or bad looking grapes. Wrap the grapes loosely in plastic to retain moisture and refrigerate them at a temperature of around 35 degrees until use.

Grapes Into Wine

The majority of what makes a good wine great is in the grape. What the winemaker does with the grapes after harvesting certainly can affect the wine for better or for worse, but it all starts with the quality of the grape and the timing of harvesting.

The amount of grapes you need? About ten pounds of grapes will produce a gallon of wine. About ten to twenty vines should produce a small batch of wine.

The Novice Vintner

Many factors intermingle to contribute to successful grape growing. That's part of what makes viticulture so exciting. The above advice isn't a guarantee that you'll produce a fine crop, but it gives you an overview of what's involved. The two best things to do next are to get educated and start out small.

Laura Eggers Underhill writes for http://www.experience-wine-country.com, a guide to touring wine regions in California and beyond.

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