Forum Replies Created
William EnglishRobert, give me a call at 925-786-8111. We can talk it through.
Bill English
William EnglishMerik, If you want to consider planting and managing the vines yourself, another quick, cheap and easy to read source is WineMaker Magazine’s Guide to Growing Grapes, a compilation of magazine articles by Wes Hagen. https://winemakermag.com/product/guide-to-growing-grapes
This is organized by time line from pre-planting decisions, to planting and maintaining the home vineyard and finally picking and post harvest. In 80 pages you get a full overview in bite-sized chunks. They still charge only $7. If this doesn’t scare you away, dive into what David suggested.
William EnglishI second Gerard’s comment. You said you have the typical Orinda clay soil. Generally this will support a lot of vine vigor. Unless you already have 6-8 ft spacing between vines in a row, I would train existing vines to fill the gaps. These vines will probably end up with better balance.
If you are looking for a different variety, I like the idea of Cabernet Franc, which I have had very good luck with from my partner’s vineyard. I really like it blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. I also second Gerard on the grafting. You will get a crop much faster. My only caveat is that you should use a professional and not try it yourself if you want to be sure to have a high percent of grafts that take. Mary Leigh Miller has used 2 grafters, both with good results. The latest is Dave Komar of TopNotchVineyard. The other was Roberto Corona.
If you are looking for a vineyard manager, there are only 2 I can recommend right now, although that is not to say these are the only good ones out there: Dylan Rahn (Coastal Viticultural Consultants) and Roberto Corona. My preference is Dylan.
William EnglishPBW is both an alkaline cleaner and and an oxy cleaner. Here is the manufacturer’s description on its data sheet: “P.B.W. is a buffered alkaline detergent that has been proven to be more than an effective substitute for caustic soda cleaners. Because of its unique formulation of buffers and mild alkalis, it is safe on skin as well as soft metals such as stainless steel, aluminum, and on plastics. P.B.W. uses active oxygen to penetrate carbon or protein soils and is not effected by hard water. The oxygen also helps in reducing B.O.D. and C.O.D. in wastewater, which is an added environmental benefit.”
While it has a stronger effect when heated, I never do that because it works well cold. I generally scrub with a cold PBW solution and a scrub pad. The hot treatments seem to be aimed at bigger scale operations where you aren’t scrubbing , but just circulating the PBW solution.
I have used PBW after it say for over a year and it still seems effective. I store it dry and mix as needed.
Bill English
William EnglishDave, A good place t start with winemaking is with the book The Way To Make Wine by Sheraton Warrick https://www.amazon.com/Way-Make-Wine-Craft-Superb/dp/0520285972/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YEF58BSBW3F5VH7WH77E
Send me an email so we can connect directly billeng81@gmail.com<span style=”background-color: #ffffff;”>. </span>
Bill
William EnglishIf a group of small growers wants to band together to make wine as a group, that seems like a great idea. See my recent post on wine making. We can help get you pointed in the right direction and answer questions..
Bill English
William EnglishRick and Wendi,
There are 3 Bills who are winemakers in LWGA, so it gets a little confusing. I am not sure who you intended this for but I will volunteer a reply and give you a call this evening.
Bill English
925-254-1758
William EnglishYou should be able to rely on Dylan. That is normally part of what a vineyard manager does. As far as I can tell Dylan is a good one.
