Growing grapes and making wine out of them, has been in practice since the beginnings of farming custom. In order to maintain a healthy grapevine, it takes work and dedication. Since it can take up to three years for a vine to give fruit, this time allows the grower to tame the plant’s growth -and production- thru pruning. .
Pruning is simply getting the plant growth to encourage more growth
Pruning is the action of clipping back shoots and cutting excess foliage to control the plants growth and to ensure that no energy is being spent feeding dry or unnecessary plant sections. Grapevines are trained to maintain a consistent plant shape, size and productivity; a process that takes about the time it takes to grow your first harvest.
How to Prune: The Standard Pruning Method
The way that the grapevine is pruned is based a lot on the type of grapes that are grown on it. Hybrid varieties were developed to be hardier during the winter and more resistant to diseases. They tend to produce less foliage then the traditional types of grapevines. The annual pruning removes the previous years fruiting canes or spurs. Because fruit is only produced on shoots growing from one-year-old canes, healthy new canes must be produced by the vine every year
Why Prune: Benefits and Applications of the Pruning Process
The way in which you will prune your grapes once they have taken shape, depends entirely on the type of grape that you choose to grow. If youve chosen a hybrid grape, you know these varieties are suitable for the winter since they endure both cold weathers, and many diseases. As they generally produce less foliage, they will generally require less work than a regular European variety of grapes.
If you clip more shoots, your vine will grow smaller, while if you clip less the vine will be bigger. Some trial and error will be needed to find the balance for your growing needs, but it will be effective to maximize production. This will also prevent your grapevine from growing a shady canopy that, if not addressed, can seriously jeopardize grape ripening and resulting quality of the wine you make.
Tool for Pruning
There are various hand tools that will assist you in your grapevine pruning: loppers, handsaws and hand-pruners are some of the most common. As a grower, you must be very careful not to injure or damage your grapevines during pruning, so as not to jeopardize their future productivity. When removing canes that are one year of age, a hand pruner is effective; while older branches of thick wood are better pruned using a handsaw or lopper.
Pruning is a fairly simple process that grape growers consistently rely on to obtain plentiful, healthy crops. Even though it will take some time and effort to tame your grapevine, it will be very well worth the effort once you collect your first harvest of perfect wine-making grapes.
Pierre Duponte is a grape growing expert. He spends his time teaching others how to make fine wines. For more great tips on pruning grapes and how to make wine visit http://www.grapegrowingwinemakingtips.com/. You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.
Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 2:59 pm. Add a comment
Growing grapes dates back to the beginnings of the development of human civilization. The process has been perfected over centuries of trial and error and if known, today it enables us not only to find, but also to make ourselves, high quality wines that delight our palates.
The Growing Process
Before you can enjoy that first glass of wine, you will have to grow the grapes. There are two different grape varieties groups to choose from when you are first beginning to plant your grapevine; the European grape varieties and the hybrids.
Picking the Right Grape Cultivar
The first step to growing your grapes is picking the type to plant. While you will pick from the general red or white grapes, you will also have to select from European grape varieties and Hybrid grape Varieties. European grape varieties are used in warm climates, with long growing seasons and in grapevines where traditional wining methods are employed, such as in California. Hybrid grape varieties, on the other hand, have evolved to become highly resistant to cool weather and common plant diseases, making them the most popular variety amongst harvesters in areas of cold weather and short-lived growing seasons.
what kinds of grapes to grow
The most significant thing to remember about growing grapes is they are evergreen plants, and therefore, it will be about 3 years before you are able to crop your first crop. But, some good news is the quality doesn’t think about the winemaker but on the grapevines.
Establish Optimum Growing Conditions
Giving your grapevine lots of sunlight and a nutrient deficient soil is vital for the harvesting of a healthy grapevine with fruit suitable for wine making. While sunlight will aid in the grapes sweetness, a nutrient-poor soil will stress out the vine. This will force the grapes to grow smaller and maximize the amount of skin; the key to the color and flavor of the wine. Large grapes, on the contrary, are more suitable to eat since they offer more juice and less skin ” a friendlier scheme for our palate.
Determine the Prime Harvesting Time
In order to determine if its time to harvest your grapevine, you will need to measure the acidity of the fruit in each vine. When harvesting, it is essential that you stabilize acidity levels before adding the yeast to ensure proper fermentation. You can find acidity measurers and acidity stabilizing chemicals at your local wine making supply store, as well as bottles, corks and wine fermenting yeast.
Fermentation, Clarification & Bottling
After stabilizing acidity levels, its time to add the yeast in order to ferment the wine. Different types of yeast will offer different results in wine taste and character. A little trial and error might be necessary to find the best yeast for your taste. Once you add the yeast, fermentation should take about a week, followed by the first ageing of the wine that enables sediments to settle for later separation during bottling. Ageing can vary from months to years, depending on the type of grape and the resulting wine you are trying to achieve. After bottling your wine, a second ageing is to be done to enhance and deepen its flavors. Even though there are no set schedules for wines ageing process, the rule of thumb is the earlier the harvest, the better the wine.
Following your time and efforts to grow a healthy harvest and make a great wine, opening the first bottle of the harvest is as rewarding as the satisfaction of making it just like you like it. Preserve your efforts during ageing and be patient! When it comes to growing grapes and making wine, a little patience goes a long way. Trust me, when time comes to savor it, you will taste the difference.
Pierre Duponte is a grape growing expert. He spends his time teaching others how to make fine wines. For more great tips on How To Grow Grapes or you can get his free 10 part mini course on grape growing and how to make wine visit http://www.grapegrowingwinemakingtips.com/.
Posted 2 years, 4 months ago at 11:19 am. 1 comment
If you are looking to achieve a great tasting wine (which Im sure you are), you must first select a quality grape to grow in your grapevine. Good grape planting is the first step on the road to great wine making.
Exactly like in real estate, grape quality principally abides by one factor : Location, location, location!
Location, Location, Location!
In order to achieve a sweet, small fruit that is suitable for wine making and fermentation, its vital to find the best spot possible in your growing area to plant your first grapevines. The prime spot needs to receive high sunlight exposure in order to develop the sugars in the fruit that will later lead the fermentation process. In addition, not only should sunlight be plentiful, but it should also be exposed evenly on each side of the vine.
Soil Quality
Apart from daylight levels, the kind of soil your plants will sit in is another important factor to take in consideration when picking the destination of your grapevines during planting. Grapevines flourish in nutrient-poor soils, since the lack on vitamins and minerals forces the fruit to grow smaller. A smaller fruit not only implies more flavor-providing skin, but also higher sugar concentration aspects that are optimum for wine making.
If the soil were fertilized with nutrients, the resulting fruit in your vine would be bigger, tangier and juicier. This type of fruit is unsuitable for the wine process since the bonus juice would add too much liquid into the fermentation mixture, weakening the already frail process that is slowed down due to low sugar concentrations.
Drainage
Drainage is another critical aspect to consider before planting your grape vines. The area where you will plant must be dry, in sharp relief to wet and puddly. Spacing your vines 6ft apart when you plant them will ensure drainage is maximised, with a standard yield of one gallon of wine per grapevine.
Vines are characterized for their climbing, which is why grapes are planted with the use of a trellis that assists the vines mounting. The use of a trellis also aids the drainage of the crop, loosening the soil beneath the vine.
There are always probabilities of losing some of your crops to pests like plant illnesses, insects and other larger animals like birds and deer. Its crucial to make up for these loses ahead by planting additional vines which will make up for the lost plants.
The Planting Method
During the first year of expansion, you’ll tie the strongest shoot in each vine to the trellis using string, and clipping off any additional shoots growing on the roots. In the vines dormant season, another pruning will be necessary.
In the spring, once the buds grow again, you may again pick from the strongest shoots, and tie them together loosely as they grow. Overtime, these will be the extremities were the fruits will grow.
In order to determine the ripeness of your fruits and know when to harvest, the use of a hydrometer is essential. Hydrometers measure the gravity of individual liquids, calculating the sugar concentrations in your grapes. Once you begin using a hydrometer, you will find that optimum gravity levels for a perfectly ripe fruit that is ready to harvest varies between 1.095 and 1.105.
Growing grapes does take a mean of 3 years before your first harvest, but simple details in the grape planting and growing process will make a rewarding difference in the flavor of the wine you will be making them.
Pierre Duponte is a wine making enthusiast. He spends his time teaching others how to make fine wines. For more great tips on Grape Planting or you can get his free 10 part mini course on grape growing and how to make wine visit http://www.grapegrowingwinemakingtips.com/.
Posted 2 years, 5 months ago at 11:34 am. Add a comment
