Gewurztraminer

We are enjoying some very good weather for October in the Willamette Valley.  It has been fairly warm and dry.  It is perfect weather to finish up some tasks on the vineyard.

We spent some time last weekend planting a couple hundred Gewurztraminer vines.  Normally I let Chris handle the manual labor, but I got my hands dirty and helped out with the planting.  We were lucky enough to recruit Johnny and Sammy again.  Johnny was a great help...Sammy was still a dog.

We had purchased these vines a while ago and they were stored away until we could plant them.  Unfortunately, some of the vines did not do so well.  We had about a 30% loss rate.  The good vines were planted in the north west corner of the property.  It is hard to see them in this picture, but trust me, they are there.

Here is an updated shot of the vines we planted a couple of weeks ago.  They are not doing much right now, but come spring, they should be more active.

If you have been reading the blog for a while, you know that one major challenge is the access.  We currently access the property via an easement through our neighbor's property.  The area we have to cross is used as a horse pasture; the gates on each side and the horses in the road make this a less than ideal path.

A while ago, we found that there is an old county road that we could finish that would make our access much easier.  We have finally started on this work!  I will post some pictures when I get them.

Fall planting

It is fall in the Willamette Valley.  The trees are changing colors, the temperatures are lowering and the rain will be here soon.   We were lucky last weekend to have a crystal clear day.

We were not out there just for fun...it was time for us to plan some more vines!  We spent last weekend planting about 300 sauvignon blanc vines.  Fortunately, our new friends Jesse, Johnny, and Sammy (their adorable puppy) came out to help.  Fall is a good time to plant the vines because they will benefit from the wet winter.  The picture below is about half of the SB vines we had to plant this fall.

Johnny worked ahead with the auger to prep the holes for the vines.

Jesse and Chris (with little help from Sammy) planted each vine by hand.  It might look like Chris was just 'supervising', but he really did plant some, too.

Sammy enjoyed running around the vineyard searching for little critters.

The existing plants are doing well. The Pinot Noir is still in grow tubes.  They will likely stay on for another growing season.  Chris has done a great job getting the weeds under control and the cover crop has started to grow.  You can see in these pictures that the rows have just dirt with the vines and the alleys have green cover crop growing.

The existing sauvignon blanc vines are doing very well!  It is a bit hard to tell in this picture, but all of the plants have grown a lot since they were planted.  We might even get a small crop of SB to play with next year!

In addition to the SB, we have about 80 more Pinot Noir plants in 1 gallon pots waiting to go in the ground.  These will probably not be planted until next spring.

Late summer progress

Our first set of vines have now been in the ground for several months.  It is late summer, and in a matter of weeks, the vines will be hibernating for the winter.  Overall, the plants look good.  We are excited about the progress made so far this year on the vineyard.

This first pictures is possibly the most exciting picture to date of the vines...it is the first crop! OK, it is a bit early to expect a good crop, but having a few grapes on a few plants is still exciting.  These pinot noir grapes were very tasty as a mid-afternoon snack.

Grapes!

Farmer Chris

And here is an updated picture of me and Jensen.

If you plant them, they will grow

There is a lot of activity in the vineyard these days.  This spring was our first planting and now the trellis and irrigation system have to be installed to support the new vines.

The vines have been in the ground for a few weeks.  They started out rather small.  However, with the help of the grow tubes, the vines are growing very well.  In many cases, they are now growing out of the tubes!

The first step to toward completing the trellis is installing the wooden end posts.  Each end post has to be pounded into the ground using a tractor attachment.  About half of the posts are in now.  The next step will be to run the wire and add the irrigation equipment.

It's a vineyard!

Our once bare land in Carlton, Oregon is now a vineyard!  There is just over 3 acres planted and it looks amazing!  The vines are a mix of 1 year old and 2 year old plants.  They are all now in grow tubes.  The trellis and the irrigation system will be installed soon.

Here are some shots of the vineyard:

This is overlooking the vineyard from the house site.

It is hard to see, but Mt. Jefferson is off in the distance.

 Each of the grow tubes has a vine in it.  It is hard to see, but there is a vine at the bottom.

Here is the vine with no grow tube.  In just a few years, that vine will produce quality grapes for us to make into wine!

The real purpose of the trip was to complete the solar panel installation.  There are now 13 solar panels on the roof of the shed for the well and irrigation system.

This is me (Beth) and 5-month-old Jensen.

Infrastructure first

I thought this post would include beautiful pictures of our newly planted vineyard.  Chris went up there for a week to see how things were progressing and to do some work on the solar setup. As it turns out, there were other tasks that had to be done in the vineyard before the vines were planted.  The focus of the week was infrastructure; the solar setup had to be modified and the water lines for the irrigation system had to be laid.

Chris worked hard to install 8 new solar panels to support the irrigation system.  There was already one panel on the roof of the shed to provide power for the well pump.  There will be an additional 2 panels installed on the next trip.

The other big task for the week was to install the water lines from the shed to the vineyard site.  This was approximately 1600 feet of trenching and pipe installation. The photos below show the trench from start (near the shed) to finish (at the valve box).

While the vines were not planted before Chris left for home, they were delivered to the property.  The vines have since been planted.  I will be sure to get pictures when we go to visit in a couple of weeks.  In the mean time, here is a photo of the un-planted vines.  It may not look like that many now, but this spring we will have around 3 acres of vines planted!

Now that the vines are planted, the trellis will be built and the drip lines will be installed.  Check back at the end of April for the latest update.

Pre-planting pictures

We are just days away from planting the first few acres of vines!  Chris has gone up to Oregon to work on the irrigation system and planting.  It will be hard work, but he is up for it.

I will post more in the next few weeks.  Here are a few pictures he took on the property.

A truck with some of the vines.  The area to the right will be planted this year.

A shot of the hillside that will be planted soon.

 This is facing the east.

This is taken from the home site.  The hill to the north will be planted this year.

Almost time...

There will be a big change on the property in the coming weeks. The first few acres of grapes will be planted.

Before the vines are put in the ground, the final prep work must be completed. Chris and our vineyard manager have been working on the layout. They have planned the block placement and which types will be planted in each block.

Chris will take a trip up there for the planting. We are both anxious to see how the property looks now and how it will look with vines in the ground. Check back soon for pictures.

Eventually, irrigation and the trellis will be installed.