Grape Planting - The Critical First Step In Making Homemade Wine
What is true for real estate is true for grape planting as well location, location and location! What most determines the taste of your wine is the quality of the grapes that are used to make it. Therefore the grape planting and growing process is a vital step in the wine making.
What most determines the taste of your wine is the quality of the grapes that are used to make it. Therefore the grape planting and growing process is a vital step in the wine making. What is true for real estate is true for grape planting as well location, location and location!
The primary consideration in picking a location for grape planting is what location gives your grapevines the best access to sunlight? And thereby promotes photosynthesis to the greatest degree possible. You will also want to ensure that BOTH sides of the vine get the same amount of sunlight. That process fills the grapes with sugars that becomes alcohol after fermentation.
Grape plantings should be about six feet apart and if you are going to be growing a large crop, the vines should be grown in rows that are eight feet wide. Each grapevine will produce about one gallon of wine. You may loose some grapes due to a small crop or pests like insects or birds so you might want to plant extra grapevines depending on how much wine you would like to produce. Since it is a vine, you will need to supply a trellis for the grapevine to grow on. Dig a larger then normal hole for the vines. This allows the soil to be loosened allowing for good drainage. The first year that your grape vine is growing tie the strongest shoot to the trellis with a piece of string. String does not damage the shoot like wire could. Clip any other shoots that grow from the roots. When the vine is in the dormant season you will need to once again prune your vine back. In the spring when the buds have begun to grow again, select the strongest shoots from the upright shoot and tie them loosely to the wire as they grow. These shoots will become the arms of the vine where the grapes will grow in years to come.
The process of grape planting takes a few days but growing grapes can take years in order to make wine but, with the right amount of effort the process is simple and well worth the reward you will receive in the end.
