Vineyard in Prescott Arizona

Dave and I finished putting in our second vineyard consisting of 350 Cabernet grapes and 150 more Tempranillo ( means early bloomer- a great red, very common in Spain). Dave once again had fun renting a back hoe in early June ( a little late to plant). He cleared another acre in front of our log cabin and with the help of good friend, Houston Spaulding, got the trellis and watering system in just a couple of weeks- Andres, our ranch hand,was really helpful too. On June 22nd we drove to Modesto and picked up the grafted plants (grafts from Grape Ivy blends created in UC Davis lab to resist disease, tolerate cold and drought). We spent an hour with owner, Jim Duarte, who has an amazing fruit and grape nursery which provides plants to many western growers.

He gave us an issue of a professional journal and we read about the growing popularity of organic wine grapes. This gave us the idea to compost our horse manure. Also, a guest who is a rose expert talked about using this great resource successfully. We plan to grow organically, and will start a large compost area to utilize our resources. We planted these grapes on June 24, 2007 and now have our second vineyard.

Problems
Rabbits everywhere eating the plants
Deer have found the western vineyard
Drought
Heat
Western Vineyard too much time in grow tubes

Solutions,
Grow tubes on the new plants
Hot wire around the western vineyard
Watering system
Monsoon coming
Linda pruning around base and cataloging plants

This is addicting, we are already thinking about our third location. We think we can sell the grapes for at least $1000 per ton perhaps more if we market to local home winemakers. We need to start slowly on the winemaking. Our first attempt will be in the fall of 2008.

Lots to learn. Plan to work with other Central Arizona grape growers (growing group). Our elevation is almost 5000 feet. This is quite the experiment.

Cowboy Dirt

Cowboy Dirt is our way of sharing our plans to create an Arizona vineyard on Juniper Well Ranch www.juniperwellranch.com where we board horses, people, and now grape vines. Dave is the son of western author, Frank Bonham who originally found the place with his wife Gloria. Dave decided to live the western life in Skull Valley, Arizona after working as a probation officer in San Diego for 20 years. His wife, Linda, an Arizona native, can literally help you find cowboy dirt in the Prescott area. She has her real estate license and can be reached through her website www.prescottcountryhomes.com. Together, they have planted a one acre vineyard with hopes of growing it to a real western winery.

Year One - 2006
Linda and Dave sat on the porch swing one evening and talked about the romance of owning their own winery.

After Christmas gifts which included magazine subscriptions and books on wine making the dream began to take hold. Lots of reading, browsing the internet and talking to winemakers,we decided on Tempranillo and Granache as our primary grapes. Note we are on 50 acres at almost 5000 ft. Not many places like ours growing wine grapes

January - Dave rents a bulldozer to clear a field near their log home.
February - Dave rents a backhoe to dig trenches - Trenches filled with horse manure- Dave is having a blast!
March- Dave, Linda and Ernesto put up trellis which Dave says are just like building fence
April- Sprinkling System installed
May- Trip to Modesto, CA in Airstream trailer to pick up 700 grape vines at Duarte Nursery