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.