Grape Vines for Sale, Moscato Wine Kit

• ISBN13: 9781934259061
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Groundbreaking New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
Hating life in a cubicle where the only greenery is that of the mold growing on the rungs of the corporate ladder? Feel as if you ve graduated with honors into a nation-wide hiring deep freeze? Wine was one of the very few U.S. industries that experienced growth in 2008. Is wine recession-proof as many believe? Not entirely. But even in these times of pervasive layoffs and cutbacks wineries and wine related businesses are making job prospects every day and in a va… More >>

How to Launch your Wine Career: Dream Jobs in America’s Hottest Industry

• ISBN13: 9780520247192
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Groundbreaking New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
Written by a vintner and science editor with twenty-five years experience, The Way to Make Wine is the most readable and reliable handbook among the many winemaking guides. In engaging conversational prose, Sheridan Warrick shows that making your own wine is not only simple, but also fun. Geared to everyday wine lovers who want to drink well, save money, and impress their friends, this book reveals everything needed to make tasty wines–both reds and whites–from … More >>

The Way to Make Wine: How to Craft Superb Table Wines at Home

If  are looking to give the gift of wine this holiday season, I highly recommend Cellars Wine Club.  If you like wine and want to sample different wines each month, they have a wine of the month club.  Unlike other wine clubs, you have many different options.  If you like Red wines, White wines, Sweet wines or are really new to wine, they have something for you.  Prices start at $19.95 and if you are truly a wine conesiuer, you can subscribe to the exclusive cellars wine club for only $149.95.  

At Cellars Wine Club you will find:

• Wine Gift Baskets
• Corporate Gifts of Wine
• Gift Certificates
• Wine Club Subscriptions

Cellars Wine club, Wine gifts

I find their website to be extremely simple to use and they have this clean pop-up lady who will clarify different selections to you.

If you need to buy a wine gift this season, there is no better place.

Shoots, or branches of a grape vine consist of a few things:

Grape shoot components

• Leaves - The leaves of a grape plant are large, green and sometimes have a hairly like feel to them.  Photosynthesis occurs in the leaves which is the process of using carbon dioxide and sunlight converting them to energy for the plant.  The leaves of a grape also develop buds for next year which will either be more leaves or fruit.
• Tendrils are the ‘hands’ of the grave vine.  The tendrils allow the grape vine to grab onto the training wire or post. 
• Flowers/Fruit is the business side of the vine.  Flowers develop in the spring, are polenized and then develop into the fruit.  Grapes are mostly self polinating and do not require insects to fertilize them.

American grape varieties will prosper when trained using a high wire cordon system.  American cultivars tend to produce shoots that grow in a downward direction.  The high wire cordon system uses this to its advantage by letting the shoots follow their normal tendancy to grow down.  This system of growing is called the Hudson River Umbrella.

Start training your new grape vines to grow upward toward the highest horizontal wire (around six feet).  The first season you will let your vines grow up a pole and secure them to the pole with cloth ties or anything else that will not cut into the vine.  After the first season, while dormant, you will select the two hardiest looking vines to be your trunks.  Cut the others down so they will not compete with your trunks.

This next season, you will be working on establishing your cordons.  The cordons are the arms of your grape vine.  They will be the branches from which your shoots will grow.   The shoots or canes will be from where your fruit, leaves and tendrils grow.  The cordons will need to be tied to the top wire to let them grow out during the second season.  After the second season during the dormant period, you will want to cut off any canes from the trunk and from the cordons.  You will also want to shorten the cordons if they are too long. 

High wire cordon trained grapes

During the third season you will be able to notice more tendrils attaching themselves to the wire, more leaves, flowers and fruit.  Take note of how the grape vines develop.  After the third season while dormant, you will want to prune any suckers on the trunk and thin out the canes.  You will want to space out the canes you want to fruit between 7-12 inches apart.  leave smaller spurs in between that will grow shoots for the next year.  Keep in mind that grapes bear fruit on one year ancient wood.  While pruning, you must not only look out for the upcoming season, but plot ahead to grow wood for the following season’s fruit.

Grape Salad Desert

This is the best recipe I have had using grapes. This desert will please any crowd. This recipe is an simple one to take to a picnic or just make for your own family.

Simple Grape salad dessert recipe

Ingredients:

2lbs of red seedless grapes
2lbs of green seedless grapes
8 ozs of sour cream
8 ozs of cream cheese (softened)
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup crushed pecans

Directions:
Wash your grapes and then let them dry. Take the sour cream, cream cheese, granulated sugar and vanilla extract and mix them all together. Be sure you cream cheese is softened first. Add grapes to the mixture and mix it thoroughly. Place the mixture into a serving bowl or 9×13 deep dish pan. Take the brown sugar and crushed pecans, mix them together and cover the grape mixture. Set in the refrigerator and let it set up over night.

We took a trip out to the Firelands Winery in Sandusky Ohio recently.

The winery is located just off route 2 heading west right before the lake Erie Islands, Catawba Island exit.  Upon entering the building you are right inside a nice open area where they sell their many varieties of wine and wine accessories.  They even have supplies for the home winemaker. 

When we were there they had a self guided tour just up the steps above the tasting bar and showroom.  On the tour, you can watch a video that details the history of the winery, and also shows each step of the wine making process.  If you are lucky enough to be there on a day when they are working, you may see the production crew bottling, or working with the must. 

The wine varieties they make include:  Chardonnays, Reisling, Pinot Grigio, Walleye White, Ice Wine, Catawaba, Niagara, Concord, Merlot and Many others.  At the tasting bar a dollar will buy you five samples from either the dry menu or the sweet menu. 

Welcome to the Firelands Winery

 
One really excellent thing about grapes is that they grow on a vine and need a trellis in order to grow.  Because of this space is not an issue.  People can grow grapes in their backyards with only a small amount of space just as well as vineyards can on a few hundred acres of property.

 
Vines are not strong enough to support themselves and therefore need a trellis for support.  The way a trellis looks depends upon the person who is growing the grapevine.  It can be very decorative or it can strictly be functional.  A trellis can come in a variety of shapes and sizes to suit the needs of the grape grower and it can be made out of a variety of materials including iron, pre-treated wood, stainless steel, PVC pipe, or aluminum.  It can be bought or a simple functional design can be honestly easily constructed by hand.  Although grapevines can be grown in a yard, they are a honestly large plant.  You will need a space of about eight feet by eight feet for one vine. 

 
A trellis should be constructed before the vine is planted into the ground.  Normally, taller trellises are used in warmer climates.  A trellis that is shorter has a better chance withstanding winter weather and makes it simpler to prepare the grapevine for winter.  Shorter trellises use posts that are about three feet high.  Larger trellises require a post that is about eight feet high. 

 
Plotting where your trellis is going to be should be considered before you start digging holes to place the poles into.  You have mapped out your sight place the first post about two feet into the ground.  Taller eight foot posts will be sticking about six feet out of the ground.  It is suggested to cement the post into the ground.  It takes several years before you will see a crop of grapes so; this trellis is going to be a permanent fixture for some time.  Posts can also be secured by using catch wires anchored to the ground or another much shorter post set in the ground next to your main post.  Posts are set into the ground at a distance of eight feet apart.  Two rows of galvanized steel wire need to be run between the posts.  The first row runs along the bottom of the posts about three inches from the ground.  The second wire should run along the top of the posts.  Use a staple gun to staple the wires in place. 

 
Purchasing a trellis for your grapevine is also an option that a lot of grape growers explore when looking to grow a small crop of grapes.  The investment is more but you options are open.  Just make sure to have excellent plotting and have taken careful measurements as to where you would like your trellis to be to ensure that you buy a trellis that is right for you.

When your vine is planted and it starts to grow it will grow up along the two main trellis wires with some coaxing on your part.  You can use string or cloth to tie the vine to the wires.  Using more wire to tie the shoot in place can sometimes hurt the shoot.

I have more detailed information to come in future posts.  Don’t miss them, subscribe today.

HARDWOOD CUTTINGS

The most common method of propagation is hardwood cuttings.  They can be made at anytime after leaf drop in the fall until the sap starts to flow in the spring.   There is a better chance of obtaining excellent callus formation if cuttings are prepared in the fall or early winter.  Excellent callus formation is critical to rapid root formation in the spring.  You can also obtain excellent results by making the cuttings a week or two before the sap rises in the spring and setting them out immediately.

-Cuttings made out of straight, vigorous, well-matured, one-year ancient canes with well-developed buds are best.
 
-They should be about pencil-size or slightly larger with four buds 2-3 inches apart. 

-The ideal completed cutting is about 8 to 12 inches long.

-Rooting hormone may be used to hasten callusing, leading to excellent root formation

As soon as there is no danger of frost, and when the ground has become warm in the spring, the soil should be prepared carefully to a depth of 8-12 inches.  The cuttings should be set in a row about 5-6 inches apart.  They should be deep enough so that only the top bud protrudes above the ground.  You must make sure that the soil is firm around the cutting.

Weed control is essential and can be done by hand, with herbicide or black plastic.  Irrigation is a must and required in most years.  If plastic is used, soil must be prepared in ridges, covered with plastic and cuttings planted through the plastic. 

Rooted cuttings can be dug up in the fall, graded and stored either by setting the roots in a trench in well- drained soil or stored under moist conditions at 34ºF.

 
LAYERING

Layering is used for certain varieties that do not root readily from cuttings.  

How to propagate using layering

There are grape varieties that do not root readily. To propagate such a variety, the layering method is employed.  In this method, a narrow trench about 10 to 15 inches deep is dug in early spring where a new plant is desired.  A healthy cane originating close to the ground on a neighboring vine is bent down to the bottom of the trench and vertically back up to brings two or more tip buds above the soil surface.  To hasten rooting, the cane opposite each underground bud is wounded before the trench is filled.  When shoots emerge on the part of the cane connecting the new plant to the mother plant, they should be stripped as only the shoots from the buds of the protruding cane should be allowed to grow. 

The following spring, the rooted plants can be severed from the parent vine and set in their permanent location.

 
Grafting

Grafting, on the other hand, is mainly used by nurseries to establish a cultivar on different rootstocks.  They use healthy rootstocks and then graft vines onto them as they desire.  Rootstocks carry their own characteristics and they genereally are different than those of the cultivar that is grafted onto them.  This provides an extra measure of control over the growth of the plant, since the quality and characteristics of the resulting fruit are so vital.

Some of the primary reasons for using a rootstock are:

- To provide resistance to phylloxera and nematode parasites on the root system,

- To isolate the scion cultivar from soil-born virus diseases,

- To induce vigorous growth in a replant situation, and to avoid varietal susceptibility to lime-induced chlorosis.

Grafting a cultivar on a rootstock

Grafting involves taking the cultivar along with the rootstock and mating them together.  There are different ways to make the cut on both mating surfaces, but you must make sure the mating surfaces match up and make excellent contact.  If the mating surfaces are not precisely made, it will decrease the success of the graft.