First Fruits

OK, they won't be ripe for a month and won't be useable for 2 more seasons but... we have grapes.

Trimming the Vines

I'm pleased to report the vines are healthy and doing very well after a week in the ground. I spent the day yesterday getting up close & personal with each one, by trimming them. If the vine had more than one cane, I selected the most promising and snipped the other. I then used my thumbnail to nick all but four or five buds out of the surviving cane. I could have only kept three buds or - more risky - just one, but didn't have the guts to do that yet. So once frost danger is past I'll have to go back and trim again, this time leaving a single new shoot from one of the buds, which I'll then train up the bamboo stake toward the first wire.
All of this trimming will promote more vigorous growth, focusing nutrients and energy into the single shoot which will represent this year's growth. Much like pruning rosebushes.
Very enjoyable work, being up there on the plateau with just the killdeers for company.

Vines, Rootstock & Trellis Systems

Went down to Zillah to visit my young grapevines. David Nevill at Quality Nursery www.grapeplants.net has them embedded in a cozy cocoon of sandy loam. And I mean they are completely buried, lying in bundles three feet underground. Juan, the foreman, dug a bundle up to show me what they look like. When the ground warms up in early April, the plants will start to "move," growing the roots and pushing the buds. That's when we'll plant them.

I toured David & Juan's facility, noting how they fashioned their trellis system. Everyone does it a little differently.

On the way back I stopped in at Wilson Orchard & Vineyard Supply in Yakima www.wilsonirr.com. Very friendly & helpful folks. They have everything you could possibly need for a trellis system. I'm going to send them a sketch of the vineyard and then they can tell me exactly what I'll need.

Plotting Holes to Plant Grapevines

I laid out planting holes for the vines last week. It's a real trick keeping a straight line on rows nearly 400 feet long. There's no magic formula(other than, I suppose, GPS surveying). Every farmer works it out his own way. I thought about it a long time, then went & got the longest tape measure I could find (300')and a 500' roll of yellow "Caution" tape (heavy reinforced, so it wouldn't fly around in wind). I stretched the Caution tape out, attached to a metal stake on each end of the row, then ran the tape measure down on top and spray painted the ground every six feet. That's where the vines will go.

I asked my farmer neighbor how the farmers got their rows straight. He laughed. "I don't know," he said. "I don't think it's possible."

Valentines Day Wine Tasting

...at Moses Lake's own Dry Falls Cellars.

Love blooms anew amidst the barrels...

Winter Wine Tasting

The tasting room at Moses Lake's own Dry Falls Cellars http://www.dryfallscellars.com/ was open and busy this weekend. April & I stopped in for a taste and some conversation. Took home an ’07 Snake River Valley Syrah, an ’07 Cinsault and an ’05 Reserve Tempranillo.