Growing vines? Sì o no?

10/24/2013 - 09:45

We have a couple of 'semi-nativo' fields next to our house. We are at about 500m and there are nearby vineyards and I do think rather wistfully about putting in some vines..I realise that once vines are established that they do not require high amounts of irrigation and feeding but what time and other commitments might there be in establishing the vines in the first place?  Ideally it would be good to have say 400 vines and, in due course, arrange for the grapes to be picked and then shared with a local farmer to produce 'our' wine in return for a share of the harvest or indeed a payment.  We could have a local worker nurture the vines on an occasional basis when we are not there..Has anyone done this??? How much are the vines and their planting costs and what other things should we be thinking about? What time commitment per week might be needed? Thanks!

Comment

hi,we had a vinyard about that size.two years ago i got the excavators in to dig them up.As a word of warning i would definitely NOT ask a neighbouring farmer to make the wine.The vast majority of farmers do not make good wine this is a fact not an opinion.Usually in a pretty unsalubrious cantina of sorts using dirty old utensils..mixing and "pottering" about..often rule of thumb additions of sulphites..or fermentation inducing yeasts..old barrels/containers often just rinsed out rather than properly cleaned can mean that even good quality grapes can be transformed into a hard rough sulphur smelling plonk.to acheive a good plantation it would certainly be worth having a brief consultancy with an agronomo specialized in wines/vinyards.to make soil checks to ascertain if it's worth it in the first place,the best field postioning of the vines,the most advisable grapes to plant.If you use wooden poles these would need to be hard wood or of good quality and have a section treated with asphalt to prevent them rotting.the posts would require boring holes to be aligned to permit the running of steel wires ending on a reel to permit the lines to be tightened periodically.Cement posts can be used but tend to be used less and less (a bump by a necessary tractor can easily fragment them)Vines do require specific fertilization but usually once per annum is sufficient.During the spring summer season they require a lot of work,cutting off of excess growth and constant tying up,grass cutting around the vines has to be done carefully by hand (strimmer)whilst in the pathways (made wide enough for tractor access) can be cut by a flail mower attached to the tractor.As soon as tiny "buds" of grapes appear it is vital that the vines are treated with dry sulphur in powder form (on the future bunches) to inhibit grape mould,this may have to be repeated depending on the weather etc.Once the grapes have seriously formed they'll require treatment with copper sulphate mix nowadays generally available in a generic powder form to disolve in water that must be sprayed on the grapes and leaves(grass cutting and the tying up of the vines is still ongoing in this period just as the bordolaise mix will also be repeated also dependent on weather conditions thru to september/october.The harvest is the "easiest"bit but in order to obtain quality over quantity it will be necessary in the period prior to harvesting to remove a good number of bunches especially any damaged ones,moulded.eaten by birds/insects/animals and to strengthen the remaining bunches.before creating a vine it would be really essential to have a suitably sized outbuilding without spiders and mud floors preferably tiled with stainless steel bins(the cost depends on size big ones obviously quite expensive),for good quality wines/special wines etc some even second hand oak barrels (from a good professional winery who use them only for two or three years) you could get them at Euro 200/300 each.you'd need a press for the grapes,and a length of specific tubing so that the pressed mulch passes from the press to the bins etc.The vines them selves are not particularly expensive but important to get good ones well grafted and obviously of the right type/quality,the planting would require all the posts,wires,an excavator,and would be all together a few thousand with the planting,important that a tractor can circumnavigate the vines so you'd need to leave ample space between and at the ends of the rows for turning,a tractor for that size of vinyard is necessary,you'd also require a hydraulic pump for the spraying treatments,probably between 60>100 large plastic bins for the collection of the grapes,the tubing as mentioned,reams of rubberized cord for tying up the vines.IF you get someone in to do all this for you (if you can find somebody)it is essential they they actually know what they're doing,that they can actually do it (it's just rained again got to get up there to spray sulphites again)it would be a lot of work.Bear in mind that there is (perhaps surprisingly) very little money in non professional vines/wine making in other words you would get very little for just selling on your grapes,the work on the vines is more than the crop's worth in other words.worth thinking about very carefully indeed....anyway just friendly advice(i got the t-shirt)