Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Oct 15th, 2007
I harvested 14 oz (400 g) of the Pinot Noir on 10/13/07. That completes the harvest for 2006; here are the details:
Pinot Noir: 21 oz (600 g)
Leon Millot: 37 oz (1050 g)
Price 17 oz (480 g)
Siegerrebe: 11.5 oz (325 g)
All: 86.5 oz (2455 g)
5 lb 6 oz isn’t a lot, but it’s more than last […]
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Sep 27th, 2007
I was on the fence about harvesting the Leon Millot. They were ripe or nearly ripe, but I wondered if they could benefit from a little more time. That was before I saw the weather forecast. It calls for a lot of rain, starting tomorrow, so I pulled in the Leon today.
9/21/07 […]
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Sep 20th, 2007
Bird netting saved most of the grapes
Marsha was frantic and ran to wake me up this morning. I was still groggy, so it took me a while to figure out that all the grape vines had been knocked down. We didn’t see what happened. Nobody and nothing was about. I think it was an animal, […]
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Sep 3rd, 2007
I love watching my grape vines change over the course of a season. First they break bud, then they leaf out, later they flower, after that they set fruit. Each of these stages is exciting, and I’ve written about all of them. When the grapes change color from green black (or red or yellow), it’s […]
Posted in bonsai vineyard, enology on Aug 6th, 2007
Don’t buy the expensive equipment
I buy wine grapes through my local homebrew shop in 100 lb lots, which is enough to make five or six gallons of wine. They take customer orders, arrange to buy the grapes from growers, and provide the use of their equipment. They will do all the work, so I can […]
Posted in bonsai vineyard on Aug 2nd, 2007
It was only six weeks ago that hoplai beetles were attacking the flowering grape clusters on my Leon Millot vines. Here is how those grape clusters look today.
The Leon Millot (above) aren’t the only vines with good looking grapes. The Pinot Noir (below) is coming along nicely.
I should be seeing verasion soon!
Posted in bonsai orchard, bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Jul 16th, 2007
I wrote before that watering my bonsai vineyard can be tricky. Too much water reduces the quality of the fruit and can delay dormancy. All plant life needs water, however, and too little can harm the vine. If you’re growing grape vines in pots, none of the local knowledge about climate, soil, and irrigation apply. […]
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Jun 23rd, 2007
Oz Clarke describes Riesling, in his Grapes and Wines, as the “teacher’s pet” of grapes. “I wonder what it feels like,” he asks, “being the wine experts’ favorite grape, yet failing to excite the palates of the vast majority of wine drinkers across the world?” Well, Siegerrebe doesn’t have that problem; it is most definitely […]
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Jun 16th, 2007
First the good news. The Leon Millot are blooming!
I took these photos on 6/12/07, though I first noticed that the Leons were blooming on 6/6/07. The next photo shows the bad news: Hoplia Beetles love to eat flowers, including grape flowers.
At least I think they’re Hoplia Beetles. They fit the description in Jeff Cox’s From […]
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on May 23rd, 2007
Advice on fertilizing and irrigating conventional vineyards is often easy to come by, but the rules change in a bonsai vineyard where you plant grape vines in pots and trim the roots every year. You must supply water and fertilizer to keep the vines healthy and to get a good crop. The key question is […]