Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Jun 1st, 2009
I went two seasons without fruit from my Swenson Red grape vine. It was one of the first additions to my bonsai vineyard, and I’ve been struggling with how to prune it. Two years ago, I decided that Swenson Red needs cane pruning to bear fruit. Canes or spurs? Canes are just long “branches” of [...]
Posted in bonsai orchard, bonsai vineyard on May 3rd, 2009
With ten grape vines in pots, and another ten fruit trees, I’ve been doing a lot of hand watering. It’s become quite a chore, so I’ve decided to put in a drip irrigation system. This will have water coming from a garden hose, through a pressure reducing fitting, into a feeder bottle so that I [...]
Posted in bonsai vineyard on Sep 1st, 2008
I photograph my grape vines as closeups, so the leaves and clusters are clearly visible. Here I took in the entire vine, with a devilishly handsome model to provide a sense of size and proportion The vines in my bonsai vineyard look like this except that most of them are in 5-gallon plastic buckets. I [...]
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 [...]
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 : 3 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]