Choosing Your Perfect Vineyard Grapes

By: Al Barker

It really isn’t difficult to grow vineyard grapes, but if you are genuinely wanting to make wine from them, then you need to be sure the variety you choose will grow in your vineyard.





There are two main factors that you need to consider:

1. Climate.

2. The type of wine you want to make.

Climate

There are many different varieties of grape that you can grow for wine making, but the two most common species are Vitus vinifera and Vitis lubrusca. The former is suitable for typically Mediterranean- type climates that have mild winters with rain, and hot summers. The latter, developed in the United States is ideal for summer rainfall areas.

The type of wine you want to make

While you need to plant a grape species that will thrive in your own vineyard (or possibly even your own backyard if this is where you are going to grow grapes), you have considerable choice in terms of different varieties and cultivars. Some are better for dry wine while others are fruitier and better for making sweeter wines. Once you have some experience making wine, you might want to experiment and blend two or three different grape cultivars together.

The other thing you need to decide on is whether you are going to grow red grapes or green grapes. This will, of course, depend on whether you want to make red or white wine.

Preparing your vineyard for planting

Once you have decided on a suitable grape stock you will need to prepare your vineyard for planting.

All grapes need fertile, well-drained soil and the pH of the soil should be around 5,5 to 6,5 which is ever so slightly acid. If the soil is too acid, you can neutralize it with lime. This will also help to improve the drainage in soil that contains a lot of clay, but bear in mind that vines don’t do well in clay.

You will also need some sort of grape trellis to support the vines.

Then you can get started and plant the grapes you have chosen to grow.



About the Author:

Al Barker is a grape growing expert. Al has spent the past 16 years mastering how to grow vineyard grapes.

In Al's many years he has not only grown world class grapes himself, but has also taught hundreds of people how to grow and harvest vineyard grapes in their own backyard.