Growing Grapes For Wine – Healthy Grape Vines For a Great Wine
Posted onIf you are a gardening enthusiast or a wine lover, growing grapes for wine may be an exciting activity for you. Making your own wine is indeed a good idea. You must remember though your backyard grapes may not be the variety that is great for wine making, thus if you want to venture into growing grapes for wine, here are some important tips that you may consider.
Choosing your wine grape
One main factor in making best wines, of course, is having the best quality of grapes. The variety of your grape vines should be the first consideration. Choose a type that is great for wine making and pick a variety that can thrive well with the climatic condition of your area. Most often, grapes grown healthily on areas with hot and dry summer and mild winters, as very low temperatures during winter can kill the grape vines.
Choosing your location
Make sure to choose a location that there is plenty of sun. This will in the proper ripening of the fruits that will contribute also to the taste of your wine. Other major considerations to take note in growing grapes for wine making include the soil, the topography, the fertilizers and the climatic conditions of your area. Planting your grape vines can also be done in slopes because these areas have good drainage and prevent the roots to be soaked with too much in water and that can freeze in winter. Slopes facing south are the best locations that you can get for growing grapes for wine as these areas will sure get good sunshine for your wine grapes. Bathing your vines with good sunlight helps a lot in the formation of sugars in fruits that become alcohol after fermentation. Beware of low lying areas too as these are prone to frosts that can damage your vines.
Disease and Pest Control
Like any other crop, growing grapes also involves monitoring especially for possible attack of pests and diseases. You can make use of pest attractants to drive pests away from the fruits. At mid summer when the fruits begin to swell and ripen, birds also begin to peck on the fruits, thus, before everything will be gone, you can put nets over the vines to stop them from feeding on the fruits. A gardening net would be a great one for this purpose.
Pruning for better fruits
Pruning your grape vines is also a factor that you should consider in growing grapes for wine, as this affects the production of good quality fruits. Pruning will help balance the production of fruits and prevent overbearing, which can lead to poor fruit quality. Aside from getting rid of messy vines, pruning also allows sunlight to nourish the vines well and helps maintain disease-free vines.
Harvesting your grapes
Harvesting the fruits at the right time is also important in growing grapes for wine making. It is not just enough also to look at the color of the fruits to determine if it is in its right ripeness for harvesting. Tasting the grapes is recommended. You can start harvesting your grapes if the seeds are dark or brownish and if the sugar level is just right. You can also make use of hydrometer to help you determine the sugar content of the grapes and if it is already right for harvesting.