I bought a vine from lidl about 4 years ago gave up last year on any hope of making wine. But this year with weather so good the vine has blossomed and there is about 20 very small bunches, which hopefully grow over the next month or so. I was just wondering has anyone on the forum experience of grape growing and grape winemaking ?. :-X
Growing, yes, but actually making wine... not so much!
Is it in a greenhouse? Ideally, here, you'd plant the vine just outside the greenhouse, but train it through a hole, into the greenhouse. That way it gets everything it needs - heat, light, moisture, and I'm pretty sure they NEED a dormant period in winter, which is why the base goes outside (but you'll need to wikipoaedia that).
I've had bunches of grapes before, but usually too many, so they never actually ripen on time. Depending on your plant size it might be beneficial to strip some of them off. You should also be prepared to prune the grape vine, whenever you're supposed to.
That's all I've got.
vine outside, i pruned every year until last year.
My uncle used to grow grapes in his greenhouse and made wine from them. Many years ago so I was too young to taste it.
You might struggle every year to get a crop, then, but good luck with this one. I seem to remember the grapes I grew were quite tart until very late in the year, so watch for the first frosts. I also have a strange feeling that at least one frost is beneficial to the fruit on the vine. Leave the fruit on the vine until it's the desired sweetness, or until a particularly heavy frost (once the leaves die back the fruit stops ripening).
I've a reasonably suitable site. Might make a planning request to herself, and get back into grape growing.
I think our main problem here in ireland is the wet weather makes the grapes mouldy, so if we get a dry late summer/early autumn you might be lucky with some good grapes.
The tastiest grapes I have ever eaten were Irish grown.
They were smaller than what I'm used to, but the flavour was amazing, bought from a wholefood shop in Sligo a few years ago, called Vaughans.
boskoop glory is the variety that I have growing, suitable for Netherlands, so I should be ok in a month or so.
picking grapes this weekend.
We were down in Mayo over the weekend and the wife's dad has grapes growing in his Polly tunnel. 1 vine in its 3rd year according to him. Not sure though cause I've been in that tunnel a fair few times and never notices it before. Anyway. He said help yourself so we picked about 10kg of grapes. A variety of small Chinese grapes. Brought them home and over the last 2 hours or so juiced and press skins and ended up with about 6L.
Have treated with a campden tablet and will pitch some wine yeast tomorrow.
I was very surprised. He said "go have a look I. The tunnel there is a few bunches of grapes you can use." I took about half the crop and a few cuttings that I've potted in my folks greenhouse. But of research and get them into the ground and hopefully they take.
I have a dozen "rondo" vines on my allotment, they seem to be doing well. Relatively good crop this year, I'm going to press and make wine. I'll let you know how it goes. no idea how much grapes/juice I'll get
they're a cross between a french pinot type, and a grape from the Amur valley, between siberia and mongolia! They seemed to crop well, and they ripened in the last week or two. Will pick next week when I get time
Rondo is a "hybrid" grape, which means it can't be used in top quality wines. It was crossed to produce a deep red colour in climates which would be otherwise too cool to ripen the grapes properly. E.g, it's popular in England.
my vine rotted last year.... it was a gift so I didn't mind too much but....... a friend has a large vine growing in her greenhouse which , for the last 7 or 8 years has had the grapes drop off after rotting( her friends say they have seeds in and are softer than shop purchased ones), so this year I got my hands on 45kg of them!!!!
after squeezing a handful or two it read 1.045..... with sugar added to 1.090 Ive made 25 ltr white and 20 ltr red.
its a long wait now but after just 3 weeks im reading .998 in the white ( its very dry) and 1.020 in the red!
ill share a bottle or two when its ready ( in Waterford only lol )
matt