Growing Grapes at Home

I was wondering if anyone on here grows their own grapes for wine. My father and I had a discussion about turning some land on the ranch into a little vineyard. With out little knowledge on the subject we knew that hillsides are recommended, so we found a good hill that will get plenty of sunlight. Now we have been trying to find information on what kind of grapes to grow. Being in south central South Dakota we were unsure of what to expect for growing grapes until I found this website: http://sdgrapes.sdstate.edu/grapesd.cfm . Now we main things we are unsure of is:

What kind of grapes are recommended?
How many should be planted to make 50-100 gallons of wine?

We are hoping to get information about someone who has knowledge/experience with their own vineyard

Thanks in advance,

Chip

 

I think first you need to decide on what wine you want to make as the grape varietal is key to that. then determine what, if anything, you'd have to do to the soil to make that grape happy there.

All I know is that grapes are said to grow in conditions where nothing else will. Not sure I believe that tho'.

 

We were willing to decide what wine we were going to be able to grow. The only thing we have growing on the hillside is bromegrass right now, but we are willing to sacrifice some hay for some grapes. We have been leaning towards the Frontenac grapes and potentially another kind also. I am going to get in contact with out local county extension office to get some information about the soil as soon as I get a chance to get back to the area.

 

County extension is a great resource for plant information as well. They will know what thrives in your area.

 

Go to your library and check out books on vineyards. There are a lot of books out there.

Bu yeah, talk to your county extension office, which is usually funded by your ag university. They will know.

 

Are there any wineries near you?

I've got a friend who's turned an unused pasture into a small vineyard, as a way to make a little extra money to pay off the property taxes. They found a local winery to buy their grapes(minus what they need for their own use), the winery helped them pick what grapes to grow and other advise on how to get the vineyard started up.

That could be something to look into. That is if you could find a winery near you, I know there is a few around Vermillion and Sioux Falls.

 

i spoke to a guy who grew grapes and he said you would normally get between 1 and 2 bottles (750ml) per vine,depending on how the season was.i think this was pinot noir,not sure if it varies between varietals though

 

You might want to pick up a copy of this book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1580171052/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
I think you'll find it very useful. Regards, GF.

 

Thanks for all the information everyone.

Nath,
The closest winery is at least 2-3 hours from our place. I think the goal is to make some family wine to give as gifts and to drink ourselves.

GF,
I will definitely start looking into some reference material. I will see if I can find that book in my library but if not i will have to look into buying a copy.

 

FWIW I found out there are a couple wineries in WY. Worst tasting wine I've ever had. 1st and only bottle that after 1/2 a glass the rest went down the drain. I spoke with a few more knowledgeable than me, was told that the grapes that grow well up here, taste that bad. I've got a couple vines growing in my backyard, basically for decoration.

 

I am just curious as to what part of wyoming these came from. In Rapid City, there is a winery called Prairie Berry that grow their grapes in the central part of SD, I am not sure where, but they do make a good wine in my not-so-knowledgeable opinion. I think our growing conditions here are pretty good, but I believe that it will be a wait and see aspect. I do appreciate your input and will definitely do my homework before I do the real work.

 

I have to say, go for it, the worst you will end up with is some grapes that you have to make jelly from not wine..
I just got three Niagara grape vines for $4, sure I know that they are mainly eating and juice grapes, but I like wine made from Niagara grapes- It is just a matter of what ya like, and I figure if they make horrible wine, I can at least have fresh jelly or juice for the family or even just fresh eating grapes.

I also have (what I thought were )wild type grapes that spring up all over my wooded areas in my yard and thought that they were not worth anything and to my surprise the last couple of years they have produced some nice big Concords! My aunt noticed them and told me that the Concord grape is loved by birds and more than likely someone has them around here and I have some freebys.. They are tart till that first frost and I have to put bags over the clusters or the birds eat them, but I will be trying to move them from where they are to a better place and give them some training and I can make my own Mogen David!

Now if I can grow decent grapes I will be looking into finding some Reisling grapes as that is one of our family favorites and I know that they grow well here in MI.. Must be the German half!

The only way that you will fail is if you don't try at all. Sure you might have to change vines or put in different rows of types of grapes, but if you don't try you will never know if you can do it.
You can also make a blended fruit wine- add a few rows of a berry or fruit that grows well in your area-Michigan is starting to make all kinds of great wine from the fruits that we are known for- blueberry, cherry, raspberry apple, peach, the list goes on...
Your state must have fruits that are suited- like blackberry, blueberry. Think outside the box- you might find your nirvana!

 

Thanks for the support. We are hoping to get 2 or 3 varieties planted. We have not thought about planting other types of fruit, but there is plenty of room if and when we decided to do so. Right now we have a lot of wild chokecherries that grow by a creek on the ranch, which got me started on making wine, I have 5 gallons just about ready to be bottled, and am ready to get some more going.

This weekend though we are going to get some research done on what types to grow. So we are hoping to get this prepared to go this fall and hopefully get some things growing in the spring.

 

Here's there website. http://www.tablemountainvineyards.com/

I considered that I had picked up a bad bottle and went back to the liquor store to discuss it. Turns out I hadn't. They do regular wine tasting nights and to date they've had 1 person take a 2nd glass. Everyone else has returned theirs to be dumped. So it's been a universal response to every type they make.

I asked why the bother to carry it and their answer was, "It's a wyoming product. The best thing to do is buy a bottle and put it on a shelf. Let's face it, they won't be in business long".

I feel bad for them, I'd really like locals to be able to turn out a decent product. But my flat out biggest screw up was 100 times more drinkable than that bottle, and I definitely don't think what I've messed up has been worth selling. And I even like the welch's stuff I've cranked out :laugh:

 

i would recommend against choosing the wine you want to make, first. i don't think it works that way.

you have to find out what grows well in your area first. otherwise, you'll be fighting disease and weather for the life of the vinyard. most important are climatic conditions and weather. least important is soil fertility as grapes do not require a great deal of nutrients, they have very deep roots that mine the soil for nutrients and water if there is enough topsoil, and slow growth develops more character in the grape.

start with your university extension office publications as well as local RELIABLE nursuries that don't just want to sell you anything, but want to sell you something that you'll be happy with.

i am growing traminette, frontenac and muscat here in kansas because that is what grows well here in our hot humid summers. the wouldn't be my first choice for wine as i love chiantis and the sangivese style of grape, however, that 's simply not an option for me here.

as said before, once you do your research and get a solid foundation for what you want to do, experiement and have fun!