I know that Ralph will wince at this, but I have a Pinot Noir vine that has spread over a deck arbor covering over the last 10 years and produces about 20-30 pounds of grapes a year. I do prune some of the branches back each year, but the beauty of the vine over the decks overruled my desire for grapes. However, I have tried to make wine over the last few years, but getting the grapes to maturity has been a problem due to the migrating birds love of the fruit. The grape arbor is somewhat difficult to cover with netting, etc. I was wondering, is there a way hastening the ripening of grapes whilst still retaining the sugar content?
Re: New Grape Vines for Christmas If the primary purpose for your vine's existence is something other than wine grape production, then your pruning strategy may correctly differ from that of a vineyard. I know of many trellis vines that are 20 - 30 feet in length and inches in diameter, and some of those are surely holding up the trellis at this point! The fact that you can prune a vine brutally does not mean that you must. My wince comes from the fact that I don't have such a magnificent vine in my collection (yet!) A fairly easy opportunity to accelerate the ripening of the grapes comes at the beginning of the season, when you are sure the frost danger is past. Build a temporary poly shelter (using sprung 1/2" pvc pipe for example) over your vine. It's a bit like a giant cloche and works just the same, getting the buds out earlier and incidentally sheltering the flowers in the event of ugly weather at blossom time, giving a more reliable fruit set. Some Vancouver Island vineyards have been reporting a 2 week improvement with a form of this treatment. The same vineyards will tell you: net or forget (your grapes, that is). The birds will radar in on the early ripening grapes. Ralph
Re: New Grape Vines for Christmas thanks for all your sage advice! I will try cloche the vine next spring and hope for a nice, hot summer too and maybe some wine-ready grapes in the fall. Net or forget... that is similar to what my wife says each year as I lament the loss of the latest crop of grapes...
