First Spring after planting

Spring came and things were looking good.. Maybe too good. Early warm weather got the vines growing early and showed me that all had survived the winter season!! WOOHOO!!!

Then, after about 3 weeks of unseasonable weather we had a Hard freeze and every single vine lost all the leaves that had grown. :(  It really sucked to see all the growth vanish over night and worry that I might lose all the vines.

After a couple weeks of worrying that I might have to replant and start over the Vines started showing signs of growth. Sure enough all the vines had survived the Hard freeze and started regrowing.

by June some even had the first signs of grapes:

To give the Vines the energy they needed to grow we had to cut all the "grapes" off, otherwise they would have grabbed the nutrients and not allowed the Vines to reach their maturity. But seeing the regrowth after the early spring and issue was a promising sign.

The rest of the summer will be spent training the Vines to the top and keep trimming away any "suckers" that developed on the vine or the ground around the vine.

Here is some video I shot late in the summer

Nearing the end of the first season fo growth

As I neared the end of the growing season I was surprisingly shocked by how far up the trellis the Vines had grown. Seeing as I got a late start I wasn't expecting much growth but almost every vine was close to the 6 foot wire.

Now came the hard part. WINTER!  I could only hope the roots had grown enough to protect themselves for the winter weather that would consume them.

The holes are dug time to build!

So after a full day of digging holes and recovering over night I was ready to "plant" the posts and set the wires.

Here is the "pre-wiring" stage: 

So now it was time to add the wires and prepare for the growth. Much of this was learn as I go but after a couple of hours I was able to get everything set.
The only thing that I need to do is cement the end posts in as when I tighten the wires it is pulling the angled posts out off the ground.

and I thought the Tilling took time and energy

Now came the time to build the trellis system to support the Vines. I researched what would be needed, purchased the items and started digging.

Man, did I learn a lesson quick. I was using a Manual post hole digger  and I needed to get at least 2 feet down and after about 6 inches ran into hard clay and rocks.

After getting one hole down the required length and half of the next one I decided to see what my other options were.

The local rental place had two different "hole diggers..The first one was $25 and the 2nd one was $50.. I went the cheap route as it looked like it would work just fine:

Man was I wrong!
Even with all my weight on it I was barely making a dent.
Spent the rest of the day switching back and forth from the Manual to gas post diggers and finding muscles I didn't even know I had.
If I ever decide to add onto my Vineyard I'll definitely spend the extra dollars to rent this bad boy:

Time to buy the Vines and start Planting

So, now that the ground was tilled up I started deciding what Vines to plant.

After a lot of researching I decided to go with 3 varieties that had been tested by the University of Minnesota.

Frontenac, a Red Wine grape - The wines produced from Frontenac typically present aromas of cherry and other red fruits.

Frontenac gris, the white wine version of Frontenac, wines present aromas of peach and apricot with hints of enticing citrus and tropical fruit

Marquette another Red wine - wines are complex, with attractive ruby color, pronounced tannins, and desirable notes of cherry, berry, black pepper, and spice on both nose and palate.

I found a place called Bermann's in Stillwater, Minnesota that had the vines. I now had my 12 vines and it was time to start planting! June 15th, 2009 and the Vines are ready to grow!!

Next up, need to build a Vineyard Trellis system to support the vines and in a few years the grapes that will grow on those vines.

Chronicling "Snoggers" Vineyard

In June of 2009 I decided to create my own personal Vineyard and make my own wine.

The first thing I had to do was determine where I wanted to build the Vineyard.
After walking my yard I determined the area in the back, which was "wasted" land as it was beyond our fence line and behind the sewer mound, would be the best place.

So, after deciding to go with 12 Vines I determined the area that would be needed and marked it off:

Next up was tilling the land to prepare the soil for planting. It took the better part of a day to get it tilled up as I made a few passes.
 We were now ready to go buy the Vines and start planting: