I have just been offered an alotment and was thinking of growing a couple of grapes. Never grown anything ike it before so What varieties are good to grow in northern home counties? How long till they fruit? What sort of yield can I expect? How much TLC will they need? Is it all worth the effort?
do you grow your own grapes?
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battwave
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I will watch with interest. I called in at Wilkos during the summer and saw a winemakers grape vine in a 5" pot for a fiver and decided to treat myself. When I came to pay I found, to my delight, it had been discounted by 99%, costing me all of 5 pence!
It's happily settled where planted at the foot of the south facing wall at the rear of the house. I just don't know how old I'll be before I can start making wine!
It's happily settled where planted at the foot of the south facing wall at the rear of the house. I just don't know how old I'll be before I can start making wine!
I planted a vine about 5 or 6 years ago. I have to keep it in check but I got about 1/2kg of grapes this year. One day I'll build a pergola or something to let it sprawl a bit better and hopefully harvery significantly more one day.
My uncle has a single vine trained and it produces something like 2 25 litre fermenting buckets worth each year. No idea how old it is but they do grow quickly!
My uncle has a single vine trained and it produces something like 2 25 litre fermenting buckets worth each year. No idea how old it is but they do grow quickly!
pomme homme
Regular.
Yes - but as I live in France, it makes life much easier!
tonyhibbett
Landlord.
Financially almost certainly not worthwhile. 5 years ago I planted a black variety (£13), erected 5 cheap arches (£25) second hand wine press (£30) a refractometer to monitor the sugar content (£16) an old oak barrel (£20) a book (£6) wine filter (£15) a sturdy plastic 'half barrel' for treading the grapes (£13) netting (£6) wine racks (£7) secondhand colour laser printer for labels (£7) a sodastream to carbonate the wine (£18) champagne bottle stoppers, cages and foil, various fresh chemicals and a new siphon. Last year the vine produced enough to make 2 bottles of unexceptional fizz. This year, at a pinch, I may get 4.
Having bought, planted, supported, trained, fed, watered, pruned and protected the vine, the whole crop can be destroyed by late frost, mildew and other diseases and in more northerly latitudes you need a really good summer to have any chance of fully ripening.
Personally, I love it and now have 5 vines, but if I had just acquired an allotment which is possibly somewhat unkempt, I would plant potatoes!
Having bought, planted, supported, trained, fed, watered, pruned and protected the vine, the whole crop can be destroyed by late frost, mildew and other diseases and in more northerly latitudes you need a really good summer to have any chance of fully ripening.
Personally, I love it and now have 5 vines, but if I had just acquired an allotment which is possibly somewhat unkempt, I would plant potatoes!
pomme homme
Regular.
Cheaper still. I give away cuttings of my Noah and Oberlin vines when pruning them each year. Many of our friends have nascent vineyards in consequence of these!
tonyhibbett
Landlord.
Actually, most of the expenditure was sheer indulgence. I diidn't need a pergola. Stakes and wire would be sufficient and in fact easier to manage and protect. Oak chips have a similar effect as oak barrel. Maturing white wine in bottles is a better option anyway. A refractometer is a great tool, but with experience, you can tell when the grapes are at their best and anyway, the birds will let you know! I could just as easily used an existing 5 gal fermenting bin to tread the grapes and small quantities are easy to 'press' by wringing through a stout straining bag. The Sodastream was a worthwhile experiment. The filter justs speeds up what would happen naturally.
The yield this year from my 'young' pinot vine was a whole gallon of juice, more than double last year. I just looked up the price of English pinot red wine: upwards of £8 per bottle. I can also extend the yield by 50% by making more wine from the pomace (skins etc). I also have a large mature vine which yielded 60 bottles last year.
But most of the time I just use Youngs Winebuddy 30 bottle kits which are cheaper, faster, reliable and consistently good! Sometimes I can get them from Tesco direct for as little as £16 and £20 at most.
The yield this year from my 'young' pinot vine was a whole gallon of juice, more than double last year. I just looked up the price of English pinot red wine: upwards of £8 per bottle. I can also extend the yield by 50% by making more wine from the pomace (skins etc). I also have a large mature vine which yielded 60 bottles last year.
But most of the time I just use Youngs Winebuddy 30 bottle kits which are cheaper, faster, reliable and consistently good! Sometimes I can get them from Tesco direct for as little as £16 and £20 at most.
Crastney
Landlord.
my father in law planted a vine at his old house, on a south facing wall, next to the conservatory, and then fed the whole thing through a length of drain pipe inside the conservatory. He got a very large vine after two or three years. I don't think he ever made any wine.
Wendy1971
Regular.
You will get a better crop if you train the vines into a greenhouse but leave the rootball outside :thumb:
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