Have you ever thought about making wine yourself, from start to finish, growing the grapes right in your own back yard? Any gardener will tell you that Maine is not the ideal climate, with our very short growing season, low average temperatures and bitterly cold winters. Some people do have success though. Just 2 years after planting, you can be sampling your own grapes; in 3 years, you can be harvesting up to 15 pounds of grapes from each vine- I predict a grape crushing party in your future!
Several key conditions are necessary: you have to carefully consider your site, the soil, drainage, sunshine, wind and airflow, danger of early frost, and then also choose a winter hardy variety of the wine grape. Sandy loam seems to be the best suitable soil here in Maine. Despite the challenges, good quality wine can be made here. Research and development from multiple Universities across the country as well as Canada have resulted in more successful hybrid varietals.
There are cold climate grapes that you can mail order as well as sources for wine grape growing advice through the Cooperative Extension Service, New England Wine Grape Growers Assoc., the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Assoc. and various Universities that have agricultural studies, in particular Cornell and the University of Minnesota. Plan now for spring planting…
Here is a list of the most common wine grape varieties grown in Maine to help you get started.
Red grape varieties: Marechal Foch - A very early ripening black grape with small berries that produce a fruity light red table wine. Leon Millot - An early ripening black grape. The wine has a distinct berry aroma. Frontenac - Extremely winter hardy red grape that produces a full bodied wine of high quality. Corot Noir (NY73 )-Vigorous and moderately resistant to powdery mildew. The red wine has full body with black pepper character and moderate tannin content. Marquette - high levels of cold hardiness and disease resistance with excellent wine quality. Wines have an attractive deep red color, desirable aromas of cherry, black pepper, spice, and berry, with substantial tannin structure rarely found in hybrid wines. St. Croix –hardy to minus 40 degrees and becoming popular with Northern winegrowers!
White Grapes varieties: Cayuga White - productive and disease resistant versatile grape can be made into a semisweet wine emphasizing the fruity aromas, or, using oak aging, into a dry, less fruity wine. St. Pepin - Wine produced is similar to Reisling in character. (must be planted next to other grape varieties because it requires cross pollination). LaCrosse -a good quality and fruity white wine. It has the benefits of early ripening and when hardened properly in the fall it is winter hardy to at least minus 25° F. Frontenac Gris - Suitable for high quality table and dessert wines, possible ice-wine as well. It ripens mid-season with aromas that include peach, apricot, citrus, and pineapple. Seyval Blanc- It’s winter hardiness is medium, but it is an excellent white wine variety.
© 2013 Text John and
Jennifer VerPlanck;
Photo/ illustration
credit: Personal photos of the author, Wiki media commons, Bigfoto.com, public
domain, MorgueFile.com, PDPhoto.org
******
by John and Jennifer VerPlanck
Imagine your
garden being five hundred acres of birds, gophers and tomato horn worms. Now
imagine it being a vineyard and your sole source of income. Now imagine you
want to make real wine and not some chemical-laden mess. It can be done. Animals are a key piece to
pesticide- free wineries around the world.
Organic and
biodynamic procedures are an integral part of serious wine making. In Italy and southern France, olive trees
often share with the vineyards, exchanging beneficial insects. In California,
choke cherries surround some vineyards, the birds preferring the sour cherries
to the sweet grapes.
The use of
organic compost encourages “good” microbes. These microscopic field hands
enrich the soil, breaking down organic matter for the vines’ roots. Bees, of course aid in pollination. Many
cover crops, like wild flowers encourage the bees. Often, abutting vineyards will share hives. The
cute little ladybug is in actuality one of the most voracious killers of
damaging insects like aphids and mites.
Sheep are
natural weed eaters. Smaller species like the Baby doll are too short to eat
the grape leaves. Normal-sized sheep at Tablas Creek Vineyard graze only from
harvest time to the emergence of the Spring buds. Where coyotes threaten the
sheep, some growers employ the use of guard donkeys, which are big and tough
enough so the coyotes leave them alone. They bond with and protect the smaller
animals.
Ground rodents
are a constant problem, but can be substantially reduced by predatory birds,
especially owls, “nature’s flying mouse traps.”
With a steady diet of moles, voles, gophers and ground squirrels, owls
will take up permanent residence. Some of
the vineyards in Marlborough are now using trained New Zealand Falcons whose
very presence wards off grape loving starlings and other smaller birds.
Dogs act as
friendly greeters to visitors but make no mistake, they work round the clock
guarding the vineyards at night, when deer, antelope, llama, wallaby, whatever
is hungry, comes calling. Vineyard dogs are a mainstay. Many end up as
namesakes for particular wines, gracing the winery labels. An Australian
vintner we know says that when his dog starts eating the grapes, he knows
they’re ripe enough to harvest. Dogs have been employed in sniffing out vine
disease (like mealybug) before it can kill the vines.
Most wineries
depend on their critters, large and small, to maintain healthy vineyards. Look
for ladybugs on organic wine bottle labels, like Lolonis Winery's ; the polka- dotted
bugs are a part of the organic farming methods that enabled the vineyards to flourish
pest free; and they even host an annual ladybug event every June. Bookstores
have a cat, vineyards have a zoo!
©2013 Text John and Jennifer VerPlanck;
*************************
Photo/
illustration credit: Personal photos of the author, Wiki media
commons,Bigfoto.com, public domain,MorgueFile.com, PDPhoto.org
*****
By the year 2100 scientists predict the global temperatures to rise by between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees on average. Because wine grapes are extraordinarily sensitive to temperature, they are in effect, an early warning system for the future of all agriculture. Rising temperatures associated with climate change are already reshaping the wine industry and if nothing is done to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, many vineyards will disappear because of inhospitable conditions. Others may be displaced as much as 300 miles north or south, depending on which hemisphere you’re in.
So, just replant your vineyards. `Sorry, doesn’t work that way. Not only is it a major investment, if you can even acquire the land, but the main concern is terroir. Temperature is not the sole determinant of wine’s taste and quality. Terroir refers to not just the soil of the region, but the winds, the hills and slopes, the directional facing of the vineyards, and the cultural knowledge of the people who grow and process the grapes.
Will your Sauvignon Blanc grapes yield the same wine in dry clay that it did on the calciferous banks of the Loire? No. Will your Pinot Noir produce a fine Burgundy with a fraction of the water that it got in Bourgogne? No, again. And if you stay put and just deal with the temperature increase what then? A classic example can be seen in California. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Napa Valley currently sell for over 4000 dollars per ton, while the same grapes from Fresno with a temperature difference of only 5 degrees Fahrenheit, market at less than 300 dollars per ton.
Warmer weather causes grapes to ripen faster which raises the sugar level of grapes dramatically. Too much sugar will produce a wine that is unbalanced and overly alcoholic. Higher temperatures can stress the vines and increase the risk of disease and pests that do not die off during the winter. Thinner skinned white wine grapes are even more sensitive to heat and tend to lose their light, refreshing qualities. Rising competition for fresh water will also be a factor for many vineyard owners.
A recent climate model from scientists at Stanford suggests that Northern California’s prime vineyards (including Napa) could be reduced by half in just the next 30 years. In 2008 Australia was so hot that normal fermentation became almost impossible for many winemakers. In France, where wine is their biggest export, reports of accelerated ripening and harvests that used to happen in late October but now are in early September are causing worry that the quality will be lost and so the farmers are planting slower ripening grapes. In Spain, Miguel Torres, their largest wine producer, has been busy shifting his vineyards to cooler areas as a hedge against climate change.
Many wineries are now powered by solar or wind energy and make other efforts to cut their carbon “footprint”. Some notable green wineries are Shafer, Jordan, Quivira, Cuvaison, Frog’s Leap, Honig, Robert Mondavi, Starmount, Far Niente, Wild Hog, Keenan, Sandrone, Santomé and Lageder.
I’ll leave you with this quote from Charles Darwin: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives…nor the most intelligent; it is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
© 2013 Text John and
Jennifer VerPlanck;
Photo/ illustration
credit: Personal photos of the author, Wiki media commons, Bigfoto.com, public
domain, MorgueFile.com, PDPhoto.org
