Sampson Valley Vineyard on December 24, 2006
Last post of the year and it has been a very good year! (Not just in the vineyard, but the vineyard is the subject of this post.) I had very little winter kill this past year. I got most of my insect and fungus problems under control. And I sold my first small crop of grapes.
I'm certainly finding out it is more work than I had anticipated.
I look forward to 2007 ... my hopes and goals for 2007.
- Plant another 100-200 vines La Crescent, Frontenac or Marquette?
- Be preemptive in eliminating grape flea beetle larvae.
- Increase harvest of Foch from about 260 lbs to over 1000 lbs
- get my first harvest of Saint Pepin
- get my first harvest of Landot noir
- get my first harvest of LaCrosse.
- Sell my grapes to a commercial winery
- Finish high tunnel and begin training vines
- Build or acquire a building for storing vineyard equipment
- Set up frost loss prevention system in the high tunnel
We have been having a very mild December after a chilly start in November .... I hope the weather is kind. Not too many updates until spring except for the occasional weather report.
