Thinking about grape growing? Grape growing is synonymous to thinking about water, sunshine and soil. All three of nature’s elements are needed to ensure that you get the best out of your grapes whether you're planting to get raisins, Sauvignons or Shiraz.
You may wonder how all three affect the grape produce, yet, in a nutshell, too little or too much rain affects the intensity of the wine more so when excessive water is offered to the vine during harvest and fertilization. Rainfall during the fertilization stage affects the grape cluster from developing. Rainfall during harvesting, on the other hand dilutes the intensity of the wine. It can also puncture the grape skin causing it to rot or fall off.
Sunshine is good for the grape color as what you see from a Shiraz. Too much sun though dries up your grapes which gives you something edible instead of something to drink. The effect gives you raisins. Grapes are often grown in warm areas but not all warm areas are suitable for grape growing. Ideally the weather has to be in the range of 50 degrees to 95 degrees. Why? Two things: one we all know that plants make food (to include sugars) through a process called photosynthesis. And this process virtually stops should you go about 95 degrees. The second factor is, below 50 degrees your grape vines would not bear quality grapes or would at times remain in slumber and never wake up. Photosynthesis if further explained in other Horticulture courses as grape growing is part of this course.
The soil affects the water consumption and may contribute to the heat that the grapes absorb. Your area may have the ideal rainfall and sunshine yet you may not have the proper soil then grape growing would not be successful nor would you be a successful grape grower at that. Grapevines need major nutrients from the soil such as phosphorous, nitrogen, and potassium. Grapevines also need minor nutrients like manganese, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc and boron. The soil should not be acidic or alkaline based as this would affect the vines absorption of these minerals. The type of soil will dictate how you are to train your vines to grow whether they have to be close to the ground of higher up depends primarily on the soil type.
Once you’ve scouted the area and learned that conditions for grape growing from rain, to sun to soil is good for the go then the next step is to find the proper type of grapes to grow. The color green or red is not the only category for which grapes differ. Shiraz comes from red grapes, Pinots from green and so forth. They also grow depending on the soil and region. Be sure to know and find the best grapes suited to the conditions of where you’d like to start planting are for you to have a bountiful harvest and maximum yield.
And speaking of yield, let us talk about quantity and quality. The best wine makers go for producing lesser grapes per hectare. The decrease in the quantity of the grapes produced ensures an increase in the quality of the wine produced. Excellence in wine taste comes not with the quantity of the grapes but with the quality. And how is that achieved? To get the vines to produce lesser grapes merely means you have to religiously prune the vines during the time that the vines are dormant. Pruning dictates how much grapes come out of the vines. You also may take the alternative of removing bunches of grapes when they start to come out. Concentration will be left with the grape bunches you leave to grow thus affecting the wine intensity and overall quality.
To compensate on the quantity, one must be able to plant more vines. Remember, the concentration is dependent on how many bunches of grapes are in a vine and not how many vines are grown in a specific area. Increasing the number of vines to plant also assures the grape grower that the process of grape growing is worth his while. All these and a lot more are part of Horticulture courses that you may want to check out whether you’d like to grow grapes for the fruits, for wine making or even just for raisins be it for personal consumption or for mass production. This courses offer a deeper understanding of what it entails to be a grape grower or even grape growing. Questions you may have would also best answered by more reading.
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