Grape Update- What's New in The Vineyard

As many of you know, I consider the fruitfulness of our little "vineyard" as proof that the Shiloh area is the spot Gd created for grape-growing. With less than minimal care over the years, the three vines planted about twenty-five years ago have produced a very impressive amount of absolutely delicious grapes. The key is patience. They are late-ripening ones.

A few years ago, a neighbor made a deal with us and used our grapes, there were still plenty left for eating, to make a nice white wine. And this year, he plans on doing it again. He even covered the vines with some netting he had.

Gd willing, I'll let you know in a few months what happens. And I've also told the gardener who cleared out the "forest primeval" that I'd like him to hang the vines this coming winter. That should give us a better, larger and easier to harvest crop of grapes. Now a whole section is tangled up in the rose bushes, which also need care, cropping and pruning. And on the other side the vines are slithering on the ground among the weeds.

Ripening Grapes, Delish!

It takes patience, but it's worth it. We have the most delicious grapes growing in our little arbor/trellis/pergola outside. The only problem is that they are all, all three types, ripen very late in the season/summer.

Just now,  at the end of July (and the Jewish Month of Tammuz,) are the grapes beginning to be edible. It doesn't pay to pick them early, because they just don't taste good and will not ripen off of the vine.

Our grapes are totally organic, and the only water they get is rain. (The first few years after planting we had watering system, but after it deteriorated, the rain sufficed.) That makes them extra sweet. A neighbor who once picked a nice quantity from them to make wine for both our families, is thinking of bringing a net to cover them from the birds and wasps. Then he'll try making wine from them, again.

I don't know the technical wine mavin term, but a sign of ripeness for green grapes is when the grapes look rather translucent, rather than waxy. The red/dark grapes must be dark to be ripe and sweet.