VineStress - A blog about starting a wine label from scratch in Oregon... Home | About | Wine and Vine News | Links | Subscribe

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Our Oregon vineyard

Okay, here it is, our Oregon vineyard. It consists of one lonely Golden Muscat vine. We actually don't have any yard, just a patio, but I removed some flagstones, chopped up the clay and amended the soil and I now have a single-vine vineyard. It even has three clusters , currently in post-bloom berry set. I miss our Missouri vineyard, but until I get back between the trellis rows I'll have to use this single vine as a benchmark.

But I'm getting a sense for the macro climate here, already. One thing I've never considered was the sheer volume of daylight available during the growing season in northern latitudes. We've all seen the giant Alaskan pumpkins, but you have to experience it to get a true sense of the implications. The sun is rising when I wake and sometimes it's still up when I hit the sack. My daughter experiences only daylight this time of year.

I'm mapping out a strategy to start blogging again. I imagine this Golden Muscat vine might make frequent cameos as I figure what direction I'm going to go now that I'm vineyard-less. But I'll keep involved in the business and have plenty to write about exploring this region.