Near-north Ontario, French River | The main difference I think apart from climate ( you irrigate because it gets too dry I assume, here lack of moisture isnt a problem excess is thus the tiling... I'd bet long term that the money we invest in tile is cheaper then the on going cost of drip irrigation so we will call that a wash lol) appears to be how we view our prospective vineyards. While we are far from grape BTO ( have 30 acres in production with 5 acres of new planting this year )we are certainly into grapes as a commercial venture. A 6.5 acre vineyard around here would not be commercially viable, ie it would fall into the 'hobby' class , relying on free labour from friends and wine lovers to tend to 30 acres of grapes would be a recipe for disaster. As you no doubt know, grapes are hand labour intensive and I have doubt that people would spend weeks on end doing manual labour for the promise of a couple of bottles of wine at the end. Here, the labour bill alone amounts to close to $60,000 a year for 30 acres, work begins in early/mid march and we keep 5 people busy right up until late august, working 6 days a week. As for your comments about having the good sense to plant grapes adapted to the area well thats the reason we use grafted plants. As you also well know wineries are looking for specific varieties for their wines, be it Reisling, Chardonay Pinot Noir or what ever. If a guy wants to be in the business he got to grow what the buyer needs, and that means grafted plants, with a rootstock adapted to the climate. |
Growing Grapes
