The vineyard.

The vineyard.

Posted on 29 Jul, 2009 12 comments

When Pammie asked how to keep the birds outof her vine I told her about our vineyard and what we did. This prompted me to check out my old CD’s on which I store the pictures. I started reflecting on the years we had a vineyard, which I thought I could share with you.



When we sold our orchard to semi retire, we had 32 acres of land left. Great, I thought we retired and just looked after some cattle. But hubby had to do something, was too active. So we planted a vineyard.
First plough up the paddocks, kill the weeds, put in posts and trellises and then fence it off, neccessary for the kangaroos and wild pigs, which were roaming the forest. Then we planted the cuttings, which we had taken from our own cabernet sauvignon grapes we had in the orchard. The cuttings were taken in winter, wrapped in black plastic, then kept in the coolstore. Planting commenced in late winter/early spring. We also had bought cuttings of Shiraz and Chardonnay grapes. So with a mini handheld posthole digger hubby dug all the holes whilst I did the planting. Now, when we took the cuttings we made sure one side was straight cut and the other diagonally, so we would know which side to stick in the ground, and which to keep above the ground, lol. You have to, or else they won’t take, things do like to have their feet in the ground. So each and everyone of the 2400 vines I planted. It was a good excercise, bending down, then up again, walk so many meters and down again, whilst carrying a bucket with a bunch of cuttings.
They all miraculously took off like a house on fire. They just wanted to reach the first wire of the trellesis in a hurry. It was fantastic to see this happening. We had propagated and succeeded. Within 3 years after looking after the vines with fertilising, spraying, pruning etc. we picked our first crop. It wasn’t much and we just made our own wine and drank it some years later.
The following year, the 4th it was full go. We just had so many bulkbins full, we had to get a carrier in to cart them on his truck to the winery. Here the winemaker made our wine. Of course what was made the one year, was only bottled the next. Once bottled ( and I designed our own label too ) we carted all the boxed bottles back home and cellar sales commenced. It was exciting and it took off well. We had our regular customers who came back all the time to buy several cartons. We even had some giftparcels with 3 different bottles. We had to get efpost as people came with creditcards. You don’t send those back now, do you?



Now back to the birds. There were certain species which took no interest in the grapes, but the little silvereyes were the culprit. So the second year we bought all these miles and miles of bird netting and put them over the grapes at the final weeks, just when the birds started to show interest. Trouble was, sometimes when flying fast, they could actually crash through the mazes, because these were from a nylon or other stretchy material. We could always hear them when caught underneath the netting, and had to rescue them again. Sometimes bigger birds got caught with their claws and you could hear them screeching. So we had to rescue them too, often with gloves on, as they would pick or scratch you in the process. So, all in all a battle with birds. Some years they were no problem at all. This was when the jarrah blossomed, because they still prefer their native trees for the nectar.
It was a great life and lots of fun. The picking season was great. 24 Pickers came, mostly Italians, even old ladies in black long skirts and tops, singing along, often belonging to the same families. When the grapes are ready to pick they all have to come off. That is, for one variety. The Chardonnay always ripens first. A couple of weeks later the Cabernet Sauvignon and lastly the Shiraz. They are best picked as late as possible, even when the leaves are starting to turn brown.
I will always think back smiling at this wonderful life. But nothing lasts for ever and we sold the place when it was really time to quit working hard.

More blog posts by Marguerite