Chapter 1: Roots- Grafting Ideas

As fall of 2012 approached, we continued to be enthralled by all things wine related and embarked on copious research at wineries.

Research: In this context, we refer to this as tasting wines, visiting wineries, and talking to vintners.  It is best carried out by tasting multiple varietals for comparison reasons and taking quality notes.

Vintner: A person who makes wine.  While it is just as easy to say winemaker, this is a term that shows up often when reading and discussing wine.  

During this same timeframe, Asher had successfully started his own backyard “organic garden”.  Organic, in its purest form, loosely means no sprays, no chemicals, and using tried and true natural agricultural methods with little waste.  For Asher, this meant no need to spend money on sprays and chemicals.

Things escalated quickly in the backyard garden and it was difficult at times to tell if there was any produce or if the larger than life weeds grew and mutated from feeding off the unassuming veggies.  At any rate, with a little bit of digging he did manage a decent crop and I enjoyed some of the best tomatoes and peppers in recent memory.  Most importantly, Asher’s thumb was now a brilliant shade of green and the sky was the limit for what all he wanted to grow.  Unbeknownst to us, Asher and Ana had been casually discussing what to grow in 2013.  He was ready to venture into fruit and everyone agreed that it would be really neat to grow a few vines of grapes in the backyard.

Then, one weekend in August, standing right beside that famed organic garden, there was a chance conversation that changed everything. Asher was talking about his garden and what all he wanted to do with it the following year when he mentioned in passing that he was going to try out a few grape vines.  He went on to say that he is enthralled with the idea of growing them, and with any luck would like to transplant them to more land in the future as him and Ana were interested in making wine. The light bulb burned brilliantly overhead. The rest of the family was interested in growing grapes and making wine.. Eureka!  Immediately I dove into stories with him about our love for wine and secret ambition to start a vineyard (Oh, and the initial idea of a few plants was thrown out the window.   Time is of the essence, and we were going to order lots and lots of plants). Naturally, as grape growing and wine making rookies, our first step was to buy as many books off the internet as we could find on soil, grape growing, and drinking and making wine.The idea was planted.  We all got together the following weekend, and over a bottle of wine we discussed in great delight a new adventure to embark on.

(Originally Published April 16, 2013)