It’s been a great season for my vineyard, resulting in an abundant grape harvest. Vineyard threats were tamed and minimized. The weather was consistently hot, but not excessively so. We experienced extreme drought conditions the first half of the year, which lessoned in August, September, and October. So what’s not to love?
My apologies to the bard. The North Fork Valley is badly in need of moisture. The 2025 grape growing season in the North Fork Valley is trending hot and dry. Understandably, the “dry” part of that equation might be difficult for eastern flatland lubbers to grasp, especially with the wet start to the season along Colorado’s Front Range.
Alas, it’s my favorite time of year. An unveiling of my 2024 vineyard lessons learned! This is my second such unveiling, as it is the vineyard’s second season with grapes. In some ways, the year was less dramatic and fraught than last year. Only because I was following last year’s advice.
Summer is an eventful season in the vineyard. While its tribulations can be burdensome, you always come away with new insights. I’ve learned about vine flower shatter, leafhoppers, vine root growth, and how my daily vineyard schedule is not unlike my grandfather’s farm routine.
Spring enlivens the soul. There is something magical about witnessing brown give way to green. Of the landscape awakening. Warmer and longer days. Breezes that don’t chill you to the bone. There is no truer expression of spring than grape vine bud break.
In late 2020 we moved to the North Fork Valley in western Colorado. I was anxious to plan and plant a vineyard in 2021. A new vineyard takes 3 years to partially produce a harvest, and another year or two to fully reap. The clock was ticking. During the first year, I’d need to lay out and plant the vineyard, provide irrigation, and construct a wildlife fence.
Personal blog account of vineyard planting. The time had come to dig holes for the grape rootstock. Complete to-date; vineyard site and grape selection, site prep, vine row, and hole layout, and determine how to plant the rootstock. To do; plant, install irrigation, monitor growth, build wildlife fence, and winter prep.
My first-year vineyard experience was by all accounts a success. The level of effort both mental and especially physical was taxing, yet satisfying. My expectations and excitement for the second year were sky-high. I believed I was prepared but as learned on several occasions the previous year—”you don’t know what you don’t know” (Socrates).
One of the greatest English poets of the twentieth century W. H. Auden once remarked, “In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag”. This was my frame of mind as spring gave way to summer. Completion of spring tasks as highlighted in Year 2 Part I, set the stage for a summer of pruning vines to the trellis, an activity I immensely looked forward to.
