Nursery Rhymes

Just as temperatures spiked to 80 degrees in the FLX it was time to get the grafted plants into the Hermann J. Wiemer Nursery, aka the ground. After grafting and waxing into spring, we packed the plants in boxes with peat moss and sand and kept them in a warmed room for two weeks so they could develop a callous around the graft, thus protecting it. While they were warming up in this phase we would brush the sand on top to fill in any holes to keep the plants packed in tightly. I called this the Zen Garden because brushing the sand was very soothing. During the second week they started sprouting some greenery, and then it was time to get them into the real world.

We carefully unpacked the plants, checked the callouses to make sure they were sound, re-dipped the tops in wax, and re-packed them in large bins for transport up to the nursery about 15 miles north of the winery. With a crew of 10-12 people, we got 100,000 plants in the ground by hand in 3 days: 2 people unpacked the plants into hand-held picking boxes; 1 person drove the tractor, which pulled a 6-seater trailer; 2-4 additional people followed behind filling in the spaces that were missed.

It was sunny and hot and essentially backbreaking, but what an accomplishment! The babies are doing well and they'll stay in the ground until November, when we'll harvest them and get them ready for shipping across the country to vineyards in need. (I did the harvesting part last November, so now I've gone backwards to the beginning).

Meanwhile, we still have some 1 year plants that are ready for planting if you'd like to have your own backyard vineyard. On our patio outside the tasting room you'll see potted plants of varieties including Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay, Gruner Veltliner, Viognier, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon.