How to Grow Wine Grapes in New England

Soil

• Prepare your soil the fall before you plant grapes for best results. While this isn't strictly necessary, it will help reduce the chances of deep-rooted weeds. Well-rotted compost and rock phosphate are good to use in your soil around October, to ready it for planting in the winter. Add lime if your soil pH is below 5.5 to 6.5. Pick a location that will get plenty of sun and isn't exposed to wind. Plant your vine canes 10 to 12 feet apart. If you mulch regularly, you will not need to worry about watering them.

The Right Grape

• To take advantage of the brief warm weather in the north, you need a grape that will ripen fast. The most popular is the Concord grape, which is of the Vitus labrusca family. New varieties of grape are being developed at Cornell University that will be hardy enough to withstand the weather and resistant to disease. Some man-made white grape choices include "Valvin Muscat," a sweet combination of "Muscat du Moulin" and "Muscat Ottonel," and "Traminette," which resembles a "Gewurtztraminer." The "Noiret" grape is a red grape varietal that has already seen success in northern weather when grown in the grape-growing Finger Lakes region of New York state.

Pruning

• Your grape vines should arrive already pruned, at least partially, but to prevent the vines from taking over your garden you will need to prune aggressively yourself. Prune the vine even if it means cutting off fruit-bearing branches. While this may feel wasteful, you will be better off in the long run. One successful system is the Kniffen regimen for pruning. This involves stringing two strands of 10-gauge wire between posts and pruning your vine to a single cane. Tie the cane to the bottom wire, which should be 2 to 3 feet above the ground. Next year, prune the cane to the higher wire, which is at 5 feet. Four to six buds should be left at each wire.

Harvesting

• Knowing when to harvest your grapes is part of the artistry of being a winemaker. A taste test of a grape to see if it is sugary enough to pluck is a worthwhile practice, but many novice wine growers base an entire crop on a single grape. Make sure you have a representative sample when you taste test, so you are sure that what you are judging will be accurate for the entire vine. Different grape varieties have different ripening periods, so use that estimate as your guide.