Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Kitchen Natter => Topic started by: Growster... on December 13, 2017, 20:28
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So here's a quandary; we consume grapes in all manner of disguises, sultanas, currants, raisins etc., and wine of course.
When we had a solitary grape vine, now sadly gone,but a great vine which could nearly cover a single garage, we made five gallons of a Beaujolais type wine each season, so it was probably a Gamay, but we didn't really prune it well, and it was so rampant, that the ugly garage even looked quaint for a time!
But grapes take up a lot of effort, room, and are fussy plants which can get all sorts of 'grape-hump' in their long lives. But hey, where on earth are they all grown these days? We have David Carr-Taylor close by (I know him well, nice chap), and he was one of the first to start a vineyard ages ago in Westfield, near Hastings. There are several in and near Tenterden, Lamberhurst and beyond - the list is endless.
So is English wine going to take over, and what will happen to the sultanas and the raisins? Grapes are an amazing crop, and I tried growing two Muscat vines and gave up, but there has to be an enormous acreage throughout the world to cater for such a great fruit!
California anyone? Spain? Where else?
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Sultana grapes are grown in Turkey and Australia, Zante's currant grapes are famous (Greece).