[Westude]

I am thinking of ordering some grapevines for my plot from the internet supplier Treesonline. I have not heard of them before so, before I part with my cash, I wondered if anyone around here has bought anything off their website recently.

I think I'll be going for the Dornfelder vines with the intention of resuming my wine making where I left off following the loss of my previous vine in Winter 2008/9. All the catalogues seem to list Dornfelder as a good, hardy, early cropping, heavy cropping wine maker. I would welcome comments on this from anyone who has grown Dornfelder.

[Silkworm]

Hi Westude,
This is my first post, have been following this site for about a year, seem a GREAT bunch of people  and very helpfull .

I have about 70 vines only three are Dornfelder I cant seem to get them to grow & don't know anybody local that can, white grapes grow better for me than Red and I LOVE red wine, I grow quite successfully Pinot Noir which can be used as white or red, Muscat my best yet, schonburg also very good, Huxelribe in green house growing well.
I would have thought North Lincs would have been to cold for Dornfelder do you have any Vineyards near you can check on what they grow? Most common red vine here is Regent but like dornfelder produces a really light red.
Good luck in your venture.

Silkworm.

[Babstreefern]

I bought a vine from my local nursey (well, not too local, in Prestbury actually), 12 months ago.  I planted it, and I got grapes in the summer; I chopped them off (the flowers), and in October I cut down the vine.  I'm now waiting to see if it comes up.  Its white, and I planted it in the ground, but am growing it in the greenhouse.   Just hope this harsh winter hasn't killed it off.  Only time will tell

[Jay Dubya]

Hi, i've got 18 vines of Seyval Blance vrey good for your climate you don't want an early cropper a late cropper gives the grape more time in our bad summers to ripen.
Seyval are also discease resistant so no spraying.

[Westude]

Thanks for the advice. You've given me something to think about. But on balance I'm still inclined to give the dornfelder a go. From the research I've done I'm fairly sure it will be hardy enough for N. Lincolnshire.

As to the early/late crop debate my previous vine was a late cropper and if we had a poor Summer it was touch and go as to whether the grapes would ripen up before winter set in. My theory now is (and I may be entirely wrong) that if the grapes are designed to crop early I can at least leave the grapes on the vine and hope to fall back on a few weeks of autumn sunshine to ripen them off if we have had a poor Summer. With the late cropper there was no fall back position before winter.

I will report back upon success or failure.

Cheers!

[Westude]

After more research and consideration I have had a change of plan and, at last, ordered 10 Rondo grafted grapevines from Winegrowers Supplies of Somerset.

The Rondo variety seems to be doing well at the Holmfirth Vineyard. If it does ok up there in the cold West Yorkshire Pennines it should thrive on my plot in North Lincolnshire. The Rondo scores well for hardiness and disease resistance and it should produce a decent red wine. That's the theory anyway. I'll report back on progress.