Howard-Hill Vineyard

I planted my first muscadine vines in the Spring of 2007.  What began as an attempt to keep neighborhood kids from cutting across a corner of my father-in-law's property, became an experiment in horticulture.  This is what lead me to discovering, and cultivating a deeply rooted love of viticulture. I purchased the first six vines from the garden center at Lowes in Longview, Texas.  I had no idea what to buy but I knew muscadines were native to the South and  their hardiness in the hot, humid, bug infested climate of East Texas was almost certain.  I skipped the 'Concord', and the 'Thompson' names that I had heard before and grabbed names like 'Summit', 'Triumph', and 'Carlos'.  There was no plan. The trellis was a pretty basic affair at 120 feet long and I assembled the whole thing in a weekend. I planted the vines without thinking about irrigation much less "terroir".  We had not yet built our house; we did not even live o...