Growing in a New Direction

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 on the property.  Keeping the plants alive the first Summer meant driving 25 minutes at least twice a week to fill six 2 gallon carboys with water and placing one near the root zone of each scraggly vine.  Against all odds this ridiculous system actually worked for one full growing season.  I stopped watering in October that year and told myself (where the vines could hear me) if they don't make it through the winter on their own then I don't want them.

The next season's growth was exciting.  The vines grew enough to train them to the top wire and with a little discipline they started looking like grape vines.  I remember my Father-in-law began to notice and his curiosity was piqued by how much time I spent reading and talking about muscadines.  I had a friend that had planted 2-1/2 acres of Norton just 8 minutes north of us the season before and we talked about grapes all the time.  I was learning a great deal about the vines and what was required to make them successful.  While I had not invested a great deal of money thus far, the subject had captured my interest and I was already dreaming of planting more.

In 2008, we had moved into a temporary place on the Howard property and were making plans to build a house there.  Circumstances modified our plans and we bought a house in Longview so that I could be close to work while I finished a big project.  We intended to flip the house and hoped to make a little money so that we could finally build.  That same year my father-in-law, Bill Howard, and I decided to take the plunge and expend the single trellis into seven rows of muscadine vines.  We were going to plant a real vineyard.

I did a bit of research and found that 'Ison' was a solid performing variety of purple muscadine.  It would serve as a pollinator for the berries we thought the kids would actually eat.  I selected thirty 'Seedless Fry' as to be the bulk of the new planted block.  I knew muscadines were a super healthy food, and I had hoped we could incorporate the grapes into our regular family diet.  I knew nothing of patents or erratic production at this point.  It was all hope and glory.  The White block was finished in April of 2009 and it consisted of seven irrigated rows of muscadine grapes; the first trellis of miscellaneous vines, and six additional trellises at 140 feet long containing thirty 'Seedless Fry' and fifteen 'Ison' vines.  Looking back, this is the point where we began to think differently and the vineyard became an important part of my identity.

The 2009 growing season cost the lives of 14 vines.  These were my first losses and I had no idea what caused them.  My research lead me to believe that the bare-rooted vines had dried out before I had them fully planted.  They leafed, but died within weeks of bud-break.  I had not properly labeled the vines by variety at planting and without fruit for another couple of years it was impossible for me to know exactly what I had lost.  Laura and I were busy in a million other ways and the vineyard was big enough to occupy most of my free time.  I did not think it would be wise to expand the next year and spend even more money on new vines at that point.

The 2010 growing season came before I was ready and by the time the vines had leafed I was regretting the decision to not replant the dead 14 vines.  On a whim, I went to Lowes looking for potted replacement muscadines and found none.  They no longer stocked muscadines, and to this day they still don't.  So, I visited two local nurseries only to discover that they only stocked table grapes like 'Concord' and 'Ruby Red'.  In a moment of weakness I bought 3 'Concord's, 6 'Ruby Red's and 6 'Thompson Seedless' grape vines and planted them in the holes of my all-muscadine vineyard.  These vines were already at least two years old and I thought I might let them bear a small crop the following season so the kids a recognizable grape to munch on.  I still considered this a good decision at the end of that season when all went dormant.

2011 was a terrible year for agriculture throughout East Texas.  We experienced a record number of consecutive days where the temperature was above 100.  Our nights would only cool down to the mid nineties and the drought was so severe that mature trees were dying all over the State.  This was the season we decided to plant two more blocks of vines and effectively double the size of our existing vineyard.  The main difference in our vines selection for this planting was my experience with the vines.  I had been reading everything I could lay my hands on about muscadine grapes.  I now had plans to begin propagation of my own vines and I knew that I wanted to select vines that were vigorous, reliable performers, strong pollinators, and not patented varieties.  I chose to plant thirty 'Tara' in one block and thirty 'Southland' vines in the other.  The trellises were built, the "Blue" and "Red" blocks were planted, the irrigation was installed and then we held our breath.

Our first partial harvest of muscadines was supposed to happen in the white block with the first trellis.  I remember the berries were few but they were sweet.  I think we ate them all right off the vine.  The Ison and Seedless Fry bore a few clusters but they were still too young and we just knew 2012 would be the year we were rolling around in grapes.

So, 2012 was a bit of a disappointment. Our total harvest consisted of about fifty pounds of mixed fruit. I decided that I hated the idea of a mixed species vineyard when the grapes refused to ripen even one bunch of grapes.  The bugs in East Texas LOVED 'Concord', and 'Ruby Red' and 'Thompson Seedless'.
I bought a few more 'Tara' and replaced some of the table grapes that died in 2011.
 Laura made some great muscadine jam that we shared with our friends at church and I tried my hand at wine with a five gallon glass carboy and a kit from Midwest Supply.  The wine was terrible for drinking, but made a pretty good marinade!  In October of 2012 I quit the high-paying job I had held for over 10 years and started my own business.  This business was supposed to be a segue into a career involving grapes.

2013 was the year of decision.  We had 120 vines and I wanted to plant another 10 acres.  In fact, I wanted to be a vintner full-time, I just couldn't figure out how to do it.  I was not able to work at my new business much of the time because I had little exposure and the weather was too cold.  On a lark I dialed the phone number of a vineyard about 30 miles north of us in Pittsburg, Texas.  Laura and I had visited the St. Rose Vineyard and Winery for a tasting one Saturday in 2011.  I remembered that Judy had told us all about the founder, Rosemary, and how she planted and cared for the vines while she was alive.  Sadly, she had passed away unexpectedly in 2007 and the vines had not seen the same kind of attention they were used to.  When Laura and I drove past the vines again in the fall of 2012 and they didn't look any different, we both wondered if maybe they needed some help.

Ann Arra, Rosemary's daughter, and the new owner of St. Rose returned my call.  They needed some help with maintaining their grape vines because they lived out of state and the travel was difficult to manage.  We came to an agreement and I spent much of 2013 working part time at my business and part-time managing the muscadine vines for St. Rose Vineyard and Winery.

Since planting my first vines I have learned a great deal about nature, about myself, and about our Creator.  Chapter 15 of the book of John means so much more to be now that I know how vines want to behave and how pruning, and proper care brings them to much fuller production.  I have learned about pests, and chemicals, and soil additives, and organic cultural practices.  I have built structures and repaired old ones with the materials I had available. I have worn four layers of clothing in 24 degrees and wrapped wet towels around my head in 108 degrees.  I have planted, and pruned, and cut, and mowed, and fertilized, and weeded, and sprayed, and harvested.  I have been a post-hole digger and I have served tastings at a state-wide wine competition in Grapevine, Texas.

I love this stuff.

Currently, circumstances are such that I am planning to leave St. Rose to pursue more secure and lucrative work, but I will always be thankful for the experience I gained as I walked the old rows of that vineyard.  I will miss talking to those grapes.  If you ever find yourself near Pittsburg, Texas on Saturday between 12 noon and 5:00pm you really should stop by St. Rose Vineyard and Winery and let Judy tell you all about the little country vineyard that Rosemary planted twenty years ago.  The wine is delicious (The Foxy Blackberry is my personal favorite) and the tasting is free!

I still have plans to expand the Howard Hill Vineyards and I believe the time has finally come to formulate a solid plan for how that will be done.  I have propagated over 700 vines from our own vineyard that are sitting in my greenhouse as I type waiting to be potted or planted.  I have also begun to propagate some PD-resistant wine grape varieties (non-muscadine) as well.  I want to make my living by growing grapes, some way, somehow.  I hope to chronicle that journey with this blog.

My short-term plan for 2014 is to acquire a nursery license and propagate enough plants that I have something to sell in the Spring of 2015.  I would like to use the proceeds to buy a vineyard property near our house.  I could grow all the vines I will need to plant my own vineyard blocks and hopefully some land will become available for that in the next couple of years.  In the end God alone is sovereign and ultimately I will follow wherever He leads my family.

While I wait on Him, I will grow grapes. 

~Steve Hill