The Orchard AND the Vinyard?

Everything old is new again....

A few years ago, my sister introduced me to a wine from Ponderosa Winery.  It was a nice table wine called Vino de Pata (literally, wine of the feet).  Two years ago, we went up to the winery and asked to purchase a few bottles.  The answer was no - there was no more Vino de Pata and may never be again!  My sister and I were pretty unhappy. 

The owner of the winery related the tale - sadly, a typical one in NM today.  The grapes for that particular wine were grown in a single 10 acre field in Corrales, NM (just north of Albuquerque and along the Rio Grande).  The grape variety was an old one (Léon Millot), not commonly grown anywhere anymore, and the vintner didn't know of any other NM sources.  That particular 'vinyard' had likely been planted over 60 years ago.  The owner of the field decided that he just wasn't making enough money on the grapes, so he sold the field to a developer who plowed it up, built a huge custom adobe home on the spot and sold it for over a million.  Tragically, this is happening everywhere in the Rio Grande Valley - people want to move there because of the agriculture and beauty, but they tear it all up to build a giant house. 

Well, I thought, we can try to make our own wine!  Why not, grapes grow pretty well throughout NM, and there are some old vines at my Mom's house (20 miles south of Albuquerque) that have thrived on total neglect for the 35 years she's lived there. We have no clue what variety are, but we're fairly sure they are wine grapes.  The vines are old, and date back to the building of the old part of the adobe house (around 1910), but every year that the horses don't eat them, there are small, tasty, sweet/tart, purple grapes on the vines.  

This past march, while visiting my mom, I cut 12, foot long branches for rooting.  I wasn't too hopeful because the vines seemed really desiccated.  When I came home to IL, I stuck the vines into a pot of damp sand, forgot about them, and was surprised a month later, to see roots!  I potted each little vine and they sprouted leaves soon after (see photo above).  I kept them growing in harsh conditions (lean soil, very little water, tons of sun & heat, no fertilizer) all summer/fall because they will have a hard life at Ghost Dog Orchard starting next year.  Tough little plants, they have thrived and are now dormant in the basement.

The plan is to plant these grapes along the back wall next spring.  I will extend the drip system a tiny bit so each little vine has water, but that will be it.  These guys will have to tough it out and climb the wall.  I have no doubts that they will do a good job.

The next step is to put in a heavy duty trellis and plant some Léon Millot vines the year after.  Vino de Pata, here we come!