ChrisinCowiche
Posts: 7845
Joined: 12/16/2009
From: Cowiche, WA
Status: offline
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Thanks again for all the interest and words of encouragement. We've obviously been thinking/planning this for some time, the significance of the actual turning of the dirt is just another step in a years-long plan/process, and since we're making most of this up as we go along, I didn't really celebrate anything. Maybe I should have, but I think I'll have more of a sense of ceremony when the vines start going into the ground. Then again 2-3 years later (if the vines survive) to first harvest. I was pleased to see the whole hillside turned over when I got home yesterday, and the dozer was back at it this morning with another round of working the dirt.
ericindc, I am NOT a farmer, or even a geologist or soils person of any sort, but the loess soils here are very loose. The word loess means loose in German from what I've learned. I'm not worried about over compaction, if fact, I'm more worried about how long posts I'll need to buy and how deep I'll have to set to keep them straight. I've set a few wooden stakes so far and it's amazing how easy it is to drive a thin stake 12"-18" into this dirt. Then annoying a few days later when the stakes have fallen over due to wind and a bit of moisture. One big advantage of the area where we're working now is that it used to be apple orchard, therefore the boulders you see elsewhere had been removed decades ago, and the ground itself had been tilled, then planted with established root systems. Those trees were mostly gone when we moved here in 2010, but when we ripped out the last dozen or so fruit trees a month ago, it was interesting to see how easily the trees/roots were plucked from the ground. Of course, big machines make easy work.
Speaking of boulders we've got a handshake agreement with a landscape company to remove as many boulders as they can get to in exchange for some scrub removal (damn junipers) and landscaping work around the house. They covet the boulders that are covered with moss and lichen and use them in projects to build natural looking dry landscape beds which are pretty common in landscape design around here. I'll post some pictures sometime of my boulders in their new home, as I happen to know where at least some of them are headed. 
mcsac67, as far as winery mailing lists or sales, we are making that part up too. We started making home wedding wine in 2009, 76 bottles worth of Riesling, https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1037226, almost all consumed on a scorching hot July day in Illinois. No one died, so we continued dabbling in 2010 when the Goat Rocks name was hatched, a bit more in 2011, then produced semi-commercial quantities of wine in 2012 and 2013, none in 2014, and not yet sure about 2015 or beyond until the home grown fruit comes in. I've bought fruit from 3 different vineyards in Yakima Valley and once got some free Barbera from the Columbia Gorge over the years. I guess we had what you'd call a soft launch (a pop-up winery?) with the 2012 vintage, and The Original Goat Herders, including some folks here will always be (in)famous. Notorious? In keeping with Eric's desire to keep this forum non-commercial in nature, I'll post vineyard updates here, but will migrate other winery interest or sales info somewhere else, when that somewhere else is viable. GoatRocksWinery.com is owned, but not active because our web designer is as bad at that as he is at farming.
Stirling, red grapes we're planting are Syrah which has a proven track record in the neighborhood (12+ years which is as long as anyone has tried to grow wine grapes here), Pinot Noir less so but still at least one site that has some growing successfully, and Mourvedre, which is a test grape here that I wanted to try, because I love it and it was a better risk than Grenache which my consultant thought was a waste of time due to freezes we have here. White grapes are Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Viognier, and Roussanne. Roussanne is a mostly test grape, but folks not far away, but a much lower elevation are having success. This paragraph shows just how new the AVA is as a wine region, and if you ever visit here you'll see about 7-8,000 acres of the plateau planted to tree fruit (some world class apples and cherries come from here). Those big metal and concrete rectangular buildings in some of the pictures are apple warehouses. At last count, there are about 50 acres of wine grapes, soon to be 51.
Glad you still call here home, BRR. We'll try to keep from running the apple growers out of business. 
< Message edited by ChrisinSunnyside -- 2/18/2015 11:44:46 AM >
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RE: Goat Rocks Vineyard - It Begins! - 
The quickest way to get to us from Seattle is actually via Mt. Rainier National Park/Chinook Pass to Route 12, but I'm too scared of plummeting to my death to drive that way and Chinook Pass is usually closed Oct-May. Ask MindMuse about coming that way last summer. 
As you allude the road to being up and online, making wine is a long and slow one. Celebrate soon and often! And enjoy the ride! I spent six years trying to get a small "personal size" vineyard functional and all I really did was fatten up birds and squirrels. 
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