I grew grapes for wine, the noble Vitis Vinifera, for close to 30 years. A good wine can enhance a meal. In fact, given any other choice I will choose water with lemon if a decent wine is not available. The acid in the wine, or from the lemon, keeps the palate clear and lets you get more flavor out of a well-done meal. Then there is the allure, “why yes I grow my own grapes and make my own wine my dear, care for a glass?”
I know it sounds trite but good wine starts in the dirt and everything in the dirt ends up in the wine. I had sandy, rocky soil with minimal amounts of organic material. Vines need to struggle to make good wine grapes. I did fertilize but with composted organic material and a mixture of manures. If your manure still contains some amount of ammonia in it the wine will have an interesting bouquet so have patience give it 2-3 years to compost well. Watering, I always drip irrigated but sparingly. If you’ve got city water its’ treatment chemicals will end up in the wine so avoid it as much as possible. I had my own deep-water wells, so I didn’t have that worry. It’s the same with pest treatments. I planted a certain type of tree near the vineyard that Ladybugs were partial to. Ladybugs do a number on most common insect pests.
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