With the weather starting to heat up
and the Summer right around the corner I have decided to do an
article on the Las Vegas weather and how Vineyards are effected by
it. I studied and learned a lot of what I am putting in this article before
actually putting in my Vineyards. I am still learning as I go. I
guess you can consider this article a beginning teaching lesson for anyone who is
thinking about putting in a Vineyard of any kind. Do some
investigation into the weather conditions your area experiences.
Check your “Climate Zone” of the are you live in. Look into a
local College and see if they have a Vineyard program and are willing
to offer assistance. Look into a professional winery in your area or even another area that has a climate similar to yours. I
have learned so much from other winery’s like Sanders Family Winery
(http://sanderswinery.com/)
in Pahrump Nevada as well as One Acre in The Napa Valley (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXJt-06dZyY). Some items to consider are the following. Does it get very hot? Does it get very cold? Does
it rain often?. If it does how much does it rain? Look at your soil,
maybe you need to pay to have it analyzed before planting anything at
all. How about animals that are present, are there deer that might
require a fence? Once these things are looked into you can look at
the varietal of grape you can plant in your area. Not every varietal
Those of you who have ever visited
Las Vegas in the Summer already know just hot it can be. I think most
people believe that nothing except Cactus and Snakes & Lizards
can thrive out here. Don't feel bad I felt the same way originally.
If you read part #1 of The Story of The Desert Wine Guy (http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-story-of-desert-wine-guy-part-1.html) you will read
all about my doubts, believe me there were many. I basically refused
to live with a backyard of Desert and Cactus, I hate the Desert. Back
to the heat issue though. Without question it does get hot here. It gets
REALLY hot here. One day last year (June 30) Las Vegas had a
temperature of 116 degrees. Yes you read it right. The coldest day
last year was on January 15 and it was 23 degrees. With extremes like
that you might think that Grapevines would die or be ruined so that
when the spring came along the vines would be be damaged. Fortunately
that is not the case. The weather in Vegas is not only hot, it is
dry as well. Las Vegas itself gets very little rain and Humidity
although that is starting to change because of all the people who are
moving here and planting trees and backyard farms. The longest dry
spell last year was 89 straight days from April 9 – July 6. The
humidity last year went from a low of 5% in June to a high of 26% in
November. Basically the longer the grapes can hang (grow) on the vine
the better. If there is early rain or cold that will effect the crop
and therefore the harvest time. This would mean that the grapes have
not had a chance to fully mature, or ripen which means less flavor. Let's move
now to a particular situation, we will use mine as an example.
Since Angel Vineyard is growing
Cabernet Sauvignon and Mirror Image Vineyard is growing Sauvignon
Blanc I am going to focus on those two grape varietals. Since they
both grow here in the weather conditions of Las Vegas this article
applies to both varietals. To start off we will begin in the spring
Time. Spring is when the vines start to flower and the berries start
to set. This is an important time in the season. This is when the
vine establishes what we grow them for, grapes. It is a time when the
vine comes out of dormancy and is starting off it's growing season
again. The weather can destroy all of the fruit and leave the vines
themselves which may survive and we will have pretty vines to take care
of all year. At this time rain is a bad thing. Hail, frost &
extreme cold are of course also bad for the vines. This time of the
year the hail, frost and cold are three things I fortunately don't
have to worry about. The area I do have concerns with is heat. Heat
can be managed a lot of the time with proper canopy management. Which means being very
careful with the amount of leaves I remove. The Cabernet luckily are
thicker skinned and that does help avoid sun damage to some extent,
still care with protecting the grapes from the excessive heat is
important. The Sauvignon Blanc will need even more care with the
heat. Temperature swings are also good for the type of grapes being
discussed. Warm (not hot) days and semi cool nights work out well.
The heat can also alter the taste of wine. With too much heat the
Cabernet develops a peppery taste. In Vegas, rain is so rare that it
usually is not an issue. The heat usually doesn't dissipate till late
in the year which as we read above is ideal. The only real challenge
here is managing the heat that gets to the grapes. If you can control
that you are in great shape. One other possible problem is pests.
There are some pests that are particular to certain areas of the
country. Those of you who follow my blog
(http://desertwineguy.blogspot.com/)
and wine (ONLY) Facebook already know that my main pest is The Grape
Leaf Skeltonizer. They will destroy all the leaves of the vines and
expose the grapes to the Vegas sun and I would then have Raisins. That,
believe it or not is the only pest that I have ran into.
In closing I encourage you to
explore growing a Vineyard. It is great exercise taking care of the
vines and gets you outdoors in the fresh air. In my case it also
helps teach my children to respect (not worship) nature and the
outdoors. It also is great satisfaction in eating your own grapes
that you grew in your Vineyard. As for whether you can grow grapes in
your environment plant 1 vine and see how it goes. Good luck.
The Desert Wine Guy
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