Every wine geek wants to have their own vineyard.  Right?  Not actually, but I do have a single vine planted proudly at the edge of our porch.  It's been there for four or five years and I haven't killed it yet.  This year we may even see ripened grapes, but I won't hold my breath.

We got the vine at Dry Comal Creek Winery during a tasting event.  As we were walking in, Angie spotted the vine cuttings in their small plastic pots near the entrance.  We joked about buying one, knowing absolutely nothing about the care and feeding of the beast.  

Our new purchase was a native grape called Black Spanish.  That just happens to one of the many names for the Lenoir grape.  A key feature of Lenoir grapevines are resistant to Pierce's Disease.  The disease is a result of bacteria spread by leafhoppers that feed on the vines.  It can wipe out a vineyard in a few years and has caused some major problems here in Texas.  A friend who manages another Hill Country winery says they don't even mention the disease by it's name, but only use the initials "PD" in hushed tones.

We planted the vine along side some of our flowering perennials: Plumbago and Esperanza.  Those plants are pretty hardy and had been in the ground for around six years.  We don't have an automatic sprinkling system, so, it's hand watering on a whenever-I-get-around-to-it basis.  The soil is shallow before you hit rock on rock-like clay, and there is only a small strip between the sidewalk and our slab.  It sure wasn't anywhere near the ideal growing conditions for a grapevine, but we do get flowers every year from the other plants.

Well, it survived.  After the third year, we even saw some grapes, briefly.  There were a few tiny bunches in the last couple years, but they didn't last.  Whether it was birds, insects or just poor treatment, the grapes were gone before even approaching pea size.  

I attempted to bring some order to the wild nature of the vine this year with a make shift trellis.  Ok! So, I just strung single strands of wire between the porch roof support beams.  I picked three shoots on each side and tied them gently to the wire.  I know now that I should have picked one and then pruned back in the fall, but I'm not a vineyard owner.

A couple year's of drought and minimal watering seemed to wake up the vine this year.  We also had a wetter Spring.  I was very pleased to see about 17 groups of small flowers that I assumed would be grapes.  I was correct, but not the number I hoped for.  As of this week, there a six bunches of varying size.  I did remove any large leaves that blocked sun from the grapes.  I also trimmed the excess growth produced by the late spring rains.  As the rains slows in the heat of Summer, I will have to ensure I don't over water.  The vine needs a little stress to keep working on the fruit.

According to a Texas Agricultural web site, I still have about two months for my grapes ripen.  Those that made it this far and nice and green and still growing.  I'll keep ya' posted...