We currently have about 2/3rd of a hectare to replant in wine (that is about 1.6 acres, pilgrim).

Details why we have to replant I will provide in later posts as I led you through the journey of this experience. But in most, but not all, cases it is because prior owners of the land ripped out their wine plants simply because they no longer wanted to deal with them. After all, farming is a lot of work.

This is of course good and bad.

The good part is I get to plant varietals that allow me to make the wine I want, within reason since we live in a designated vineyard appellation zone where we are regulated what varieties we can plant.

Side note:  Contrary to what many may think, the worlds first exclusive appellation zone was not formed in France, but in the Chianti wine region of Italy in 1716, and the first vineyard classification system was formed in 1730 for the Hungary Tokaj wine region.

The bad part is it will take at least 5 years before we see any real significant wine production, and 10 to 15 years before the vines are really mature enough to start producing the best quality wine.

But, what the heck, I am still young(ish), so I consider this an adventure.

And when I say “adventure” I of course mean a well planned excursion where the planning has imploded…

For example: I planned a fall 2012 planting. So I pre-ordered, far in advance, hundreds of new vines, mainly of the following varietals:

• Pinot Gris
• Pinot Noir
• Piros Tramini
• Italian Riesling
• Kéknyelű (No, you probably can not pronounce it unless you know Hungarian — but it makes a spectacular wine that has no comparison to any other white wine you have tried.)

Naturally, they only arrived just before winter, and just in time for the ground to freeze**. So instead of planting, they had to be quickly buried in trenches for overwintering.

So I have been now planning the best options and timing for a spring planting. Which for a number of reasons, is not as preferable as a fall planting.

Curious how it all turns out? Me too. So follow my blog to share in the “adventure“.

** Footnote: Despite this, and to be fully fair to the vendor who provided me these new vine plants, he did a spectacular job, searching for months all over the country, just to fill my order. Especially for the hard to find Kéknyelű variety.