It seems just like yesterday, that my husband and I had this idea to put in a vineyard. We had about a third of an acre that was fairly flat, sunny, and western sloping toward the ocean. We overlooked this area from our home, so I wanted it to be pleasing to the eye. I had enough garden vignettes to be content. It was important to us to reap from our land, a sort of "thank you" for being able to live here and enjoy daily all that it gives us. That was nearly six years ago.

Holding that vision of a vineyard, we sought help from professionals to install one. We contacted people in Temecula and Sonoma County, to no avail. Then, on Sunday, October 9, 2005, I opened the Homescape of The San Diego Union-Tribune, in it an article called "Vine Street" highlighting successful backyard vineyards in Point Loma, Clairemont, La Jolla, and Mount Helix, including a listing of professionals locally who install vineyards. We were ecstatic!

Everything clicked from there. We sought professional advice for the best grape varietal to grow for our location, if indeed this was a good location for a vineyard, ballpark costs, and where to buy the bareroot vine plants for Spring planting. Ironically the next Spring, our local community college offered their "Vineyard Management and Production" class, www.miracosta.cc.ca.us/ for the first time. We enrolled in the class, met other fellow wine and vineyard enthusiasts, and started getting vineyard knowledge under our belt. It was a real coup when our class came, as part of the Saturday lab, and helped measure and stake out our vineyard, plant, and construct trellis for a few rows, over a three month period. It had been worth the wait!

Around the third year (or harvest) of a vineyard's life, one can make wine from the grapes. The first couple of years all of the fruit is dropped early in the year, to focus on establishing the grapevines and their roots.  During this time we continued to take classes on winemaking, wines of the world, and even joined a group called San Diego County Amateur Winemaking Society, www.sdaws.org.  There are a number of basic books such as From Vines to Wines by Jeff Cox, Vineyard Simple by Tom Powers, A Wine-Growers Guide by Philip M. Wagner to get you started.  We felt that growing a vineyard is a hands-on experience, rather then something learned by theory, and taking practical classes was very beneficial.

We made some misstakes and had some pitfuls, such as underwatering our vines their second year, losing three vines to gophers, and not taking into consideration the competition of our young vines with mature macadamia nut trees. A vineyard is a huge time investment, and it has it's own timetable for maintaining it throughout the year.

With all that said, it is with great satisfaction as we walk our rows of Syrah vines, with their magnificent black conical-shaped clusters, soaking up their final sunny autumn days. I'm reminded of the adage, "It is not so much the destination that matters, but the journey".

Add a little flair to your special holiday meals with maple leaf-shaped butter. I found a wonderful "maple leaf" cookie cutter set by Fox Run Craftsmen. The smallest size in the set is a perfect size for a butter pat, 1.25". www.foxruncraftsmen.com.

Take a stick of butter which has been cooled in the refrigerator. Remove paper. Cut 3 or 4 butter pats at a time on a cutting board. Take your cookie cutter and place it in a bowl of warm water, dap excess water on a paper towel or kitchen towel, dab same cookie cutter in a plate of shallow table sugar, and then press your cookie cutter face down into an individual pat of butter. The warmth of your cookie cutter will make an easy outline of a leaf in your butter pat. Remove excess butter around cookie cutter, and remove your finished leaf-shaped butter pat from the cookie cutter. Repeat process till you finish stick(s) of butter. Arrange finished butter leaves on a table-ready dish for serving. Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Interesting butter shapes are not limited to leaves. Look for any charming cookie cutter shape that is within the size of a butter pat. One can flavor butter with honey, herbs, or spices beforehand. If you did not want to dip your cookie cutter in sugar, you could use salt.

  I have just about eaten all of my tomatoes grown on the vine for this season. It is a short season, but "oh so tasty" a season. Being in Zone 11, tomato growing can be something of a challenge. Each year I seem to get a little better at growing and harvesting the rewards. Every spring I search out new tomato seedlings to try and experiment growing. This year had several stars.

There are tomatoes in just about every rainbow color. I'm drawn to the black and purple, like Black Prince, Black Krim, and Cherokee Purple for their smoky, earthy flavors. I also lean towards the orange and yellow tomatoes...something that will pop out at you in a salad, pizza, or salsa.

One of the biggest surprises, and tomato stars for me this year was "Jubilee". It is a bright orange, fleshy textured fruit that is prolific on the vine. It was the All-American Bronze Medal winner in 1943.    Another star was "Fuzzy Peach", a 100 year old heirloom which actually looks like a lemon-colored peach, and has the fuzzy texture, to bout. When it ripens it has a slight blush pink color. It is a mild tasty tomato, which was delightful when I used it in my homemade salsa. It is about 2 ounces in size, and has outstanding storage ability, too. 

An enduring tomato star is the heirloom cherry tomato, "Sun Gold".  It is actually golden orange in color. It is so sweet and unforgettable in taste, it is hard not to eat them all right in the garden. The fruit grows in sprays of 6 to 8 together, so pretty, one can imagine using them as a subject in a painting.

I had never grown the fabulous hybrid tomato, "Celebrity" until this year.  I was so surprised at the colossal, beautiful red, firm, flavorful fruit it produced.  Colossal, meaning one slice will cover your entire hamburger, and then some. The vine as it grew was very strong and even sprawled up and over the rusted antique iron bed frame I provided for support. With this beauty, I felt that I was officially a successful tomato grower.

Some key tips to growing tomatoes successfully: 1)  mulch your soil well before planting, 2) plant in a warm sunny area, 8 hours of sun ideally, and when night temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees, 3) plant your tomato seedling deep-stems will root once planted, 4) water deeply and frequently in the beginning and less as the tomato plant matures, 5) fertilize your seedling plant when first planted, a month or so later, and then on an as needed basis, and 6) rotate your tomato spot in your garden each year if possible.

Finding tomato seedling sources is as much fun as growing them. There is always your favorite local nursery.  Other sources I have used in San Diego are: www.summerspastfarms.com, www.tomatomania.com and www.pearsonsgardens.com.

One important step in the process of making wine is transferring your "barrel ready" wine to individual bottles to be corked, labeled, boxed, and further aged in a proper storage environment until the winemaker deems the wine ready.  The process of doing this is simple using a self-primed pump, three-bottle bottler, corking machine, ready-to-fill clean wine bottles, and a lot of enthusiastic help from your friends.

Have you ever heard the expression, "garage wine"?  Sometimes wine growers and wine makers have only a garage or a non-traditional building to make their wine in.  Don't knock "garage wine",  some can produce exquisite wine with cult following--generally from smaller volumes and relentless attention to detail . Did you happen to catch the reference to "garage wine" in the wonderful, Provence-based movie, A Good Year starring Russell Crow.

My husband and I are proud "garage wine" makers, hence our label, Le Vin De Garage. We made a Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and a 60/40 blend of the two from grapes we purchased from the pristine Guadalupe Valley in Baja, Mexico last year.

We are emptying our barrels and transferring to bottles, because it is time, but also, we must prepare the barrels for this year's harvest. Last year's wine is put into bottles, the inside barrels are pressure-sprayed  with water, and sulfured for storage until the 2008 harvest in a few weeks. When done all of the hoses, equipment, tools are cleaned, sanitized, and stored ready for the next time.

The newly bottled wine in boxes is best placed cork down for a week or so to wet the cork. Boxes are then turned right side up, and left to recover from bottle shock for about six weeks. Bottle shock is a temporary condition of wine characterized by muted or disjointed fruit flavors. It often occurs immediately after bottling or when wines are shaken in travel.

VintageGardenGal commenced on September 4, 2008!