2012 Learn More about Grape Growing
Grape Growers: Happy New Year! Please mark your calendars for the following upcoming viticulture and enology events. Pruning Workshops: There will be two pruning workshops in the Gulf Coast region in the month of January. The dates and locations are below, however I will follow-up with a reminder email one week before each pruning [...]
Growing Grapes in your TX Backyard

So, you would like to grow some grapes? Well, you’re in the right state. Texas is home to the most native varieties in the world. These vines evolved over thousands of years resistant to disease and bugs and are used as rootstock throughout the world. (For more of the story, check out http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/southerngarden/Texaswine.html). In fact [...]
Drought’s Imact on our Vineyard

08/11/2011 08:38 PM Central Texas grape harvest avoids full wrath of drought By: Chie Saito, Video Journalist, Bell County Beaureau, YNN To view the video: http://austin.ynn.com/content/top_stories/279905/central-texas-grape-harvest-avoids-full-wrath-of-drought While many farmers and ranchers around the state have been burned by the combination of extreme heat and a dry summer, some Central Texas vineyard owners said their grape vines [...]
Harvest 2011
Happy Grape-Pickers! Wednesday, August 3 through Sunday August 7, 7-11 am We’ll be harvesting merlot & cabernet sauvignon on Thursday, Friday, & Saturday, August 3-6, 2010 at 7 am – 11 am. We will continue on Sunday 7-11 if there are too many grapes for Saturday. If you have favorite prunners, bring them, otherwise we have [...]
Salado Winery on front page of KDH Sunday Business Section
Enjoy your Sunday paper today, we’re on the front page of the Business section of the Killeen Daily Herald! Okay, the section starts on page C7 and our story continues on page C10, so not exactly the biggest news story, but it’s a nice summary of what we’ve been doing lately and it’s accompanied by [...]
Harvest starts SAT August 21 at 7 am
We’ll be harvesting sangiovese and merlot on Saturday, August 21, 2010 at 7 am – 11 am. We will continue on Sunday 7-11 if there are too many grapes for Saturday. If you have favorite prunners, bring them, otherwise we have extras for you. Please bring your favorite hat, sunscreen, bug spray, and sturdy shoes. Come [...]
Prospective Grapegrower Classes
PROSPECTIVE WINEGROWER WORKSHOP FROM AgriLIFE EXTENSION The Prospective Winegrower Workshop is a one-day educational program designed to provide an overview of the unique requirements and risks associated with the establishment and operation of a commercial vineyard in Texas. These workshops are offered through the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. FEE: $125, lunch is provided ($200 per [...]
6th Annual Vineyard Blessing
You Are Invited 6th Annual Vineyard Blessing Sunday, May 16, 2-4 pm, 21724 Hill Road, I-35 Exit 279, Salado Come help us bless our vineyard so we will have a good harvest this year! Witness the ceremony at 2:30 pm then enjoy the reception & food. This event is not to be missed! Friends & family [...]
Grow Grapes & Sell them to Salado Winery
Have you been thinking about growing grapes? Want to sell your grapes to Salado Winery Company? Then it’s time to attend a grape grower workshop! Check out this extensive list: February 18-20 – Texas Wine & Grape Grower Association – Annual Conference Where: Dallas area. Registration & information: http://www.txwines.org February 24 – Advanced Pruning Workshop [...]
Vineyard Harvest in Killeen Daily Herald

Go to Killeen Daily Herald, then to “Multimedia“, from there, choose “slideshows” then choose “grapes” or if that isn’t a choice, then look in the “archives” and it’s filed under September 2009, “grapes“. There is a multimedia presentation by Steven Doll. He made the recordings and pictures on Saturday, August 22nd. If your speakers are [...]
Grape Pickers needed Saturday 7:30 am, AUG 22nd

It’s time to HARVEST the red grapes (merlot, cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese) Time: 7:30 AM – until finished (okay, whenever you roll out of bed, but I’LL be out there early BEFORE it gets too hot) Date: Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 Location: 21724 Hill Road, Salado, just take I-35 exit 279, half mile up the hill [...]
Chardonnay picking starts Sunday

Harvest season is almost here! This year we netted for birds & trapped 4 raccoons (and one bobcat by accident) and so we actually have some grapes to pick. Time: 7:30 AM – until finished (okay, whenever you roll out of bed, but I’LL be out there early BEFORE it gets too hot) Date: Sunday, [...]
When's Harvest?

I took samples of the grapes this morning in order to attempt to project when the grapes will be ready to harvest. I wish that I could harvest them now, as the birds and raccoons keep trying to take some, but it appears that we’ve got some weeks to go. My method is to pick [...]
Raccoons in the Vineyard

She might look innocent, but this girl weighed 25-30 pounds and I suspect she gained that weight eating my sangiovese grapes! It took a few nights to figure out what else she might like to eat so we could lure her into our trap. She turned up her nose at crusty crackers (I guess those grapes [...]
That-Salado-Bunch
That-Salado-Bunch Originally uploaded by stateart1 by Rick Vanderpool, www.stateart.net
June's-Saladoscape
June’s-Saladoscape Originally uploaded by stateart1 By Rick Vanderpool, www.stateart.net
June's-Salado-Pride
June’s-Salado-Pride Originally uploaded by stateart1 This picture was taken by Rick Vanderpool. He says: Very nice visiting your lovely vineyard as well… Plan to catch it when the grapes are ripe, if you don’t mine… Also coming back to sip some wine with you at some point… My Texas Wine project involves photographing all the [...]
First Day of Pruning 2009

It was cool and foggy when I went out to prune this morning. I can hardly believe that winter is over and it’s time to get to work. Not wanting to work too hard, I snapped some foggy pictures for you, which was way more fun than getting down to the nitty-gritty. of course, it [...]
Grape Growing in Bell County
http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/2008/07/24/50987 http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/2008/07/24/50986 Grape Growing in Bell County is featured in Temple Daily Telegram again!
Our vineyard in Country World News!
I was recently interviewed by Clay Coppedge, of Country World. See the article at http://www.countryworldnews.com/news/2008/3-March/0327Vineyard.php A Sweet Deal: Central Texas vineyard making its mark By CLAY COPPEDGE, Country World staff writer March 27, 2008 – Not far from where legendary viticulturist Thomas Volney Munson discovered one of the grape varieties credited with saving the wine [...]
Texas Vintage 2007 report
The following article was published in Wines and Vines magazine and can be found at http://www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=features&content=52162 Excerpt: TEXAS By Ed Hellman Texas Cooperative Extension April freeze, summer rains caused widespread losses Acreage grew 5-15%; same predicted for 2008 Unfavorable weather had a major impact on the 2007 winegrape crop in Texas. Winter temperatures were uneventful, [...]
