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ginia, the state offers its full support.
“There is a full-time wine maker and viticulturist in Winchester,” Mr. Gorfein said, adding the office has been very educationally helpful and supportive of new vineyards.
Spending nearly four hours a day in their vineyard, the couple expects only an average yield this year. “We are the only vineyard in the county to use a different trellis system,” he said of his “divided canopy” trellis, an idea from France which allows more sunlight and higher yield per acreage. “Really, the soil here is too rich for grapes and they can overproduce,” he said, adding this type of canopy allows a higher yield on less acreage.
“Getting people to help is hard,” Donna Brune of Persimmon Springs Farm in Flint Hill said. The Brunes have cultivated three acres of grapevines on their 30-plus-acre farm and, after seven years of labor, they still find the work hard.
“Many things to do with vineyards are mechanical now,” Mrs. Brune said, adding that even though “even the small equipment is expensive and you have got to have time to juggle the harvest and get the items to the winery.”
The Brunes sell their grapes to Oasis Vineyards in Hume.
“We take care of the place ourselves,” Mrs. Brune said of the vineyard, adding this year “we’ve got to make some decisions about it.”
Pruning, planting, tying, spraying, hoeing and harvesting all take time and many long hours. While grapes remain a viable industry in Virginia, they often are managed and cared for by those with other jobs.
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