I live in Oceanside, CA and looking to put in some vines. As the crow flies, I’m 5 miles from the beach, so it’s cooler than the Fallbrook and Temecula areas and I get the coastal breeze everyday. I’ve cleared out a spot for a couple dozen vines on 6x6 and I’m looking to plant on 1103 rootstock. I have the irrigation setup already. I’ve been talking to Novavine and these are the recommendations:
What’s your soil like, and does your land slope toward one direction? Do you have any hills to block the mid/late afternoon sun, or the morning sun? What’s the fog like there in the summer? I’m thinking Syrah, Tempranillo or even Pinot, but I don’t know a lot about the climate in Oceanside.
I have diablo clay. It turns rocky around 28-38". The spot I have is mostly level and I have a french drain at the low spot. The house blocks the late afternoon sun, I don’t deal much with the fog after June. We are on top of a hill facing southeast. I think I’m a little bit warm for Pinot in August it gets to the high 80’s. Thanks for the help Ed!
I’m a bit more inland, and in Ventura County, but I’m also on Diablo clay. I’ve been considering putting Nero d’Avola in my backyard for a year or so due to my climate’s high similarity to Sicily, and I’ve poured wine in Italian restaurants for many years. I wasn’t able to source vines from a nursery this season, though. That’s the downfall, I think, with sourcing stuff like Nero d’Avola and Aglianico - it’s much harder to come by at low quantities. Nero d’Avola is attractive to me because it can maintain acidity, and that’ll be important with my nearly 4,000 GDD.
Aglianico is more susceptible to sunburn than anything else I grow. It’s also more susceptible to downy than all of the French varieties I grow. And it’s sulfur sensitive. It’s a great grape and can be used for reds, rose, and even sparkling and it maintains acidity well even in my area with its warm nights. But it may be a little too picky if you are only going to grow one grape.
My Sangiovese doesn’t do as well as my Aglianico and can end up with low acidity some years. Your nights probably aren’t as warm so it may work better for you.
Mourvèdre is easy to grow. More mildew resistant than my Italians. Better rot resistance as wlell. It wants to train straight up. I have some on VSP and some head pruned. It ripens late and I don’t always get it fully ripe on my site. It also is sulfur sensitive so one needs to be careful especially with summer sprays.
Mourvedre needs heat. If it doesn’t get ripe I don’t think there’s much you can do with it. Sangiovese or Syrah would be my recommendation. Both somewhat easy to grow and can both go Rose’ or ripe red wine. On 1103 they might be super vigorous. Good luck.
Good luck Chris, sounds like you have a great handle on putting together a nice little vineyard. There has to be some varieties in the sweet spot for your area.
I am thinking of doing the same though it is a very rough plan for the distant future. I am more like 15 miles from the ocean, same area but probably closer to 4000 GDD, soil I would describe as a well drained loamy granite. Have been thinking about an acre max with half Mourvèdre, and the rest split between Counoise, Cinsault, Grenache. But not sure if these can all handle some nice heat? Still have to do some research on Italian varieties, thanks for the mentions of Nero d’Avola.
Also consulted Novavine, they seem like a great resource.
Just wanted to add that if I was going to suggest a single variety for a home vineyard it would be petite manseng. It’s incredibly easy to grow with good resistance to mildew and rot. It does ripen late but it retains acidity and can be made dry or sweet. I see no reason why one couldn’t sparkle it and I did make a skin fermented one a few years back that was acceptable. I think for home winemakers It’s easier to make good whites than reds, especially at the 5 or 10 gallon batch size.
I have a 5th leaf vineyard in Ventura County (foothills of Santa Monica mountans / “Malibu coastal” AVA) . Syrah and Grenache on 101-14 rootstock.
Plenty of heat units to ripen Syrah and Grenache, as well as Cab grown by a friend a mile a way. Probably would ripen Mourvedre too.
Heat isn’t the problem in Southern California. The problem is Pierce’s disease and the Glassy-winged sharpshooter vector. GWSS is found throughout So Cal, as is PD. You can also observe dead/dying Oleander along hwy 101. This is Oleander scorch disease - caused by a slightly different Xylella bacteria than the one that causes PD, but also vectored by GWSS.
GWSS carries the Xf bacteria on its mouthparts and spreads the agent when feeding on plant xylem. Many plants suffer no ill effects, including citrus and avocado. But vinifera vines, when infected, will go on to die in a few years. And while infected vines are alive, they act as a vector for GWSS to spread PD to other vines.
We spray with Imidacloprid - which reduces risk but won’t eliminate it, since GWSS live in adjacent areas and are good flyers
Bottom line is that all vineyards in Southern California will have to battle PD. I suggest you read up on it before planting.
Thank you all for the advice and input. I settled on Zin. The vines will be here next week.
Thanks Kim for the info about PD. I had heard it was going to be an issue and had read several articles. My local nursery carries Admire. Any other recommendations?
It may also help to remove nearby decorative vegetation which host GWSS. When you read up on GWSS hosts, you will see this includes pretty much everything, but especially crepe myrtle, oleander, photinia, and citrus / avocado. I removed native Mexican Elder which also hosts. But pretty much any plant - even oak trees - can host.
California’s main effort is to keep the GWSS out of viticulturally important Northern parts of the state. In the South there has been research on parasitic wasp species (Gonatocerus), which lay eggs in the sharpshooter’s egg clusters. I tried to obtain these but was told they already exist naturally and are not for sale.
We have plenty of insect predators in the vineyard: ladybugs, lacewings, western bluebirds, bats.
All this and spraying…but we still have GWSS and PD here.