I wrote recently about the expanding Irish wine industry, so obviously it is possible to make wine in Ireland. You could certainly grow your own grapes – it requires a little effort but it can be rewarding and a bit of fun too. Making your own wine, however, would be more difficult.
Most gardening centres sell grapevines. For wine you need a vitis vinifera variety or a cross that is suited to our cool, damp climate. Ideally you would have a sunny south-facing garden wall or a greenhouse. Vines need a lot of sun. They also grow better in well-drained soils. You would need to prune and train your vine, either up a trellis, a pergola or over arches.
Be careful though; a healthy vine can run rampant in the blink of an eye. Vines have lovely vibrant green foliage in the spring, which turns a beautiful golden red in autumn. Be aware that it will be three to five years before you get a decent crop and be prepared to cut off most of the flowers in the first few years. There are various websites on growing and pruning vines and these are certainly worth reading before you plant your vine. It shouldn’t need watering in our climate, but it does need plenty of nutrition. Dress with manure or feed with tomato fertiliser. You will also have to spray against downy and powdery mildew, both of which thrive in our climate.
[ John Wilson’s top 20 summer wines to quench your thirstOpens in new window ]
Harvesting enough ripe grapes to make your wine would be a challenge. It takes about 1.5kg of grapes to make a single bottle of wine. That is 600-800 grapes, or four bunches per bottle. That is a lot of grapes. A friend of mine who lives in San Francisco buys 50kg of zinfandel grapes every year and makes them into perfectly decent full-bodied red wine. Sadly, this is not an option here in Ireland.
From a few badly kempt Riesling vines grown in the semi-shade in my back garden in Greystones, I managed to make half a bottle of wine twice in 15 years. It tasted pretty awful, but it was a bit of fun and gave me a new respect for the grape growers around the world responsible for the lovely wine we drink.
