38. No AltaFest, No fun, Still Planting Grape Vines

July 04, 2020 / patrick taylor

We at Alta Marfa had a very positive 2019. We had a very successful month of planting in April, Katie and I got married in May, we made our first wine at Robert Clay Vineyards in July, we went on our honeymoon to Japan in October and we sold our first wine (Lazer Cat) in November. We rode this wave into 2020. We were looking forward to planting 1,000 more vines in April and were in the midst of planning the first AltaFest. We were excited to tackle the project of securing a winery space, and at the end of February my brother George and his fiancé, Eilis, were married. As I’m writing this on July 4th, I will try and take you through things in the order that they happened, from January until the end of April.

I think this picture accurately portrays the mood at Alta Marfa in the first month or so of 2020: bright, sunshiny, we were eagerly looking out at the path laid before us.

In February 2020 we almost bought this metal building in Fort Davis to make into a winery. For about a year before this we had considered every option we could think of for a winery space. Digging a cave on the vineyard property, a dilapidated rolle… — In February 2020 we almost bought this metal building in Fort Davis to make into a winery. For about a year before this we had considered every option we could think of for a winery space. Digging a cave on the vineyard property, a dilapidated roller rink in Marfa, an abandoned Coca Cola bottling plant in Alpine. . . None of these seemed quite right, and they were all too expensive. Then we found this metal building in Fort Davis, only 10 minutes from the vineyard, and very reasonably priced! We moved on it quickly, signed a contract, had an inspection done and even met one of the neighbors. To our great surprise we then found out the owner already had a contract with another potential buyer . . . our hopes for a winery in this building were dashed.

The inside. This place was far from perfect, it didn’t have a floor drain, didn’t have adequate insulation and didn’t have air conditioning. At the time, having the deal fall through was really hard. At many points on this Alta Marfa journey when so… — The inside. This place was far from perfect, it didn’t have a floor drain, didn’t have adequate insulation and didn’t have air conditioning. At the time, having the deal fall through was really hard. At many points on this Alta Marfa journey when something hasn’t gone the way I had hoped I have fallen into the trap of feeling like a special, one-time opportunity has been missed, and there is no hope for another path forward, let alone a better outcome. Each time I have been wrong, and most of the times I’ve almost instantly realized that the “special” opportunity that I “missed” was not something I actually needed or wanted at all.

At Alta Marfa we have big rocks and small dogs. Here Lulu is thinking, “Hey guys 2020 seems like its gonna be a great year!”

Because our irrigation system is designed by us and built by us, it is what you might call “quirky”. Unfortunately sometimes this “quirkiness” could be translated as “broken” or “doesn’t pump water”. Little by little all of the PVC is being replaced… — Because our irrigation system is designed by us and built by us, it is what you might call “quirky”. Unfortunately sometimes this “quirkiness” could be translated as “broken” or “doesn’t pump water”. Little by little all of the PVC is being replaced with metal.

Electricity is fun and scary. Luckily this time, this pump controller just had a bad capacitor and was replaced under warranty!

There isn’t a lot of green here during the winter so seeing all the little buds poking out was pretty great.

When everything was starting to grow this spring it really started to look like a vineyard.

A Dolcetto vine that was planted last year.

Katie and I, our roommates Paulina and Melissa and our friend Chris made up planting crew #1.

This year when planting we put about 1 cup of bentonite clay and a hand full of compost in each hole before we put the vine in. It was my hope that the clay and organic matter would help retain water near the roots. The more we learn the more we rea… — This year when planting we put about 1 cup of bentonite clay and a hand full of compost in each hole before we put the vine in. It was my hope that the clay and organic matter would help retain water near the roots. The more we learn the more we realize the soil in our vineyard drains extremely well, this means that for new vines with very short roots, any water, irrigation or otherwise, will quickly drain past the roots and be of no use to the young plant.

This year we were planting replacement vines. This meant that the empty holes we were planting in were interspersed randomly between the successfully planted vines from previous years.

Chris and I just having a short midday banquet.

Katie, Melissa and a masked ninja having a banquet of their own.

The room mate planting crew, surveying our work. Thanks Chris for making me look cool.

Planting Crew number 2. Thanks Parents! Couldn’t have done it without you!

We ended up getting all 1,000 vines in the ground. It took 9 very long days, but we finished! We originally had hoped that with the 60 or so people who were originally scheduled to come to AltaFest it would only take us a day or two to finish.

I don’t know what else to say. This is a crazy flower.

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