Skull Valley Wine Growers Association

Tonight is the second meeting of the Skull Valley Wine Growers Association. Jodi Padgett and Fiona Reid of Painted Lady's Vineyard, Ed and Darlene Weatherly, of Skull Valley Vinyards, and Dave and Linda Bonham of Juniper Well Winery are meeting to share ideas, goals and information. To be continued

Step by step

We met with other Skull Valley growers this April.  Fiona and Jody run Painted Ladies Vineyard and are producing Gewurtztraminer. Ed and Darlene , Skull Valley Vineyards, are also growing a variety of grapes and building a winery. All of us are new to the industry and learning as we go.  It was stimulating to share each other's enthusiasm and helpful to share information.   We have turned in packets of applications to become a domestic farm winery to the Feds, the state and county.   May 28th, finally, it seems that we are through our 'frost danger days' and the vines began leap out during the first week of May. We had some snow in the north country in the middle of May but the freezing weather spared us.  This past winter for the second time, we took many of the vines back to two buds.  They, for the most part, seem to be doing well.  However, we had hoped that the vines would have been big enough not to have been pruned back.  For the first time, on May 24th, we put out three pounds of 20.20.20 fertilizer.  This was distributed through our drip irrigation system.     In our newer one acre vineyard which we planted last June, we have Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo.  The Tempranillo seems to be doing pretty well- similar to our other vineyard where it has grown very well.  Out of 350 Cabernet Sauvignon many have succumbed to winter kill.  Perhaps the later June start subjected them to distress during the colder than normal winter.  We have lost approximately 1/2 of the Cab.  In May, we replaced it with Cabernet Franc and Merlot.  Time will tell if this choice was wise. This was also our first shot at bare root planting.Today, we put 2 pounds of 20.20.20 fertilizer on the north 1/2 of the older one acre vineyard.  The impression that we had was that drip system put out more fertilizer onto the south 1/2 so we are attempting to compensate on the north 1/2.  Time will tell.

Skull Valley Wine Grapes

In 2005 my husband Dave and I sat on the porch swing and discussed planting a vineyard. Even though it seemed improbable in this high altitude, arid, Juniper Pinyon region just outside of Prescott, Arizona, we decided to give it a try. After some research and the advice from a Spanish winemaker now living in the area, we decided to plant Grenache and Tempranillo. In January, Dave rented a bulldozer to clear a hilly field just west of our log cabin. We left some of the Alligator bark juniper trees and a couple of rock outcroppings. In February, Dave rented a backhoe and began the process of digging trenches in the graniteous ground. There were also some sandy spots. A primitive soil analysis determined we had 1/3 sand, 1/3 loam and 1/3 silt. We filled the trenches with horse manure, covered them up and then started to layout the vineyard. March 06 With all the wrong tools, we got the trellis's up (most of them straight). Dave claims its just like building fence which he had lots of experience with. We used t-posts and spaced the rows 5 feet apart. April 06 Installed a drip system. We continued to read books, magazines and started talking to anyone who knew anything about growing grapes. May 06 Drove to Modesto, CA pulling a 1960Airstream Trailer to pick up 700 grape vines ordered from Duarte Nursery. We had chosen to a drought and cold tolerant root stock for the grapes and decided to add petite syrah, pino grigio, and sauvignon blanc to our list. The grapes fit perfectly in our little Airstream and we headed back home to begin planting them. our growing season is short so we wanted to get them into the ground as soon as the threat of frost was over (2nd week in May). With the help of friends and family we got the plants in and they looked beautiful. That summer many of the little plants grew to over six feet tall. What a reward!