It only took seven years, but I finally put together this video from 2016, showing how I built my grape vine trellis’. I needed space for nine total vines: 3 Gewürztraminer and 6 Cabernet Sauvignon. I will be producing an update video, as the vines are much older now.
I wanted to grow grape vines to make wine in my back yard. I began by researching the varieties of wine grapes that grow in Utah. I learned that due to our hot and dry temperatures, Gewürztraminer and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes would thrive, so I began making my plans. I knew I had space in my back yard, but I needed room for three separate trellis’. I decided to divide them up by the type of grape. In the Eastern side of my back yard I planned the two Cabernet rows of three vines each. Then one row of Gewürztraminer with three vines on the south side of my back yard.
With my plan in place, i visited the home center and picked up six, ten foot long, 4×4 treated wood beams. I needed heavy duty wire and fencing posts to go between the beams, with vice clamps to hold the wire, and clips to hold the wire to the posts.
I dug the six holes and buried the beams two feet in the ground, cemented their bases. Next I grounded the fencing posts. Then I drilled the holes and ran the wire, clamping them into the outer posts with vice clips, and wired them to the fencing posts. Finally i dug out the locations for the nine vines and planted them. I should have used gardening poles to train them up, but I let them grow and used gardening tape to tie them to the wire when they got large enough.
