I also have been lurking and gleaning information from WinePress forums. I actually saved about 20,000 dollars on a great grow tube buy I made from a contact I made on here. My wife and I also bought a farm recently. 25 acres in Murphy Oregon. We intended it to be a retirement venture to grow wine grapes and make wine. We did some pretty extensive research as well. After we were convinced to go for it, we hired a company to plant 20 acres of Pinot Noir and Syrah. The company ended up folding before the infrastructure was installed and taking all of the money we had given them to do the work. In spite of that we went ahead and forged ahead using up a lot more money than we had intended. We have 0 farming experience as well. (or at least we did) Since last April we have successfully installed all of the 20 acres of trellis and have completed the irrigation system. We were able to get 4 acres of Pinot Noir planted last year and are planting 16 more acres next month. We have learned a lot from people in the industry on here and in our local community. The Applegate Valley wine makers and growers have been helping us a lot when word of our situation got around (its a very small town) The good news for us now is that we were able to hire a local vineyard management company that has been taking very good care of us. The vineyard is beautiful now. They also got us connected to a winery up north of us that has agreed to contract all of the Pinot Gris fruit we grow till 2020 (We have re-planned the vineyard, after the original company failed, for 9 acres of Pinot Gris and 11 acres of Pinot Noir). We are having to delay our wine making for a time until the revenue from the grapes gives us a little more room to breathe financially but hope to start construction 2017. The property is riverfront and we have also planned a tasting room and park like venue for the property as well. I just wanted to say hello because our stories are a little alike and to stay in touch with you to keep tabs on how you are doing. We may even be able to help each other in our Vintner infancy. Cheers! Harry and Marion Knight
