Ten Signs of a Healthy Vineyard

A healthy backyard vineyard is a treasure. It can produce delicious wine, serve as a wonderful setting from which to appreciate the miracles of nature and offer a leafy refuge from the pressures and stresses of modern life. Whether it’s a dozen vines up against a fence in Los Angeles or two acres on a small hillside in Virginia, vineyards remind us that while nature is always firmly in charge we can guide her hand through the seasons like a helmsman in a squall — and at the end of the storm we have something nice to drink. With the Golden Age of wine upon us, it’s amazingly simple to travel the world in a glass for less money than ever before. Argentina, Australia, Austria and Alsace can all be tasted for less than a $20 bill — and that’s just the A’s! So with all that wine available out there, why do we go through the labor, worry and cost of growing our own vineyards? To me it comes down to that old anonymous Latin adage: In Vino Veritas.