Poison Ivy Vineyards, a non-commercial vineyard and winery in Richardson, Texas, completed its first harvest in July, 2001. The success of the first harvest is largely due to the help that winemaker William J. 'Bill' McCalpin received from spouse Chris Halicki, his parents George and Dot McCalpin, James O. Parker III, and Stephen and Kathryn Poe - all of whom helped in the "emergency" harvest in July.
Unlike many commercial vineyards, Poison Ivy Vineyards has planted French-American hybrids. These hybrids - Chancellor for red wine and Seyval Blanc for white wine - were chosen for their resistance to domestic diseases such as Pierce's disease. Furthermore, while commercial vineyards can spend a great deal of time and money attending to the grape crop, a non-commercial enterprise is necessarily limited in the amount of attention that can be paid to the plants.
Thus, Poison Ivy Vineyards represents what is easily achievable by the home viticulturist and winemaker. An additional bonus is that Poison Ivy Vineyards is in North Central Texas. A great deal of the viticulture literature is devoted to growing grapes in the American North and Northeast as well as in California. However, Texas has had a winemaking tradition dating back to the Spanish missionaries (even if a little interrupted by events such as the fall of the Alamo ;-) ), and Texas certainly has the land in which to try new and innovative viticulture and winemaking techniques.
Please continue to follow the story of the 2001 harvest and vintage....
Poison Ivy Vineyards home
next »
For more information: mccalpin@mccalpin.com