Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/764739
9 2 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | J a n - F e b 2 017 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m picking and processing, while Ari- zona Hops and Vines harvests and dries its hops by hand with help from a local homebrewing club. "If I were to expand our hop yard any bigger, it would definitely be overwhelming," Haller says. LONG-TERM GAINS Haller started her hops from rhizomes, and propagates new ones after each harvest. She also installed a drip irrigation system and provides the plants with about five gallons of water daily. The trellises, constructed from repur- posed utility poles, include a pul- ley system so each section can be dropped for harvesting. It takes at least two growing seasons for hops to establish themselves and pro- duce full-sized cones. "We got a small crop with tiny cones the first and second years, but they're finally getting where we want them to be," Haller says. "We get two crops from each growing season. Harvesting them early has given us really nice, big cones dur- ing the second crop, but it did take longer than I expected to get the size we wanted. "Hops seems to be the darling of the alternative crop world right now," says Ann George, execu- tive director of Hop Growers of America. "But I think we're going to start seeing that level out a lit- tle bit because people are starting to figure out just how hard it is to grow hops and how much it costs to get set up." Hops farming works best on either a very small (a couple of acres, at most) or a much larger scale of at least 20 acres (and, often, many more). The limiting factor is hops' short harvest win- dow. When the hops' are ready for harvest, growers have two weeks at the very most to cut the bines, pick the cones and begin the drying process. Mechanized hop pickers and other specialized equipment are required to effi- ciently bring in the hops at their peak and process the cones before they begin to spoil. "Even a very small grower needs to be looking to invest at least $125,000 in harvesting equipment," George says. At Linganore Winecellers, the bines are cut down and trucked to a processing facility in Virginia for "Our biggest struggle now is wind," she says. "We get a lot of wind and sun." Haller says she's seen some late frost damage to her grapes, but none with the hops. Hops also have natural insecticide properties, which has been beneficial to the grapes growing nearby. "I've had problems with beetles in other places in the vineyard, but anywhere around the hops, I don't have any problems with bugs at all," she says. "It's been a great combi- nation to grow with the vines." Grapes also have a longer shelf life when left on the vine, which also works well when it's time to drop everything else and bring in the hops. "Hops are funny that way. When they're ready, they're ready, and they all come in at the same time," Aellen says. "With our vineyard pro- duction, we grow 18 different variet- ies and start picking around the last weekend in August and finish the second or third weekend in Octo- ber, so we have a month and a half — sometimes almost two months — to pick our grapes. You don't have that luxury with hops. There's a fine line between a fully ripened cone and a cone that's on the decline, and there's a learning curve to figure that out." Still, for all of the added time and expense, both Haller and Aellen say hops have been a welcome addition to their vineyards and their busi- nesses. "A winery with a brewery helps sales," Aellen says. "We were hard- pressed to get couples to come up before, but now we see a lot more. "It's the same thing with the wedding venue," he says. "A bride can say, 'Hey, we're getting married at this winery,' and the groom can say, 'Hey, we're getting married at a brewery.'" Tom Wilmes is a freelance writer living in beer-soaked Boulder, Colo. He contributes a weekly craft-beer column to the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper and writes for several national beer-related publications. Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwmmedia.com. The clan at Arizona Hops and Vines C R A F T B E V E R A G E S R E P O R T