Finally a vine in the ground!

12 Marzo

Raffaele and I put the 1st 2 vines of Montepulciano in the ground and at this point there are about another 2400 which have followed those 2 underground. After putting the initial planting off another half day because of wet ground this morning, we are finally underway. Still about 34,000 to go, but maybe before I fly back to the states, we will be 80% finished. Here are some pix, starting with raffaele planting the 1st vine in the row at the south border of our plot of land. Then, you see some shots of our workers using metal poles marked every 80 cm for placement of the vines. (We change to 70 cm for the rest of the red varieties.) Then a finished row of Montepulciano. The weather was nice-20 degrees C. and more of the same for the rest of the week. Check out the nascondigliodibacco.blogspot.com site for more fotos and the prose of raffaele, which far surpasses my dry ramblings. Also, stay tuned for more photos of the new flower plantings as we try to spruce the place up a bit. 
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