Owners of an unconventional farm: “Vineyard – our discovery”

On the farm of Aušra and Evaldas Mikalajūnai in the village of Bendikas, in Kretingale district, grapes of various varieties grow. In one of the largest vineyards in the country, this fall, the first such abundant harvest will be harvested, for which we had to wait for 5 years. The young grape growers hope that the nurtured vines will yield about a ton of berries. “We would like to create a Lithuanian Burgundy”, said they, who were among the first to plant a vineyard in the Klaipėda region.

Lawyers became fascinated with viticulture
E. Mikalajūnas, originally from Kaunas, became interested in viticulture ten years ago and planted vines in the garden of his parents’ house. He found the Association of Grape Growers and, becoming a member, gained more knowledge about Lithuanian viticulture. A few years later, after registering the farmer’s farm, he decided to grow a vineyard. “It’s not easy – a lot of knowledge is needed,” assured E. Mikalajūnas, who acquired the profession of lawyer. – And now you have to read a lot about viticulture – in France you learn it for 6 years, although the secrets of growing grapes are passed down from generation to generation. We have no one to teach us how to take care of the vineyard – we had to learn it ourselves.”
Membership in the Association of Grape Growers was an opportunity to broaden horizons in the field. Now E. Mikalajūnas is a member of the board of the association. “We visit each other’s vineyards and discuss mistakes. We learned a lot of subtleties, for example, that you can’t pick berries from a bunch because you attract wasps – you have to use scissors to do that,” Evaldas smiled.
Viticulture impressed his wife, a city dweller, who put aside her law degree, although she tries not to forget this knowledge. “Vineyard is retraining: sitting in an office is hard and boring. You don’t want to leave here, it’s relaxation, although there is a lot of manual work: pruning, weeding, mowing the grass. We do everything ourselves – we only look for helpers for bigger jobs”, revealed Aušra.

Veshi and French varieties
After purchasing a plot of land on the territory of the Seaside Regional Park, in the village of Bendikas, the Mikalajūnas established an unconventional farm – the family’s desire to have a vineyard came true. Evaldas took advantage of European support for the establishment of a young farmer’s farm, from which he could buy vine seedlings, a tractor, etc., but he also spent a lot of his own funds. “It was necessary to buy 25 km of wire, wooden stakes for the fence – starting the path of a viticulturist, it is necessary to invest a lot of money,” noted the young vintner. – Stylistically, we want to create a Lithuanian Burgundy: we plant the vines densely and prune them hard – we don’t allow them to get too overgrown. We grow organically – this year we used organic products to protect ourselves from powdery mildew – in the seaside regional park you need to act responsibly, although there is no such legal obligation. This year we should get the organic farm certificate.”
Rows of vines shoot like arrows at the Mikalajūnai farm. In the cultivated vineyard of one and a half hectares – 3 thousand. berries of vines ripening 20 varieties, dessert and wine. This is one of the largest vineyards in Lithuania – a total of 35 hectares of vineyards have been declared in the country, and 2 growers have declared 1.73 hectares in Klaipėda district.
Has the climate in Lithuania become favorable for growing vineyards in recent years? “Not only because of that – the culture is changing: the Romans joked that civilization ends where the vineyards end,” Evaldas taught cheerfully. – Earlier, gardeners grew vines in their gardens, near garages. The hardworking breeders brought out hybrids suitable for growing in our conditions – the number of winegrowers is increasing. About 100 people in Lithuania are interested in vineyards and have them.”
In the Mikalajūnai vineyard, not only Lithuanian varieties of grapes go well – mostly German, Canadian, French grapes. “One of the five most popular varieties of French vines feels good in our climate, but they need more care,” said Evaldas. Self-rooted, ungrafted vines are grown here because they live longer.

He waited 5 years for the harvest
This autumn, there is a celebration at the Mikalajūnai farm: the first bountiful harvest will be reaped, which has been waiting for 5 years since the land was prepared for planting vines. Checks the accumulated sugar daily to know when to pick. According to Evaldo, each vintner decides this. “We want a natural amount of sugar in the berries,” assured the vintner. “White grape juice has less sugar, and red grape juice is much sweeter.”
This September is auspicious, with grape growers hoping for enough warm, sunny days to ripen the grapes. The winegrowers regretted that this summer the weather on the coast was not kind to the farmers.
What is the vision for the vineyard? “Cultural space where guests, artists, photographers are received. There is such peace here – you can enjoy the unique nature and communicate. For example, this evening the members of the Palanga women’s club “Active and happy” will gather here and, as the sun sets, they will sit at this table,” Aušra showed, adding that the vineyard is so good that you don’t want to leave.
This year, they will pick berries that other winegrowers are happy to buy, they will make wine for their own needs, but in the future they will seek to obtain a license for winemaking. E. Mikalajūnas is interested in when our country’s grape growers will receive European support for grape processing. “There are very high requirements for obtaining this license,” Evaldas noted. – But we are already participating in Lithuanian winemakers’ championships, we are experimenting, we presented several types of wine to the Baltic Cup championship.”
“The vineyard is our discovery,” Aušra smiled.
After establishing a non-traditional farm, the Mikalajūnais are designing their homestead here. “The architecture of the building will be characteristic of this region,” Evaldas assured. Next to the vineyard, they planted a Lithuanian orchard with apple trees, pears, and walnut trees. The future settlers proposed to the District Municipality to name one village street Vynuogynos, but the officials doubted whether there would ever be a vineyard here, and named it Obelynės. And the vineyard already has berries of dessert and wine varieties.
Virginia LAPIENĖ
Author’s photo.