Grapevine dying?

[mgl]

I planted some grape vines early this year. They went a while without being watered, but maybe 3 weeks ago I noticed they needed water and watered them right away.
Everything went good, there were new leaves sprouting, but now the leaves are getting yellow and looks like they are dying.
I'm watering them again, but i don't know if this is normal.

Any experts out there who can give their opinion?

[ameno]

Do you have any pictures? If the forum won't let you post them because you are a new member then just upload them elsewhere (like to Imgur) and post the links here.

For now, when you say they "look like they are dying", do you say that just because the leaves are yellow, or are they showing other signs of ill health as well, like wilting or browning?

[nickdub]

Hard to say without a photo - they may be fine and start growing again next year without you doing anything further.

[burnie]

I don't quite understand why you didn't water newly planted vines until they looked poorly, one of the reasons you water new plants is to settle the soil round the roots to ensure there are no air gaps. Stressed plants will start to shut down if they lack water and nutrients, hopefully you watering them may have saved them.
Where are you based, this will help understand your growing conditions

[nickdub]

Having looked at your photos I'd say your vines will be OK next year as they all seem to have some green leaves on them now. As you mentioned yourself the lack of water over the summer was almost certainly what caused some leaves to die back but I don't think its killed any of the vines.

I'm not sure what your long term plan is but if you are planning on using the grapes for wine making, you're probably best getting some advice from growers on a more wine specific website.

[Snoop Puss]

Hello and welcome, mgl.

I have no additional advice to give other than that mentioned above. Except that depending on where you are and your local weather patterns at this time of year (where I live, we usually get heavy storms late August, early September, for example), you might find your vines will do better with a very generous water very early in the morning rather than a little given more frequently. I see you have them planted out in the ground, so what you'd ideally want to be encouraging is deep roots, and a lot of water all at once is good for that if you have reasonable drainage.