Grape expectations: Summer weather unlikely to affect harvest

View larger image Jeff White, principal wine maker and grower at Glen Manor Vineyards in Browntown, inspects a vine of Cabernet Franc grapes at the 14.5 acre vineyard. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Jeff White walks among the rows of grapevines at Glen Manor Vineyards. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Jeff White walks along a row of Cabarnet Farnc grapes. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Jeff White walks among the rows of grapevines at Glen Manor Vineyards. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Jeff White stands along the mountain side of grape vines in the 14.5 acre vineyard. Rich Cooley/Daily

By Linwood Outlaw III - loutlaw@nvdaily.com

This summer's torrid weather put a scare into Virginia's vintners, a group normally undaunted by hot, dry weather.

Nonetheless, grape growers and others in the state's wine industry still think they'll have plenty to toast once the 2010 crop is in.

Normally, wine grapes hold up fairly well in dry weather. But a stretch of record-high temperatures in June and July that often soared above 90 degrees caused grape varieties to ripen earlier than usual, among other complications.

"For your average drought, the quality of the grapes tend to increase. But, because there's less liquid, the quantity goes down," said Annette Boyd, director of the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office. "Because this drought was a little more severe than usual, the people who may have issues this year are people who have new vineyards, like if you just planted in the spring, or if you just planted last year and your vineyard isn't established and those roots don't go very deep."

Despite recent weather conditions, officials say they are still anticipating a good year for wine production.

Jeff White, 50, who owns Glen Manor Vineyards in Front Royal, said the recent heat wave did and did not affect his yields "depending on the vines' age." White has two vineyards on his farm, one of which is about 15 years old. "Luckily, though, about the time [yields] were really showing signs of stress, we got some rain," he said.

Experts have said they are seeing the earliest harvesting of grapes in Virginia in recent memory. White, however, says that's not due solely to this summer's excessively muggy weather. He said unusually high temperatures at the end of March also contributed to premature harvesting.

"Normally, our grapevines don't break bud until mid-April to the end of April. Well, we broke bud and started growing at the first of April. For that reason, we're early now, because we started early," White said.

Then there were bouts of frost this spring that damaged grapes on vineyards throughout the state, though White says his vineyard wasn't significantly affected by the frost.

Ideally, White said, grape growers would prefer "heat and humidity" rather than "cool and rain," particularly because lots of rain could lead to excessive vigor and shading. However, in a news release issued earlier this month by the Virginia Farm Bureau, Virginia Tech viticulturist Tony Wolf said that extended dry conditions could create reduced yields and altered grape composition at harvest.

"The heat is not the best. We don't like to see weather this hot when we're getting ready to harvest grapes. There's not a great deal we can do about that. We can't cool the vineyard down. We'd rather not have it so hot," Wolf said.

Wolf, who works out of Virginia Tech's Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Frederick County, also said that wines produced from drought-stressed grapes "are often unbalanced, may lack color intensity in reds and may not age well."

"We've got a record early harvest coming in. We're still running about two weeks ahead with most varieties," Wolf said. "The wine makers have had to scramble some because some of the very early varieties have put some pressure on them to get tanks empty."

However, Wolf says that while some counties in the Northern Shenandoah Valley are still "running way behind in terms of moisture," there's no reason to panic about the outlook of wine production.

"Grapevines are fairly deep-rooted. The moisture that we have gotten up in this area have helped them along," Wolf said. "There are still some that are struggling. But, it's not like most of the vineyards are water-stressed or drought-stressed. We're not in that situation. The early harvest is something vineyards will have to work around. Quality looks really good at this point."

There have been cooler temperatures and rainfall recently, and forecasts indicate that there will be "much more seasonal" weather in the coming days, with highs in the mid-80s, Wolf said, adding that wine makers also may choose to adjust the acidity of fruit and make other accommodations when faced with early harvesting conditions in order to ensure that wines are more balanced.

Boyd said Virginia wine sales increased about 8 percent last year compared to the previous year. Virginia is the nation's fifth-ranked state for wine production, with cash receipts of more than $10 million for wine grapes last year, according to Virginia Farm Bureau officials.

Boyd says she is generally "hearing good reports from a lot of wineries around the state," and that she does not anticipate any major disruptions in wine production. "In general, people who grow grapes are saying that it's going to be a good year,' she said.