Grape Harvest Produces Mixed Results for Wineries
The Surry Messenger (Mt Airy, NC November 1, 2009)
By Andy Matthews
andy@surrymessenger.com
It’s often said in the wine industry that there are yearsfor the grape grower and years
for the winemaker. With good grapes, good wines can be made easily. When the crop has problems, all the winemaker’s skills are needed to coax out a decent wine.
This year, it would appear, will be one for Surry County’s winemakers. The spring brought heavy rains, causing moisture and pollen problems for some vineyards. When the rains relented and summer brought some dry spells, vineyard owners geared up for the harvest, only to be hit once
again with inclement weather.
George Denka, president of Shelton Vineyards near Dobson, said recently that this year’s harvest was “kind of a mixed bag.” The wet spring, which included some torrential rains, was a bit too much for some of the grape clusters. The rainfall destroyed some flowers, causing them not to pollinate.
“Some of them didn’t fully form,” Denka said. “We had lowers yields than in past years.”
But the weather was more cooperative in the summer with some hot, sunny days that help develop deeper flavors. Denka said that workers harvested grapes for the white wines in the latter part of September, which will probably be of higher quality than the red wines for this year. That’s because grapes for the reds mature later and thus were more vulnerable to the weather. Established nine years ago, Denka said that Shelton Vineyards has about 150 acres of grapes in cultivation.
“Overall, this harvest will be very similar to 2006 and 2008,” Denka said. “Those two years we had similar weather, except for the early springtime rains.”
Jim Douthit, the co-owner and manager of Grassy Creek Vineyard north of Elkin, said that the vineyard had a tough time fighting off the effects of the spring rains. Grassy Creek has 20 acres off Klondike Road and 10 acres in the Troutman community in southern Iredell County. Ironically, Douthit said, the vineyard in Troutman fared much better this year. “We had a tough year,” Douthit said. “We struggled with mildew. We had a very minimal crop . . . at least here in Elkin. We fared
better in Troutman where, for some reason, there was less rain.” Still, Douthit said that Grassy Creek was fortunate to have a large enough yield to salvage some good grapes. “We didn’t use any that we didn’t like,” Douthit said. “If that had any defects, we didn’t use them.”
Carolina Heritage Vineyard and Winery, which celebrated its grand opening Thursday, just concluded its harvest. Pat Colwell, a coowner of the 10-acre vineyard about three miles east of Elkin off N.C. 268, said that this was the organic vineyard’s first big harvest. With the exception of dealing with some unwelcome guests who damaged some of the grapes, Colwell said that it was a good year for Carolina Heritage, which raises a mixture of muscadine, hybrid grapes and blueberries. “Our harvest was actually pretty good with some minor exceptions,” Colwell said.
“We had some possums and they seemed to like the grapes and did a bit of damage.” Carolina Heritage was not as severely affected by the spring rain, but Colwell said that September’s showers did adversely affect some of its grapes. “We were really not affected by that, but getting rain in September is not good for anybody,” Colwell said. “We did see a little more rot than we would have liked.”
Gill Giese is a viticulture instructor with Surry Community College’s Viticulture & Enology program where the college grows about five acres of grapes and produces its Surry Cellars wines. Like other vineyards, the college had to grapple with the elements. “It was really a variable growing season,”
Giese said. “We didn’t seem to have a consistent trend.” Giese said that insects and wasps punctured some of the grapes, making rot more likely. But there were as many Japanese beetles
this year, he said. “From a quality standpoint, it was better than usual and the chemistry was some of the best I’ve ever seen,” Giese said.
Margo Knight, executive director of the N.C. Wine and Grape Council, said that the 2009 harvest was an average year. Varying amounts of precipitation across the state accounted for mixed results. Knight said that vineyards in western North Carolina had to contend with larger rainfall totals.
“We had a little more rain than we would have liked to have had,” she said. “Pretty much,
it was hit or miss.” Those who sprayed for mildew after the heavy spring rains reported higher yields,
Knight said. adding,”Those who didn’t address mildew had quite a lot of problems with
moisture.” Owning a vineyard, Knight said, can be a very stressful occupation. Often the owner
must battle the elements, gambling on when is the right time to harvest. However, the beauty
of owning a vineyard, Knight said, is that you can literally see the fruits of your labor. “Every year is different. That’s what makes this industry so great,” Knight said. “You have a year’s worth of rain, sun and wind in that bottle.”
