Frost Report - April 2012

QUESTION:
Someone on Facebook asked: "Winter's are usually cold in western New York, what's so difficult about this spring?"

ANSWER:
Like many parts of the country, we had an early ten days of spring and since Lake Erie wasn't frozen to keep things a little cooler, the grapes began to grow. Then, when the weather reverted to more normal cooler temperatures and occasional frosts, the buds are at risk.

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Here's what normal and frozen buds look like.  Each of these vines have three buds - the bottom vine is developing normally, with a primary bud and a smaller secondary bud. The top vine shows frost damage to the first bud and a bulge where the secondary bud is forming.  Secondary buds are just that - better than nothing, but not as big or vigorous as the primaries.

Post March 26 Frost: Day 1

It is perfectly normal early spring weather - 29 degrees, a little frost on the ground, sun coming up. 

BUT, we've just "enjoyed" those ten days of early warm weather - so warm that everything has bloomed, is in bloom, or is certainly in bud.  You name it:  apricots first, then peaches, cherries, even apples and blueberries.  And yes, the grapes are budding, with some varieties, like the Ives, even showing green and secondary buds.  Even the old timers have never seen anything as bad as this will likely be.

The news is bad.  As low as 24-26 degrees last night.  The cup of water on the bench in the garden had a solid one inch layer of ice this morning.  Fred's sample test of apple buds - crunchy.  Not good.

It is too early to tell how bad and (luckily) each of our grape varieties is at a different stage of development, so perhaps a few have weathered the freeze.

Mother Nature Threatens, March 26, 2012

You know those lovely spring days we've been enjoying.  They are a double-edged sword for farmers and winery owners - for that warm spell was long enough to make everything bloom and bud out - apricots, peaches, cherries, and yes, our grapes. 

If that frost that is now forecasted for Monday arrives and stays as long as we think it will, it will mean devastation for all of these fruit crops for this year...

More soon as we follow the weather reports!

An Artic Blast Quells the Owner's and Winemaker's Jitters

It does come to that - when the weather is as mild as it has been this winter of 2011-2012 - you begin to wonder whether you wasted your time and money netting those vines for ice wine.  If Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, you can end up with a lot of mushy, wasted grapes, and the only salvage possibility is something that is not ice wine.

So, it was with some relief that Fred and Jeff Murphy, winemaker at Johnson Estate, watched the weather forecasts and realized that the artic blast that blew in just after the New Year, might just be the needed window for harvest.  The appointed day January 3rd, arrived with temperatures contuning to drop and the skies gray - in the world of harvesting ice wine, that is good - you don't want those little marbles to thaw any, if you can help it.  We were blessed with plenty of hands from two additional farms which made the work go quickly.  Fred was very pleased with the decision to air-stack the Chambourcins, which then froze more solidly as the temperatures dropped to 7 degrees by evening.

More later - how you harvest and then what do you do with the grapes?