Grapes will be ready for an early harvest

TRI-COUNTY AREA—This year’s hot summer weather in the Tri-County Area has actually put grape vineyards about two weeks ahead of schedule, local wineries say. “We are two weeks ahead of season. It is better than average weather for growing grapes,” Lakewood Vineyards, Vineyard Manager Dave Stamp said.
According to Jim Trezise of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, early-ripening grapes are usually harvested beginning right after Labor Day. Other varieties are harvested two to four weeks later. The warm weather, however, will move all these harvest times up.
The grapes being ahead of schedule “is pretty basic, any plant responds to heat and moisture and we’ve had a good amount of both,” said Gene Pierce, owner of Glenora Wine Cellars.
The hot weather is “making the grapes ready quick. It is good ripening weather because it’s not too hot. We are looking forward to a great harvest at least one week to 10 days early,” Fox Run Vineyards President Scott Osborn said.
“The temperature can be as high as about 105 degrees and it will still be beneficial to the vines,” Bernard Cannac, wine maker at Heron Hill Winery said.
Pierce also said that this type of weather has allowed for the vines to mature and produce better fruit which in turn will make better wine.
“One major benefit is that it decreases the risk of an early frost killing the leaves, shutting down the ripening process, and in effect prematurely ending the harvest for late-ripening varieties,” Trezise said in a press release.
The state’s grape regions can still be hit with a prolonged big chill and constant cloud layer which could push harvest time back. This type of weather is not predicted but it is still too early to tell for sure, Trezise said in the release.
Long Island vineyards have also been reported at two weeks ahead of schedule. The Lake Erie and Hudson Valley regions are a few days short of being two weeks ahead and the Thousand Islands region is about a week ahead of schedule.