In the midst of the harvest season, tri-state-area wineries say this year's fruit is going to be a banner crop.
Dave Cushman, general manager of Park Farm Winery in Bankston, Iowa, began picking last weekend.
"If you had asked me in the beginning of September what I thought of this year's harvest, I would have been pretty ho-hum because we had such a wet and cool August, and a cool July, that the grapes were way behind," he said.
Cushman said the 25 to 26 days of no rain and unseasonably warm dry weather in September "just really" turned things around.
"The grapes that we've been seeing -- those that have come in and those in our own vineyard -- are some of the best grapes we've seen in the five years we've been open," he said. "This really warm, dry September has done wonders, and for those who were patient and didn't pick early, I think its going to pay off very nicely. Usually when you have higher sugar levels, the flavors and everything follow through. You have nice fruit character in the grapes and the wine."
| tri-state area wineries Spurgeon Vineyards & Winery, 16008 Pine Tree Road, Highland, Wis.; www.spurgeonvineyards.com Galena Cellars Winery, 515 S. Main St., Galena, Ill.; www.galenacellars.com Massbach Ridge Winery, 8837 S. Massbach Road, Elizabeth, Ill.; www.massbachridge.com Park Farm Winery, 15159 Thielen Road, Bankston, Iowa; www.parkfarmwinery.com Stone Cliff Winery, 600 Star Brewery Drive, Dubuque; www.stonecliffwinery.com Tabor Home Vineyards and Winery, 3570 67th St., Baldwin, Iowa; www.taborhomewinery.com Brush Creek Winery, 16415 298th Avenue, Bellevue, Iowa; www.brushcreekwinery.com |
Peggy Harmston, of Massbach Ridge Winery, near Elizabeth, Ill., notes that like nearly every other crop, grapes are weather dependent.
"It's amazing what the sun will do," she said. "For a long period it seemed like it took us awhile to see it. You can't lose sleep over the weather. We don't have control over that, but what you do have control of is crop management."
Massbach had a small but "quality" crop, according to Harmston.
"The sugar content may be a little lower, but the flavor is there," she said. "It should equate to a fine vintage wine."
The hailstorm that struck the area during the summer had an effect. Chris Lawlor, the wine maker and proprietor of Galena (Ill.) Cellars, reported her harvest was down by 20 percent as a result of the storm; one of her growers suffered a 100 percent loss.
"Our quality is high," she said, "so is quality all over the state."
Nan Smith, of Stone Cliff Winery, calls it a bumper crop. She and her husband, Bob, grow grapes on their Stone Cliff Farm near Durango, Iowa.
"I would say, because of the coolness, I was real surprised that the clusters were so firm and very well ripened," she said. "The sugars are up there, the acids are right."
Glen Spurgeon, of Spurgeon Vineyards & Winery, in Highland, Wis., agreed with Cushman and Smith.
"Without the last several weeks of weather, things might have been different," he said. "It brought the quality in, and that means good wine."
The tri-state fare impresses Cushman.
"There are a lot wineries popping up, and there are a lot of, I think, very good wines being produced here from local grapes," he said.
Cushman said there's been a lot of progress made over the past eight to 10 years.
"Especially in the last two to three years, there are some wines I've been trying from other area wineries that I'm just really impressed with," he said. "I hope to be able to duplicate and do as well, too. The Midwest is not going to be internationally known in the near future, but I think we are definitely going to have products to be proud of to sell to the Midwest."
Spurgeon attributes the improved quality to breeding programs, including one in Wisconsin, that developed several grape varieties that flourish in the Midwest's colder temperatures.
