While farmers are praying for rain, wineries are hoping for the dry weather to keep up until they finish the harvest for the year.
“Droughts are actually better for grapes,” said Richard Seibert, president of the Maryland Wineries Association and owner of Knob Hall Winery, just outside Hagerstown, Md. “A severe drought will lessen the water content of a grape. In doing that, the sugar content goes up … what we call a ‘California yield.'”
Too much water in a grape dilutes the flavor, explained Mitzi Batterson, president of the Virginia Wineries Association and owner of James River Cellars Winery, just north of Richmond.
“We’re going to squeeze that grape,” she said. “If you want to get all those great, fabulous flavors in your wine … you don’t want all this water just filling those great berries up right before you want to pick them.”
Last year, September was rainy, which hurt red wine production, Batterson said. But as long as the weather holds up, this year could be much better.
Thanks to a warmer spring than usual, Batterson plans to begin the harvest this week. “We’re going to be positive this year and hope that with the early harvest season, we will be less likely to encounter large quantities of rain.”
Despite low levels of rainfall, some Virginia wine makers still don’t think there is enough of a rain deficit for their grapes.
“There is no drought out here,” said Howard O’Brien, owner of Chateau O’Brien in Fauquier County. “We would like to see it even drier.” — Rachel Baye
