Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
A VINTAGE YEAR
Weather ideal in 2020 for a fine crop of grapes
It’s fall, and that means harvest time.
And while calamity-filled 2020 will not be remembered as a vintage year, Berks County-areawinemakers say the year will produce a fine vintage.
“It’s going to be one of those years you’re going to talk about,” said Sam Landis, a partner at Vynecrest Vineyards & Winery, located just over the Berks line in Breinigsville, Lehigh County. “I joke around that the only highlight of 2020 so far is what the harvest is shaping up to look like. Honestly, it’s the only thing that can keep you sane, because the vineyard itself doesn’t stop. It doesn’t understand COVID or the pandemic. But this is definitely a once-in-10 kind of year.”
Wine grapes, especially the kinds used to make dry red varieties, prefer warm, dry climates. Despite a few monumentally soggy weeks, this summer overflowed with sunny, 80- and 90-degree days.
Andareawineries needed it.
Already dealing with the effectsof a subpar 2019 crop, vintners absorbed another gut punch with the pandemic. But after adapting and persevering through the hardtimeswithopenminds, they’re welcoming harvest season with open arms.
“A lot of the pieces of the harvest puzzle fell into place at the right times,” said Kari Skrip of Clover Hill Vineyards&
Winery.
“We did have a significant amount of rain, but it came at an optimal time,” said Skrip, co-owner of the winery, headquartered down the road from Vynecrest, with another location in North Heidelberg Township. “We had a nice amount of warm, not hot, days and cooler nights. Evenbeforewe got to thegrowingseason, wehada mild winter, and that helped for the vines to store energy.”
So which wines from this harvest are the vintnersmost excited to try?
“Oh boy, that’s like asking which one of your children you like best,” said Larry Shrawder, owner of Stony Run Winery, one of the region’s newest estates, opening near Kempton in 2018. Despite that statement, Shrawder, whose winery recently expanded into Breinigsville, said he’s keen to sample the cabernet franc and Gruner Veltliner.
Landis said he’s looking forwardtoatraditional pinot noir aged in French oak barrels. Vynecrest hasn’t been able to produce that wine in nearly a decade butwill this year due to the conditions.
Skrip kept it simple: “All of them.”
‘Holding our own’
Typically, wineries pick grapes from early September through late October. Unless poor weather forces their hands, like last year.
“Weather dictates sometimes when you have to pick rather than want to pick,” Landis said. “Disease in the vineyard tends to crop up with humidity and wet conditions. But a year like this, we have a lot more control. The drier red varieties will benefitmore becausewe can let them hang a little longer and get their sugars up.”
Vintners will gladly take a few days of multiple-inch downpours interspersedwith weeks of sunny dryness over persistentminor showers and cloudy skies, especially during growing season.
Skrip said Clover Hill knew during the summer of 2019 that the cropwas going to be a struggle due to significant steady rain during the earlypart of thegrowingseason. In bad years, she said, you work twice as hard for half the payoff.
So winemakers already felt wary heading into the 2020 growing season. Then the pandemic hit.
But they’ve kept things moving by getting creative.
“We’ve been holding our own,” Landis said. “We’ve kind of had to re-createwhat we’re doing here. It’s turned intomore of a restaurant atmosphere.”
Vynecrest expanded its patioareainApril, increasingits outdoor seating roughly fourfold, when it realized indoor commercewasn’t going to be an option for some time.
“We have hour-and-a-half increments for reservations,” he said. “And the phones haven’t stopped ringing.”
Clover Hill focused on shipping and grocery-store distribution during the state’s red phase. Since the restrictions eased, it found success serving specialty drinks such as sangria and slushies in carafes to customers on its patio.
Curbside pickup was something that few if any wineries paid much attention to before this year. But it’s something that will almost certainly continue to be a staple post-pandemic, whenever that might be.
Not only is it convenient for consumers, it helps streamline the process for the establishments. Patrons whosimplywant topurchase a case can avoid the tasting roomentirely, allowing employees behind the counters to focus solely on wine tasters. Customers can even order a case on their phones while they’re enjoying some wine on the patio, then pick it up on their way out.
“I think it’s going to stick,” Shrawder said. “If consumers want to swing through and grab a case of wine, they call ahead and we set it out for them. It worked out best when the state store system was shut down. It gave us an opportunity to reach out to our customers, and they formed the habit of stopping by, and a lot of them have continued, which is great.”
Unwanted pest
Until recently, one of the fewsaving graces of the year was a lackof spottedlanternflies. Three summers ago, they were ubiquitous; this year, they were mostly absent.
And then, seemingly overnight, they made their presence known.
The pests don’t affect the quality of the grapes, so they’re more of an annoyance than a threat.
“It’sbeenabattle, butwe’re winning so far,” Shrawder said. “We’ve learned an awful lotabouthowtodealwith them, andwe’ve beenable to manage it.”
Landis said his vineyard has at times felt like the movie “E.T.,” with researchers walking around the grounds studying the bugs.
“We’ve had more people outhere thanyoueverwant,” he said. “Excited people, researchers, saying, ‘Wow, this is a great test plot, a great ground zero.’ A little too excited for my liking.”
The biggest issuewith the lanternfly, according toLandis, isnotwhat theydo to the crops, it’swhat theydo to the customers.
“Lanternflies are just a really invasive species for outdoor seating,” he said. “Because no one wants to have a glass of wine with lanternflies bouncing off their shoulders or their heads.”
Pioneer passes
In themidst of everything else, the local wine community lost one of its pioneers.
John Skrip Jr., who founded Clover Hill with wife Patricia in 1985, died of a heart attack on Aug. 17 at the age of 79.
“Ihave a very close family, and both my family andmy business changed in an instant,” saidKari Skrip, John’s daughter. “He and my mom are by far my biggest role models and inspiration. Everything they did in life was together, and they did itwith such enthusiasm and love.”
The Skrips began growing grapes as a hobby on their newly purchased property inthe 1970s. They christened their newhome Clover HillFarms after the four-leaf clovers the couple found on the property, which they framedandhung in their living room. That hobby soon became a passion — and a vocation.
When Clover Hill opened on Sept. 11, 1985, itwas one of only a handful of localwineries. Today, the Berks and Lehigh region is home to nearly two dozen.
“I can’t even put into words how much he will be missed, but he has his mark on every corner of Clover Hill,” Skrip said. “I see him in every vineyard row. I hear him talking about every bottle of wine. I see him share laughs with all the customers.”