Growers have high hopes for 2018 grape harvest
Good quality, lower-yield crop predicted
There’s still a long way to go before harvest, but Niagara grape growers are saying things look positive as we head into the summer heat.
Grape Growers of Ontario chair Matthias Oppenlaender said, at this point, growers are pleased with the conditions in the vine- yard.
“Last year we had some concerns in the winter, with the cold and extreme temperatures, but we’ve just finished bloom and had some good conditions,” said the Niagara-onthe-Lake farmer. “It will be a lighter crop than last year, but we’ve had some ideal weather that, hopefully, will offer some good quality.”
While conditions vary from one end of the region to another, Oppenlaender said recent rains have helped out as growers head into the heat of summer.
“We’ve had a little bit of rain, which helps make things look good. Now we just need some sufficient heat,” he said. “We don’t want a wet summer — we want some balance.”
Last year’s crop, he said, was a record haul, so yield will likely be down. To what extent, he said, is unsure but he expects things to be a little below average.
“It looks promising quality wise, though. We just need to ensure we maintain the vineyards to help the fruit develop the flavours.”
Fielding Estate Winery president Curtis Fielding said that effort includes a variety of tasks in the fields. Crews at the Beamsville winery just completed shoot positioning to keep everything growing vertical, and they will soon start hedging. Blooms, he said, are just starting to finish setting on the varieties they grow on the Beamsville Bench, and then they will start looking at leaf removal.
“We will go through and judge it depending on what the conditions are like,” he said, adding in some cases they will look at selective drops on some varieties to enhance the quality.
Fielding said there’s no way to guess what weather conditions the summer might bring, but at this point he is pleased with what he sees in the vineyards.
“We are seeing a little lighter crop in some varieties, but things look pretty good. The dry spell we had was really good. We had a few rain episodes, so we have a good amount of moisture in the ground right now.”
That’s not only helped with the vines with fruit, he said, it’s also helped give replants and new plants a “good drink.”
Now, he said, the ideal weather would be a nice sunny summer, without a lot of rain in July or August.
“Dry right now to harvest,” Fielding said with a laugh. “It never happens, but we just don’t want the hail or huge rain episodes.”
Fielding said while it’s tough to predict where things will end up yield- and qualitywise, he is excited about the potential of the 2018 vintage.
“We get a lot of ups and downs, so you can never really tell, but early in the game, everything is looking good,” he said.
Oppenlaender said 2017 started as an average season, but became a challenge due to precipitation and cooler temperatures in the summer. A dry spell in the fall, however, led to the largest grape crop on record at 87,567 tonnes.
“That dry spell saved harvest — it was great,” said Fielding. “Hopefully we can get the conditions we want this summer.”