Grape Harvest Underway

Grape Harvest Underway. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

We have been hearing from several areas that this years grape harvest is underway and it looks like a pretty decent year according to Vicky Scharlau, executive director of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers.

SCHARLAU: Well I think the good news is we’re looking at a fairly normal year which given the last couple of years is pretty exciting in and of itself. But we do have both growers and wineries saying that this vintage, the 2012 vintage is looking much like the 2008 which made some just gorgeous, beautiful wine. So we’ve had some warm weather during the maturing process for the grapes and we’ve got some viticultural staff out in the vineyards that are talking about how this has really allowed the juice in the grapes to show lower acids, higher pH’s and just happy grapes.

Happy grapes...will make for some good wine.

SCHARLAU: We won’t know this until harvest is over and the crush is fairly completed at the winery level but 2012 is looking to be a record crop. Because we’ve had a normal growing season this year as compared to many of the cold events we’ve had in 2011, we’ve had healthy growing conditions, we’ve had normal degree days. We’ve not had abnormal heat, we’ve had very little frost pressure. Everything has built through the year to just have an exceptional and normal harvest.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.