Washington Wine Grapes 2022 Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. The Washington State Wine Commission’s 2022 Grape Production Report confirms what many in the wine industry believed, and that is a great year for both quantity and quality.
The Commission’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Chris Stone says weather-wise, it was a fantastic year …
STONE … “Certainly in the fall, absolutely. The fall was darn-near perfect. I mean you really can’t dream of better ripening weather towards the end of the season. And that’s really what makes Washington one of the more, in my opinion, one of the more special places to grow grapes because fall is almost always beautiful.”
The nights, Stone says played off the day’s beautifully …
STONE … “We get these warm, nice days, but in the fall, once we get past like mid-September, those temperatures start dropping pretty fast at night. And so, you get these perfect ripening conditions at day and then the grapes just get to take a rest and we don’t lose all that natural acid. So, all that freshness gets retained and you need that to grow beautiful wine grapes.”
The 34% increase, Stone says is great, but …
STONE … “It was a little bit more than we had budgeted for, except that we always, obviously, set a conservative estimate. And this came in above our estimated goals, but certainly nowhere near a record. So, there’s a lot of capacity still out there.”
Cabernet Sauvignon was again Washington’s top variety at 28%, followed by Chardonnay at 16%.
