F I N G E R L A K E S VineyardNNEWSLETTER NO. 7 NotesOVEMBER 24, 2009 The 2009 Growing Season in Review IN THIS ISSUE Hans Walter-Peterson The 2009 growing season is behind us, and many growers are One of the greatest challenges to growing grapes in the eastern U.S. is the lack of thankful for that. The consistency between growing seasons. Just look at the past four growing seasons combination of some in the Finger Lakes – two of the years were warm and dry overall (2005, 2007), one very wet weather in the year was pretty good until the end of the season (2006), and one year that kind of middle of the season and played it closer to average for most of the season (2008). Growers always need to a lack of heat made for a be prepared for Mother Nature to throw just about anything at them, and adjust difficult year, whether you were growing their practices accordingly in order to produce the best quality and quantity of fruit Catawba or Cabernet Franc. Fortunate- that they can in a given year. ly, growers produced good quality fruit that processors and wineries are pretty The 2009 growing season was one that certainly would fall under the ‘challeng- pleased with given the challenges of the ing’ category for the Finger Lakes. Cooler than normal temperatures for much of season. But perhaps the bigger chal- the season, combined with what felt like almost constant rain for part of the sum- lenge that many growers faced this year mer, meant that growers had to pull out all of the stops to get to harvest with good was the reduction in purchases by grape quality fruit, which many were able to do in the end. On top of the difficulties buyers. Hopefully a new year will bring thrown at growers by this year’s growing conditions, the industry was also faced more buyers with more demand back with a difficult market situation with a number of buyers of grapes pulling back on into the marketplace. their purchases this year, or cancelling them altogether, and lower average prices for most varieties compared to last year. In addition to the regular suspects in this year’s Harvest Issue, you will find a Winter 2008-2009 short summary of how things have been Going into last winter, vineyards looked to be in pretty good shape. Canopies going with the new Classifieds website, remained green and functional through much of October, allowing for development Chris Gerling’s article on winemak- of periderm on canes and carbohydrate reserves that could be packed away into ers’ assessment of the 2009 vintage, a the vines’ permanent structures for overwintering. There was some initial cause for wrap-up summary of the Sustainable concern in some vineyards that ended up with much higher than normal crops that Viticulture project that ended this year cold hardiness might be compromised due to the vines’ allocating resources to rip- (at least the first phase of it) and a short interview with our new enology faculty 2009 Bud Hardiness (LT50 in °F) member, Dr. Anna Katharine Mansfield. 12/11/08 12/22/08 1/6/09 1/21/09 2/4/09 2/17/09 3/3/09 3/18/09 Concord -15.2 -20.6 -19.4 -22.6 -24.1 -21.4 -19.5 -4.1 Finally, don’t forget to mark your cal- endars for Viticulture 2010 will be held Cayuga White -7.7 -14.0 -11.9 -15.5 -16.5 -11.2 -9.0 -2.3 February 17-19, 2010 at the Riverside Riesling -9.0 -13.0 -12.5 -13.0 -12.5 -11.7 -10.2 -3.5 Convention Center in Rochester. You Cabernet Franc -7.1 -12.3 -10.4 -12.2 -12.9 -10.4 -9.8 -3.3 can find program, vendor and registra- Catawba -9.2 -10.8 -12.3 -15.3 -16.1 -10.1 -10.5 -4.4 tion information at the event’s website, www.viticulture2010.org. Hope to see Table 1. Bud hardiness of five varieties during the winter of 2008-09. you there! H A R V E S T I S S U E FINGER LAKES V INEYARD NOTES 2009 1 FINGER LAKES GRAPE PROGRAM ening a large crop and less to reserves. nections as the demand for water and AD V ISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS However, bud samples analyzed for nutrients increased during the season. The Finger Lakes Grape Program Advisory cold hardiness showed that vines were For the most part, however, vineyards Committee is a group of grower and industry well prepared overall to survive another came out of this past winter once again representatives that provides guidance and winter. with relatively low levels of bud and direction in planning meetings and activities vine damage. of the program. Current members are: For the second consecutive year, the Ontario County: Finger Lakes Grape Program (FLGP) 2009 Growing Season Rich Jerome, Naples John Ingle, Bristol collected bud samples of 5 different The year’s growing started out very varieties from multiple sites in the region similar to the past couple of years, with Seneca County: to monitor their level of cold hardi- a couple of periods of warm weather Cameron Hosmer, Ovid ness (Table 1). By the time the first in April but not enough to get the vines Bill Dalrymple, Lodi samples were taken in mid-December, to break dormancy early. A stretch Schuyler County: bud hardiness, measured as LT50 or the of five days with temperatures in the John Santos, Hector temperature required to kill 50% of the 70s and 80s at the end of the month, Tina Hazlitt, Hector sampled buds, was already well below however, seemed to give early varieties zero for all five varieties. Cold hardiness like Marechal Foch and Leon Millot a Steuben County: had reached its maximum by early Feb- bit of a kick start. By early May, many Ray Emery, Pulteney Mel Goldman, Hammondsport ruary, with all varieties showing aver- varieties were showing signs of budswell age LT50 values below -10°F. Concord, or even budbreak. Yates County: Cayuga White and Cabernet Franc had Eileen Farnan, Branchport better hardiness in 2008-09 than in the As it is every year, the potential for frost Harry Humphreys, Dundee previous winter, while Riesling achieved damage is a primary concern of growers Industry Representatives: similar results compared to last year. during May. Most years it seems there Rich Stabins, are one or two nights where tempera- Constellation Brands Overall, the region experienced a fairly tures are forecast to drop close to freez- mild winter once again. Low tempera- ing and growers lose a little bit of sleep. Steve Richards, tures recorded at Geneva only dipped On May 19, well after shoot growth had Farm Credit of Western New York below zero once, on January 18, and started on most vines, low temperatures Derek Wilber, then only to -0.9°F (Figure 1). Other in the Finger Lakes fell to about 32°F White Springs Winery weather stations in the region, however, as recorded at several weather stations recorded temperatures during that same in the region. Several vineyards ex- NEWSLETTER NO. 7 time period as low as -6.9°F (at Branch- perienced some minor shoot damage, NOVEMBER 24, 2009 port). While temperatures like this are primarily on young vines and sucker FINGER LAKES VINEYARD NOTES still much better than those experienced shoots close to the ground. Damage is published by 80 was more extensive in a 70 couple of vineyards where Cornell Cooperative Extension 60 air drainage may have Finger Lakes Grape Program 50 F) been restricted, but overall in Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, 40 30 the region was fortunate to and Yates Counties Temp ( County Office Building 20 escape the spring without 417 Liberty Street • Penn Yan, NY 10 any major frost events. 14527-1130 0 The same cold event, Comments may be directed to: -10 11/1 11/15 11/29 12/13 12/27 1/10 1/24 2/7 2/21 3/7 3/21 unfortunately, had a much Hans C. Walter-Peterson 315-536-5134 or [email protected] Figure 1. High and low temperatures recorded at Geneva, greater impact in the Lake Viticulture Extension Specialist NY from 11/1/08 - 3/31/09. Erie region, where many Finger Lakes Grape Program growers suffered signifi- in 2003 and 2004, growers reported that cant frost damage to large portions of individual thermometers or temperature their acreage. loggers in their vineyards recorded tem- peratures closer to -10°F or even colder. 2009 Heat Accumulation Walking through some vineyards later The warm weather at the end of April Cornell Cooperative Extension and its employees assume no liability for the effectiveness or results during the growing season, evidence put the region ahead of average with re- of any product. No endorsement of products is of trunk injury could be found in some gard to accumulation of growing degree made or implied. When using any recommenda- spots, primarily in lower portions of a days (GDD) early in the season (Figure tion, check the product label which is the final site or where air circulation was poor, 2). Temperatures in May were generally word with respect to product usage, or check with the manufacturer or supplier for updated with shoots collapsing due to the failure about average, which kept the region information. of vascular tissues to maintain their con- slightly ahead of the game with regard 2 FINGER LAKES V INEYARD NOTES 2009 700.0 combined with week behind.