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Grape Recovery: Northwest N.C. vineyards hope this season will make up for losses from '07 freeze
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
Julio Sanchez of Dobson works on chardonnay vines at Shelton Vineyards, removing small shoots that grow at the bottom of the vines.
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Published: May 16, 2008
DOBSON
North Carolina's vineyards, many of them in the Yadkin Valley, expect a full growing season a year after the Easter freeze of 2007 destroyed 50 percent of the crop.
But the effects of the freeze on the vines could be lasting, agriculture officials say.
"We will see recovery. It's just, if you look carefully at vines, in places there will be some that aren't growing quite as strongly as others," said Sara Spayd, a grape specialist at N.C. State University.
The freeze hit in April 2007, just as many vines in the region broke their first bud. Grape growers had hoped that many of their vines would bud a second and third time to bear fruit. For chardonnay, the loss was 80 percent to 90 percent. The white grapes were more affected than the reds because some white grape vines had already broken bud when the freeze hit and were most vulnerable, Spayd said.
At Shelton Vineyards, for example, workers pruned damaged cordons, the armlike branch of the vines where shoots grow and bear fruit.
The vineyard lost 80 percent to 90 percent of its syrah and chardonnay last year. All of the vineyard's sauvignon blanc was lost, as was the pinot noir. About 50 percent of the merlot survived.
"We did extensive pruning," said George Denka Jr., the president at Shelton. "We take a young shoot and train it into a cordon."
A year later, new cordons are growing on some vines, and some vines have broken bud.
But agriculture extension agents are looking now for any signs of delayed growth. "People are going to see what's not pushing, what's not growing," Spayd said.
There was some frost damage this spring but not as significant or as widespread as last year. Both Childress Vineyards in Lexington and RayLen Vineyards and Winery in Mocksville reported frost in mid- to late April this year, with the lowest reported temperature of 24 degrees.
The freeze of 2007 lasted four days, April 6-9, as temperatures dipped below 32 degrees. There weren't a lot of options for grape growers. Because of the warmer weather in March 2007, there were buds on some vines that didn't normally appear until the end of April.
The freeze destroyed much of North Carolina's fruit and vegetable crops. Losses totaled an estimated $11.7 million.
"It was an eye-opener," said Terry Garwood, an agriculture extension agent in Dobson. Such losses will happen as North Carolina's fledgling wine industry grows, he said.
More than 350 individually owned vineyards are located across the state, and a total of about 1,350 acres of grapes planted. In 2005, the state's grape crop was valued at about $3.7 million.
Last month, the federal government approved the state's second American Viticulture Area called the Swan Creek wine region in Wilkes, Yadkin and Iredell counties. The other is the Yadkin Valley AVA, created in 2002. It includes all of Wilkes, Surry, and Yadkin counties, and parts of Davie, Davidson, Forsyth and Stokes counties. The government designates particular growing regions with characteristic climates, soils and growing seasons.
As the growing season moves forward, Spayd said she will also be watching yields. The freeze last year cut into yields, and she expects some reduction this year. But low yields last year left some vines stronger, which could increase production this year.
"If they have a good bud development, then you have to watch that you don't overproduce," she said. "It could affect quality."
■ Sherry Youngquist can be reached in Mount Airy at 336-789-9338 or at syoungquist@wsjournal.com.
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