Harvesting season has looked different this year for many vineyards across the state after an overnight frost on May 18 damaged their grape vines.
John Wagner has been trying to make the most out of what’s left for his harvest at Wagner Vineyards Estate Winery. He has been working on his family farm for decades and recalls the first time he rode on the harvester with his dad as a kid.
What You Need To Know
- Vineyards across the state suffered from the overnight frost on May 18
- Wagner Vineyard Estate Winery lost nearly half its crop
- John Wagner uses a large machine, the harvester, to gather the grapes, which has taken less time this year due to it being a smaller batch after the frost damage
- Wagner says he's hopeful next year will be a better load because he can see the current vines showing promise to next year's shoots
“I was definitely on it when I was a kid and drove it a little bit as a teenager. And then I’ve driven it full time for the last 30 years,” Wagner said.
The machine does a lot of the work this time of year.
“The yellow rods shake the wine and pick the fruit. The fruit travels up the back of the machine through another set of cleaning fans at the top, and then where it says easy clean up there, that is actually the stemming mechanism,” he explained.
In order for the machine to work to its full potential, it still takes farmers hours out in the vines to ensure all of the fruit is in good quality, and appears around the same height on the vines. Still, Wagner says it's a timely process on the harvester.
“Oh, we started at 5 this morning. So it’s about 10? So five hours?” Wagner said.
However, that’s a short day in the vineyards.
“We’re able to run a little bit faster ground speed this year because the crop is lighter on some varieties,” Wagner explained.
The harvester holds about three and a half tons of grapes when it’s full. This day, Wagner only collected one and a half tons.
“Harvest has been a little different this year,” he explained. “We have some varieties that are down probably 30% to 40%, but the quantity of fruit is not completely linked to the quality of fruit. So we have a smaller crop of this year, but the quality could still be superb.”
Throughout the process, Wagner says vines are like an art, an art that he’s got a pretty good taste for.
“We do berry samples every few days and we’re looking at the chemistry of the juice and then when we get really close to harvest, we start chewing on skins and looking at the seed color,” he said, explaining the color of the seeds is another key to see how ripe the fruit is, and eventually, how tasty it will be in the wine.
It’s been a long few years adapting to the weather in the Finger Lakes, but Wagner is pleased to see potential for next season in this year's vines.
“That bud that contains the crop for 2024 right now,” he said. “If you slice those open and looked under a microscope, you could see the grape clusters in those buds for next years. So again, right now we’re during harvest, we’re focusing a lot on the crop at hand, but we’re always concerned about the health of the vine and next year’s crop so everything looks pretty good for that. This is, this is great. This is exactly what we would like to see this time of year.”
There’s one thing Wagner is expecting to remain consistent for this year going into next year: “Quantities will be down, but the quality looks pretty good right now and we’re optimistic, optimistic for next year. If you’re in farming, you’ve got to be optimistic for the next year," he said.