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Niagara grape harvest 2012 in full swing, follow the progress with Brock CCOVI monitoring program

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All across Niagara grape pickers and machine harvesters are busy hauling in the first grapes for the 2012 harvest.

The first grapes (that I know of) were picked on Wednesday (Aug. 22) at Trius at Hillebrand (top photo and photos below), young Pinot Noir for the sparkling program. Though I did hear of unconfirmed reports of an Aug. 17 pick at another winery.

Wineries that began picking this past week include: Henry of Pelham, Malivoire, Peller Estates, Ravine Vineyard, Tawse, Hillebrand and Chateau des Charmes. And, I assume many other.

The first grapes being picked are Pinot and Chardonnay for sparkling wines with Baco Noir and Marechal Foch right behind.

grape bunch

The vintage (so far) looks similar to 2010 and 2011, though in 2011 a relentless deluge threw a curveball into the harvest for later-ripening varieties and hit Chardonnay particularly hard as it was caught in the middle of the sustained rains. Three back to back hot vintages in Niagara is a rarity. Prior to 2010, the last hot vintage was 2007.

Both 2010 and 2011 harvests also began in late August.

Depending on who you talk to, the crop in 2012 is of high quality due to a long, hot and dry summer) and healthy. Though the Grape Growers of Ontario predicted a much smaller crop due to smaller berries caused by vine stress. Time will tell as we move into September if it’s a large, medium or small crop. And winemakers warn: The vintage’s success depends entirely on what happens in September, no matter what occurs before that.

grapes

At Henry of Pelham today, winemaker Ron Giesbrecht was presiding over the picking at the Short Hills Bench estate vineyards and receiving other grapes from his trusted growers. Sparkling grapes, Foch and Baco were all coming in to be processed.

He said the harvest came quickly, so quickly that a shipment of new equipment won’t even arrive until a third of the harvest is already in tanks.

He likes what he sees from the vintage so far.

Researchers at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) plan on tracking the vintage again this year.

Tracking the maturation of grapes in the Niagara region is the focus of a popular preharvest monitoring program that CCOVI launched last week. The program, now in its third year, has a new look thanks to a website that allows growers and winemakers to track the progress of grapes while being able to compare this year’s data to that of previous harvests.

CCOVI-Wilwerth

“Fruit maturity levels at this point in time are close to that of 2010, which some say was the best vintage in Ontario history,” says Jim Willwerth (photo above), CCOVI viticulturalist, who oversees the project.

From now to the end of harvest, Willwerth will sample at four sites across the Niagara Peninsula each week tracking key indicators of fruit ripeness for the four most popular Niagara varieties — Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The data measuring sugar levels, titratable acidity, pH and volatile acidity is posted to the website every Tuesday.

The 2012 growing season didn’t start unusually early, but has progressed quickly from bud-break on. Grapes are generally one of the last major fruit crops to bud, which allowed most grapes to miss the frost damage many other tree fruit experienced this year. Bloom dates across Ontario were 10 to 14 days ahead based on a 10-year normal. This earliness has continued through to beginning of fruit ripening, according to CCOVI.

“I have never seen a year like this where we come out of the start so quickly and have not slowed down a single step, even at sites with record low rainfall and extreme heat in the season,” says Kevin Ker, CCOVI professional affiliate. “We now move into the critical period where the vines begin to mature the fruit and develop the wonderful complexities we find in top flight wines.”

Local grape growers appreciate the data the program provides.

“It is great that Brock wants to be at the forefront of what is going on in this industry,” said grape grower Bill Schenck. “As we go forward, the more information we have with past history, we can pretty much judge the quality of the crop for the upcoming year.”

To find out more about the pre-harvest monitoring system and to view the data, visit here.