Texas Grape Harvest
Texas is harvesting a colossal crop of grapes. The hybrid grapes along the Texas Gulf Coast have been harvested with the classic vitis vinifera grapes coming in with Texas winemakers excited about the opportunities to craft more Gold Medal wines. The adages are true in that great wines can only be made with great grapes and you cannot make average quality grapes into great wines. The reports are coming in, mostly from the Texas High Plains where the bulk of the Texas grapes are grown! The rains have held off in the Texas High Plains and other parts of Texas to allow a phenomenal crop to be brought into Texas wineries!
Paul V. Bonariggo of Messina Hof Winery reports, “It has been a Very Busy Week at Messina Hof Winery. We are 50% Picked on our Lenoir Crop which goes into our Tawny Port, Papa Paulo Port Private Reserve and Ebony Port of Call. The Quality of the Fruit is Excellent. We have three more weekends of Harvest Fun at the Estate Vineyard in Bryan. Then on the Weekend of the August 22nd Messina Hof Hill Country in Fredericksburg celebrates its Harvest Weekend.
Report from the High Plains – We completed harvest of Gewürztraminer (excellent quality). Completed Harvest of Orange Muscat (excellent quality). Half Completed Muscat Canelli (excellent quality). Half Completed Chenin Blanc (excellent quality). First pick of Early Sagrantino to go into Sagrantino Sparkling Rose. (Excellent color, flavor and aroma). High Plains weather with Lows in the 60’s, Highs in the 80’s, and Sunny Skies. No rain in the forecast! It looks like a very intense harvest which should end by the 15th of September.”
Brian Menconi is the General Manager from Becker Vineyards in the Texas Hill Country who told me, ”We’ve already harvested Sauvignon blanc off of our Hill Country Estate Vineyard with other white varietals likely to be harvested in the next week or so. Our crop load is on the lighter side due to the early season frost, but the quality is looking outstanding. The consistent rain throughout the growing season has presented challenges with managing the vigor of the vines and the grasses growing in between rows. This has required much more labor to keep up with maintaining the ideal air flow, nutrient levels and grapevine canopy. The lower temperatures this year have stretched out the ripening season leading to greater phenolic maturity. We’re hoping to see riper fruit characteristics and softer tannins because of this. Our contracted vineyards in the High Plains look to be at least 3-4 weeks behind our Hill Country Fruit. We’re estimating slightly higher crop load than average in those vineyards with what is looking like to be great quality.”
Casie Ward with Lost Draw Winery relayed to me, “A wet late spring and early summer has us looking green and healthy in the vineyard. We are completely through veraison through in the vineyard, so grapes are starting to build sugars. If ripening stays on track, we will likely be looking at starting harvest in the vineyard before the end of July. Once we are through harvest in the vineyard, folks can keep their eyes out for the return of the sheep.”
I am looking forward to awesome Texas wines in the coming years along with oodles of Gold and Double Gold Medals.
On a different note, each year USA TODAY has a “Reader’s Choice” Top Ten List of the top wine regions in the United States. Out of the Ten, the Texas Hill Country ranked Number Nine with the Lubbock Area ranking Number Eight. This is a great distinction and recognition with our State of Texas getting the accolades it deserves. Look at planning a trip to these two Texas Wine Regions during October which is Texas Wine Month!