Vineyard Happenings
The grapes in Texas vineyards are showing that 2025 will be another outstanding year for Texas grapes. Texas is unique since we have two distinct grape harvests. Hybrid wine grapes are grown along the warm, humid Texas Gulf Coast with the Classic vitis vinifera grapes further inlands. Grape hybrids like Blanc du Bois do exceptionally well with the Gulf Coast warm nights and humid days along with the widespread Pierce’s Disease. Blanc du Bois grapes will be harvested this week and next week since the bud break on these grapes is as early as February providing four months of development in the Texas Gulf Coast sun. Harvest time will be dependent on weather with dry weather accelerating the time when the grapes are ripe. Rainy weather will cause the sugar levels in the grapes to drop which is not good.
If you want to experience a grape harvest, you can sign up at a variety of local vineyards. Wild Stallion Vineyard on West Rayford Road in North Harris County normally hosts their Saturday morning harvest which allows volunteers to experience the harvest, beginning at 8 am on either July 5th or July 12th, depending on the weather. Bernhardt Winery will be having their harvest of Blanc du Bois on Saturday, July 5th or 12th also starting at 8 am with a grape crush afterwards. The grape crush at Bernhardt is normally held publicly so you can smell the beautiful bouquet of the harvested grapes and sip a taste of the cloudy grape juice with its sweetness. These grapes should have about 20% sugars in the juice, compared to 8 or 9% sugars in store-bought grapes. Haak Winery in Galveston County will also be harvesting their Blanc du Bois grapes, but they have had more rain and need further development. Messina Hof in Bryan will be harvesting their Lennoir (aka Black Spanish) grapes in July for their Port wine.
I visited with Jerry Watson who has a Blanc du bois Vineyard in Austin County. He works with other local grape vineyards. He told me last Saturday, We had a “tailgate” meeting at our place this morning. Went over Blanc Du Bois production forecast and grape chemistry as we look for the optimum for harvest. Growers in our area will begin harvesting on the 29th and probably go through the first week or so of July, again in depending on how the grapes ripen. It looks like a larger crop this year. And the fruit is beautiful. I don’t know of any vineyard looking for harvesters, but then no-one today mentioned needing them. That doesn’t mean there’s no need, though. Black Spanish is usually about three weeks behind Blanc.
Robin Arcia with Bernhardt Winery told me The vineyard harvest is looking to be the weekend of July 5th or 12th, and should hopefully have a better idea when the grapes might be ready in the next week. We are needing to recruit a large group of volunteers. Volunteers can sign up on our website at https://www.bernhardtwinery.com/volunteer-at-bernhardt-winery.
If you want to experience a grape harvest with its smells and comradery, you must dress appropriately. Wear close-toed shoes since grape vineyards have fire ants. Wear sunscreen and a hat to protect you from the sun’s rays. You can bring hand-held garden shears to cut the grape bunches from the vines. The vineyards supply the harvest buckets.