|
| |
Dry
weather is OK with grape growers
|
| By: Scott Morgan , Staff
Writer |
09/19/2002 |
|
Cream
Ridge and Silver Decoy wineries find summertime sunshine to be perfect for
crops.
It's
been a hot, dry summer. Just the way vintners like it.
While most farmers tend to need more soggy, less heated weather
conditions to grow their crops, growers of wine grapes have had a literal
field day this year, according to Tom Amabile, resident grape expert at the
Cream Ridge Winery in Upper Freehold Township. Mr. Amabile said his crop
this season is simply "phenomenal."
"Every vineyard that I've talked to has said the same thing," Mr. Amabile
said. "The grapes are absolutely superb."
Vintners can thank physics. Sunshine creates plant sugars and, like
people, plants perspire when it gets too hot. As sugar builds and excess
water sifts away, the flavors of the grapes become concentrated. This helps
create the sugar/acid balance.
For Mr. Amabile, it's all about the balance. A vintner, he said, does not
want too much sugar, nor too much acid in the grapes. The ideal balance, he
said, is somewhere around 23 percent sugar and 1 percent acid, which is
pretty close to what he's seen this year.
On Sept. 28 and Sept. 29, Cream Ridge Winery will host its "fruit crush"
and pig roast. The winery is located on Route 539, east of Allentown. There
will be live music, gourmet food tasting, wine tasting and tours. Admission
is $7 for the event, which will be held rain or shine.
A testament to how good the grapes are this season could be the fact that
the Silver Decoy Winery in Washington Township harvested its first-ever crop
last weekend — a full year ahead of schedule. Scott Carduner, one of eight
founders of the new winery, said a good, workable grape crop typically takes
three years to grow. But despite that Silver Decoy's first planting occurred
in spring 2001, the hot, dry summer has given the vineyard something to
celebrate, Mr. Carduner said.
"The fact that we have something to harvest in the second year bodes well
for us, I think," he said.
Still, Mr. Carduner and company have no previous crop to which they can
compare this year's yield. He said this season has worked well for the
winery, but cannot say for sure that this is a bumper crop.
Tom Amabile, on the other hand, can. Mr. Amabile said this year's grapes
are similar to those in 1999, when the northeast experienced a drought that
spun disaster for many farmers, but gold for vintners.
"I sympathize with the growers who need water," he said. But summer 2002
was just right for wine-growers.
|
| ©Packet
Online 2002 |
|
