Grape growers and wine makers said they are optimistic for this year’s crop thanks to a cooperative spring, but will remain vigilant for the rest of severe weather season.
“We don’t want any hail or anything — no low temperatures below 32,” Reddy Vineyards owner Dr. Vijay Reddy said. “We like to see temperatures in the 40’s and 50’s at night.”
Dr. Reddy, a soil expert who’s been growing grapes for the last 18 years, said his fruit is already starting to bloom and the results, so far, are encouraging.
“The last year was super, it looks almost like last year,” Reddy said. “We are expecting, if everything goes good like last year, we could have almost a perfect crop.”
That’s also good news for wine makers like Greg Bruni, the vice president and executive wine maker at Llano Estacado Winery.
“We’re looking for our grapes this year,” Bruni said. “By the time we get to the first part of May, we’re looking to have our frost season over, So far we’ve had a really good encouraging spring.”
Bruni said he would welcome some more thunderstorms and moisture in the next few weeks before he goes out and evaluates the crop he’s going to buy. He called it the perfect combination between flavor and chemistry, art and science.
“Towards the end of this month and on through July and August we’ll be testing the grapes for maturation, running chemistry on the fruit, then by the time August comes around we’ll start picking the fruit,” Bruni said. “That can go on as long as October for us.”
For now both Dr. Reddy and Bruni said they’ll be playing the weather waiting game from now to the middle of June.
