The extended hot weather streak affects many things, including the way grapes grow locally, like out on Long Island. I ran into this great article from the Riverhead News Review that covers the early veraison out on Long Island this hot summer…
Posted: Thursday, July 22, 2010
Grapes are peaking earlier than ever
Hot, dry weather promotes early maturity; harvest plans bumped up
BY BETH YOUNG |STAFF WRITER
BETH YOUNG PHOTO
Libby Tarleton, an assistant viticulturist at Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center in Riverhead, puts netting over grape vines at the Sound Avenue farm Tuesday afternoon to protect the fruit from birds.
This time of year, the grapes hanging from vines from Calverton to Southold are usually small, hard and green, with only faint hints of their future as plump, sweet fruit.
But the hot, dry weather since June has led to an unusual phenomenon. VÃ raison, the point at which grapes plump up, fill with sugar and change color, has begun earlier than ever before.
Alice Wise, a viticulturist at Cornell Cooperative Extension’s research vineyard in Calverton, was the first grower here to report veraison, which started in her marquette grapes last Friday. By Tuesday afternoon, the marquette had almost completely turned and she was beginning to see veraison in pinot noir and pinot gris. She and her research assistants have been in the field all week placing nets over the grapes to avoid the inevitable rush of birds attracted to the ripening fruit.
‘We are about two weeks ahead of normal. This is the earliest in the history of the wine industry.’
viticulturist Alice Wise
“We are about two weeks ahead of normal. This is the earliest in the history of the wine industry,” she said Tuesday. “April through July have all been warmer than the long-term average. Rainfall has been well below normal. While we frequently have hot, dry conditions in summer, it is usually for not such an extended period of time.”
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