Veraison, the term for grape ripening, is underway in Wisconsin for some wine grape varieties. Growers are starting to test the grapes on the vine to make sure they’re harvested at just the right time.
Aimee Arrigoni is the vineyard manager at Bailey’s Run Vineyard in New Glarus. She says there’s definitely science at play when it comes to growing wine grapes and testing them for the correct amount of sugar and acidity ahead of harvest.
“From this point on in the season, berries are accumulating sugar, they’re physically getting larger. So small rains for us are totally fine. A huge dump of 3 inches of rain — the berry is just physically going to take up the water. It’s going to dilute the sugar, and it puts us back.”
In the New Glarus vineyard, she says she’s happy about this year’s crop after they avoided some early frost issues and found timely rain during the growing season.
“We were worried in April — there were vineyards that had issues with the frost and with freeze. We got through that fine,” she says.
Also in her conversation with Mid-West Farm Report, Arrigoni talks about the research and development happening at universities on vineyard technology and grape varieties. Follow along with Bailey’s Run Vineyard during the harvest: https://www.baileysrunvineyard.com/
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