As Tropical Storm Ian moves north, we are preparing for a potentially wet weekend here in Maryland.
For wineries across the East Coast, a prolonged period of rain means trouble.
A winery in Baltimore City picked their grapes immediately before the rain hit to avoid ruining the fruit.
When John Levenberg, the founder of Wine Collective in Baltimore, saw the storm’s path, he was worried that about 30 tons of his annual harvest were in trouble.
“The timing of this storm is particularly problematic for reds,” Levenburg. “The grapes are soft. When the grapes are soft, water, in the mix, causes problems.”
Problems were avoided by picking the grapes two to four weeks ahead of schedule, all just to avoid the possibility of prolonged rain.
“I don’t trust that the clusters can sit out through four days of rain and not start to develop problems,” Levenburg said. “I can make the best red wines when they are healthy and clean.”
Just because the grapes were picked early doesn’t mean the taste will be affected.
“It would worry me if I had problems coming in, but I want to see healthy clusters,” Levenburg said. “I want to see seeds that are ripe and phenologically mature. We’re there.”
Crisis averted. Levenburg said the grapes look good and healthy.
“What I’m seeing that’s really great right now is it’s healthy color,” Levenburg said. “The grapes are completely healthy at this point.”
In an ideal world, the grapes would be slightly dried out and shriveled up on themselves.
“What I want to see, I want to see this darker red,” Levenburg said. “If I don’t see a darker red, that means I have to work harder in my fermenter to capture the color that I am looking for.”
Tropical Storm Ian might have pushed up the timeline for some things at the Wine Collective, but the most important thing to takeaway is the taste of the wines will not be affected.