Chilling Report On Arctic Cold Damage in Ohio
by
Mark Ganchiff
·
January 8, 2014
According to Northern Ohio’s News Herald, this week’s arctic cold did significant damage to vineyards near Lake Erie. Hundreds of acres of vinifera wine grapes have been planted around the Great Lakes in the past ten or so years. These European wine grapes have partially taken the place of native and hybrid grapes that can better tolerate extreme cold.
While the full extent of the damage will not be known until spring, a 48 hour period during January of 2014 may have a major impact on grape production in the Midwest for years to come.
For more information see: Northeast Ohio Wineries Lose Millions As Subzero Weather Damages Grape Crop
Tags: Freeze damage grapes OhioGrape loss Ohio
Mark Ganchiff
Mark Ganchiff is the publisher of Midwest Wine Press, the leading source of news on the growing wine industry in the central United States. Mark has been a wine judge at the 2012 and 2014 INDY International Wine Competition, the 2014 Cold Climate Wine Competition, the 2013 Mid-American Wine Competition, the 2012 Illinois State Fair Wine Competition and the 2013 Michigan Wine Competition. He also enjoys speaking at wine events including the Cold Climate Wine Conference, the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association Annual Meeting, the Midwest Grape and Wine Conference and the Wisconsin Fruit and Vegetable Conference. Mark's articles about regional wine have appeared in Vineyard & Winery Management, WineMaker and several regional magazines.
Mark is a Level One Sommelier in the Court of Master Sommeliers. He lives in Louisville, but also has a residence in Chicago.
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Mark – I think it’s incumbent upon the readers to keep their tongue-in-cheek when reading such reports. The press of course loves to use attention-grabbing headlines. But in this instance, it is much too early to assign any dollar figures on losses due to cold injury. Presumably, our cold-climate research centers will initiate studies to determine the actual grapevine damage from our Big Freeze event. Stay tuned…
Patrick,
Very much agreed. Generally, the writer of newspaper stories is not the same person who writes the headlines. When “reprinting” stories, we go with the actual headline that appeared in the original source. In this case, the headline was not supported by the facts in the article. The damages may be in the “millions,” but there’s no way to know at this time.
Mark