There’s no life like the wine life during the harvest season—especially one as auspicious as 2024’s appears to be.
From the Hudson Valley to the tip of Long Island, up to the Finger Lakes and through the Niagara Escarpment to Lake Ontario, growers and winemakers found no rest, but plenty to look forward to in this harvest, a relief after a few challenging harvests characterized in many regions by early bud breaks, late-season spring frosts, heavy rain and lower yields.
John Wagner, owner at Wagner Vineyards in the Finger Lakes, says that this year feels like a return to normalcy.
“Following a small harvest in 2022 due to drier, droughty conditions and then, obviously, our short crop last year due to the spring frost, we’ve bounced back with a more typical yield this year,” We’re closer to our 10-year average quantity-wise. Early Growing Degree Days accumulated quite rapidly this year, so we got a lot of heat units. We’re running the whole growing season a couple of weeks ahead of typical ripening dates. Fruit continues to remain pretty clean, so we’re rewarded with longer hang times and really nice flavor development.”
An Early Harvest for All
Earlier harvest and the changing climate have growers on high alert.
“This year we did have a high level of Growing Degree Days, but what concerns us more, are the weather extremes,” Wagner says. “The extremes are alarming. It pours three inches of rain, and the next day it’s windy, and the next day it’s cold, followed by a hot day. Those things are a little tougher to farm to.”
We are getting an earlier bud break in the warmer years, which is concerning because that opens you up to last year’s frost damage. The problem really wasn’t the May 18 frost that was the anomaly; it was the 85-degree week in April that was the anomaly. We could have had the May 18th day in a normal year, and we would have been fine, but because it got warm so early, that was the issue.
Dan Heavens, co-owner of Quartz Rock Vineyard in the Hudson Valley, predicts that the early harvest this year may set the stage for a great harvest next year.
“Hopefully this allows the vines to get a jump start on carbohydrate and nutrient storage which will help for the next year,” Heavens says. “The temperatures have been decent during the day so the leaves should keep photosynthesizing which increases the chances for a better vintage next year. Now we just need the weather to cooperate for several more weeks this year and next year.”
Dave Pittard, owner of Buttonwood Grove Winery and Six Eighty Cellars in the Finger Lakes says that, to him, the earlier harvest and the challenging extremes have pros and cons, with better fruit quality but more challenges in farming.
“Harvest started for us about two weeks ahead of our running average,” Pittard says. “We have seen growing conditions ahead all year, so this is not surprising. I think the early and above-average growing degree days have clearly had a very positive impact on our fruit. But the crazy swings of heat, cold, and crazy rains are so unpredictable and seem to be more and more severe. I guess sometimes that can help farming and sometimes it can be extremely detrimental.
Notes From the Hudson Valley
The Hudson River Region AVA and Upper Hudson AVA is one of the oldest and most historically important wine areas in the U.S. and encompasses the area bordered by the Taconic and Berkshire Mountains east of the Hudson River, the Catskills and Palisades to the west, the Adirondacks to the north. The Hudson Highlands flank and define portions of the region on both sides of the river.
The climate can be humid, but the diurnal shift during the growing season helps create balanced fruit.
Yancey Migliore, co-founder of Whitecliff Vineyard & Winery, says that this year, the harvest looks “perfect.”
“We’ve had warm and dry weather overall, which is what we need for a good vintage,” Migliore says. “Harvest started early, in the last week of August, and will continue here through at least the middle of October. We can’t remember a better September than we had so far.”
But never one to gamble, Migliore hedges slightly.
“We won’t know for sure about fruit quality until we get into October and some of the harvest of red grapes,” she says, though she admits that bubbleheads will have a lot to toast to this year. “The clean, mature fruit we have harvested to date offers the potential for lovely Champagne method wines!”
Notes From Long Island
Vineyards on Long Island are perched at the southeasternmost tip of New York, on the largest island in the country. Grapes grown in the Long Island AVA are influenced by the proximity to the ocean and have a much milder climate than vineyards in the rest of the state.
Melissa Rockwell, board member of Long Island Wine Country and the direct-to-consumer sales manager at Sparkling Pointe, notes that the harvest started here roughly “10 days earlier than average.”
“It’s high quality and helped by an extended period of predominantly dry weather post-veraison,” Rockwell continues, adding that some varieties, like Chardonnay, did have lower yields due to a late frost in the region.
Kareem Massoud, winemaker at Paumanok Vineyards, agrees that 2024’s growing season started off shaky.
“The first half was very challenging,” Massoud says. “We had an early frost right around bud-break. It is shaping up to be a low-yielding, but very high-quality vintage. I am very excited about all the reds with all the sun, dry weather, and cool nights that we have had.”
Channing Daughters partner and winemaker James Christopher Tracy notes that because vintners are used to challenging conditions almost by definition in New York when Mother Nature takes it easy on them, the results are outstanding.
“I am super excited about everything across the board this year,” Tracy says. “The ripening conditions have been ideal.”
Notes From the Finger Lakes
Wine country in the Finger Lakes happens around 11 narrow, deep, glacial lakes that create some of the best cool climate growing conditions for grapes in North America.
Erin McMurrough, a member of the vineyard crew at Lakewood Vineyards and owner of Little Clover Wine Company, is thrilled to see a “beautiful” year in the vineyard after a few bad years.
“In 2021 we saw a wet growing season, in 2022 it was a short crop and in 2023 we were expecting a larger crop, but were hit with a devastating frost in May,” McMurough says. “This year, the crop size is above average. The positive energy is contagious this year: grape growers are happy; winemakers are happy and it’s more fun to pick when the fruit is plentiful and beautiful. Finger Lakes wine lovers are in for a treat with the 2024 vintage.”
Shannon Brock, owner-manager at Silver Thread Vineyard concurs, saying the fruit’s quality is clean and balanced.
“We always look forward to seeing how the wines reflect the weather of that year,” Brock says. “Riesling is always our highlight and the conditions this year lend themselves well to making dry styles.”
On a recent visit to one of Seneca Lake’s newest wineries, Ria’s Wines, owners and husband and wife Ria D’Aversa and Michael Penn were practically pinching themselves over their luck at launching during a year that, by all accounts, will be one for the record books.
“This has been an epic harvest here, and what many are saying is the best in decades,” Penn says. “It has been an especially good year for Riesling because it’s had such an extended ripening period, very little rain, not a lot of humidity, just perfect weather. That means clean fruit and balanced flavor.”
Harvest kicked off at Ria’s in early September and will largely conclude in the first few weeks of October, fruit destined for long-hanging late-harvest wines notwithstanding. Between those two bookends, it’s a heady race to the finish, often characterized by pre-dawn starts in the vineyard and late nights in the cellar checking fermentations, punching down grapes and cleaning, sanitizing, and setting up all the equipment they will need to do it all again tomorrow, and the next day.
Notes From the Niagara Escarpment
The Niagara region includes the Niagara Escarpment AVA and the Lake Plain area north of the escarpment. The 650-mile limestone ridge that runs through the Great Lakes Region defines the grape-growing conditions here, as do Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
For Cynthia West, owner of Black Willow Winery, this vintage will be a benchmark.
“We only grow Diamond grapes at this time, and we are very pleased with the quality,” West says. “We cannot wait to see the final product.”
Grapes grown in the Niagara Escarpment, which is the second warmest wine region in New York, are not only top-quality this year, but also offering up a generous harvest, says Duncan Ross co-owner of Arrowhead Spring Vineyards.
Michael Schweitzer, president of the Niagara Wine Trail and owner at Bella Rose Vineyard and Winery, says that a late frost “did a number on early bloom whites and a few natives like Concord.”
But later in the season, an abundance of sun and heat delivered incredible results, especially for reds, he says.
“I can’t wait to try our Pinot Noir,” Schweitzer says. “The fruit overall is very clean with great natural sugar percentages, so the Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc will also be worth seeking out.
There are a lot of wines to look for and celebrate this year. But the New York Wine industry does so much more than “just” make wine. It helps our economic engines run by generating more than $14.93 billion in direct economic impacts. A good year in wine country means a good year for everyone in New York. Cheers to tasting the fruits of their labor starting in 2025!
