2024 HARVEST UPDATE: Q&A WITH VINEYARD MANAGER NICK FLORIP
We caught up with our vineyard manager, Nick Florip, to chat about how the 2024 growing season’s shaking out and peek at what the harvest might bring for our vineyards.
“It isn’t over yet! Typically, September and October are the make or break months for grape growers in Northern Michigan. We hope for the weather to be warm and dry. In spring, we had heavy rainfall early which was great to get the vines going. The consistent rains were also great for establishing our new plantings after having two dry springs in a row. The rains did prove challenging for weed management though; the weeds outpaced our normal weed control methods.”
“The biggest challenge is always keeping the fruit clean and intact for the duration of the harvest, as soon as the grapes become ripe it’s not just people that want them; deer, birds, animals and different insects want them too.”
“A lot of this depends on what kind of wine the fruit is destined for. Drew Perry, the Head of Winemaking, makes those decisions. We take samples of the same variety from multiple locations in a particular block and test the sugar levels with a refractometer.”
“We generally start by harvesting fruit that goes into making bubbly wine, move to white wines and end by harvesting the grapes that go into red wine.”
“It really depends on what we are harvesting and what the weather is like. If we know we are going to have a really hot day we might start harvest before the sun comes up, maybe around 4 AM. The grapes seem to be a bit more durable when they are colder so there is less impact from harvesting.”
