Pocono News Section

Warm Weather Good for Local Wine

Warm Weather Good for Local Wine - Monday, October 8, 2007 at 3:59PM EST

Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Monday, Oct 8, 2007 @03:59pm EST
KRESGEVILLE, MONROE COUNTY - We had a dry summer and so far a dry warm fall. Some places even had to call drought emergencies. But there's always a bright side, or in this case a deep purple side, to bad events.

When Dominic Strohlein walks through his dry fields, he doesn't worry. Dusty vineyards make for sweet grapes, which make for great wine.

Stohlein said, "It is very, very easy to make good wine in a year like this."

Dominic and his family own Big Creek Vineyard in the Poconos. They believe this year's unusual weather will make their 2007 vintage taste more like it came from Europe than from Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Vineyard worker Annette Strohlein said, "It's been one of the best years we've ever had."

The grape bunches got off to a good start last spring. Dominic explained, "It was a fairly early spring for us. We had none of the frost problems that a lot of states had." He added summer brought even more help. "There was just enough water to get things going and then Mother Nature turned off the tap and it's been fairly dry since the end of July, since the grapes started changing color."

Fall is helping too. Unusually warm days like Monday give grapes extra time to get ripe. That makes them more uniform and a little bit sweeter.

Dominic said, "Wines in a year like this will be very fragrant and aromatic and they'll be very soft and silky."

While dry conditions have frustrated many people, Dominic says no one should have sour grapes over it. People should pour some Pennsylvania wine and make a toast to a great growing season.

You will be able to sample wine made from those grapes in about a month. Big Creek Vineyard and other Pennsylvania vineyards hope to have wine from this growing season ready by Thanksgiving.