Expect Later Than Usual Colorado Grape Harvest

A cool spring in the Grand Valley means that the grape harvest will be a few weeks later, this year. Or so says the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. Under the headline, "Harvest Close but Grapes Not Quite Ready for Picking," Sentinel reporter Dave Buchanan writes:

"Remember wearing that comfy fleece pullover -- the one you usually dropped back into the closet by the first of May -- well into the month?

"The cool weather last spring did more than change your fashionista stylings. It offered notice to wine makers that this summer wasn't going to be like recent years.

"Now, with grape harvest at least a week later than last year and maybe getting a bit later every day, wine makers are gearing up for a harvest tantalizingly out of reach.

"'We'll probably start picking sauvignon blanc (this) week, ' said Jenne Baldwin-Eaton, winemaker at Plum Creek Vineyards, during a conversation Friday. 'It's a couple weeks behind; usually I have sauvignon blanc in the last week in August.'

"Most produce and fruit across the valley is running two to several weeks late this summer after getting a late start in the spring, said Horst Caspari, viticulturist at the Colorado State University Research Station on Orchard Mesa.

"'It's probably two weeks late compared to the past few years,' Caspari said. 'It may actually be more than that; the last few days of cool temperatures haven't helped.'"

You can read the rest of the article here.