(Wines&Vines) - Spring arrived slowly across New York after the frigid winter of 2013-2014. Budbreak was later than usual by several weeks, but that had the advantage of fewer problems with spring frosts. Summer did finally arrive, bringing warm days and cool nights — lovely weather for people, but not conducive to rapid ripening of grapes.

By early September, Dr. Tim Martinson, senior extension associate at Cornell University Department of Horticulture, reported that fruit maturation in 2014 was behind the 2013 season. “Brix are 3-6° behind 2013, and titratable acidity is 2-6 g/l higher than last year at this time,” Martinson said. “In fact, some of our samples were ‘off the charts’ and other berries were too hard to crush and express juice.” 

Fortunately, the weeks since Labor Day brought some warmer, sunny weather to the Finger Lakes and both Brix and titratable acidity (TA) levels moved closer to comparable data from 2013. Martinson said that as of the end of the third week in September, most vinifera cultivars are within 0.5°Brix of last year’s numbers, but TA is still running 1 to 2 g/l higher.

Constellation Wines, which normally begins to harvest early varieties such as Aurore and Baco Noir in late August, brought in grapes on Sept. 2. Hans Walter-Peterson, viticulture extension specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension, told Wines & Vines that grapes in the Finger Lakes still have lower Brix and higher acid levels than last year, but that sunny and warm weather had helped. “Grape yields are expected to be all over the board this year in vinifera varieties as a result of damage from this past winter,” Walter-Peterson said. “The impact to crop levels is highly dependent on the variety and location. In general, the southern portion of the Finger Lakes fared better than the northern areas, but by no means is that a hard and fast rule.”