(Wines&Vines) - Texas is a large state, and consequently both grape growing conditions and weather events can vary widely. 

Depending on the location of their vineyard, Texas growers during the 2016 growing season dealt with spring frosts, torrential rains, spray drift, disease pressure from downy mildew or black rot and drought. The good news was that winter temperatures across the state were mild, and summer temperatures were hot enough to ripen the grapes to full maturity. 

Dr. Justin Scheiner, viticulturist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, told Wines & Vines that summer in Texas was dry, sunny and hot–in short, good for grapes. “Overall, it’s a pretty good year. But there is still a lot of fruit to be harvested, and now we’re in hurricane season.” 

He noted that the Gulf Coast region had finished harvest before the heavy rains arrived in mid-August that caused the flooding problems in neighboring Louisiana. “We got more rain than we really wanted, but we didn’t get any flooding,” Scheiner said. 

In the sections below, four Texas viticulture specialists with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service summarize the 2016 growing season and the outlook for the grape harvest in each of their growing regions.