Jim Martin | Erie Times-News
Maybe it's a measure of how long John Mason Sr. has been growing Concords in the Lake Erie grape belt.
But the owner of Mason Farms said he is all but immune to the distinctly purple, intoxicating smell of the grape that hangs heavy in the air on his Lake City farm this time of year.
Maybe he's been breathing the aroma so long that he's grown nose-blind.
Or maybe — when so much else has gone wrong — it's because there aren't as many grapes to smell this year.
But the bottom line, Mason said, is that his 120 acres of Concord vineyards are on track to produce fewer grapes than usual.
In his case, Mason traces the problem back to May when untimely frosts damaged some delicate grape buds.
"We had frost in places where we don't usually get frost," Mason said. "Anything north of Route 5 we are OK. As you get further from (Route) 5, it gets worse."
Thanks to topography, wind and luck Mason has a mixed bag of results as he starts to harvest his portion of what amounts to Erie County's largest cash crop.
"It's spotty," he said. "Some places are fair, some are decent, some are terrible." He expects some of his fellow growers may end up with far better crops than own.
Lower yields will affect not only Mason's profit margin — he's hoping to break even on his grape crop — but harvesting a smaller crop can prove tedious.
Normally, it takes two hours to fill a 20-ton truckload of grapes. Recently, it took six hours of picking to fill the same truck, Mason said.
Andy Muza, a grape specialist with Erie County Cooperative Extension, said Niagara grapes, which were harvested this year between Sept. 14 and 20 didn't seem to have been hurt by frost.
"It was an above-average crop," he said.
But like Mason, he said the Concord harvest, which began Sept. 21 and is likely to continue to mid-October, will be a bit below average.
Frost wasn't the only problem faced by growers in the Lake Erie Grape Belt, which is ranked as the nation's second-largest grape-growing region.
In some cases, hot weather and short rainfall that dried out lawns across the region this summer took a toll on the grape crop as well.
Early freeze affects Erie County grape harvest
Watch video of grape harvesting by Mason Farms staff in west Erie County. The amount of grapes is diminished due to an unusual freeze in May.
"It's been relatively dry, maybe one of the driest in 20 years or so" said Bryan Hed, a research technologist with the Lake Erie Grape Research and Extension Center in North East.
There are benefits to a steady diet of warm, dry weather. Grapes are often quicker to ripen when moisture is low.
"Sugar levels are going up maybe a little more quickly than we might have expected," Hed said.
That's important to local growers who are typically required to meet certain minimum sugar standards before their grapes can be accepted by processors, including National Grape Cooperative's plant in North East.
There's a flip side to that good news, however.
Too many days without rain can mean fewer grapes on the vine.
"The grapes aren't weighing up very well," Hed said. "The vines are a little starved for water."
What's shaping up to be a smaller-than-average crop could get even smaller if dry weather persists. Hed said some vines are shelling, meaning that grapes are falling off the vine and onto the ground.
"That's never a good thing," he said. "Once you get to the minimum sugar (requirement) the quicker you get it off the vine the better. Those are pennies falling on the ground."
While this year's crop is likely to be modest, prices are continuing to improve.
After falling to a modern low of about $130 a ton a few years ago, prices rebounded in 2019 as stockpiles of grape juice and other products were reduced.
Concord grape prices in New York's Finger Lakes region were up 6.4% this year to $314 a ton, according to the industry website WineBusiness.com.
Muza said a smaller-than-usual crop could help push prices even higher.
Mason said he's grateful for the higher prices but isn't expecting he will have much to brag about when he finishes harvesting his 120-acre crop in a few weeks.
"I am hoping we will cover our expenses," he said. "We have them insured if we don't."
It is years like this one that reminds him why he grows more than 20 other crops.
"That is why we try to stay diversified so one thing doesn't kill us," he said.
Mason might not be headed for his most profitable season, but he knows that there is something special about the grape harvest in Erie County, which accounts for 72% of the state's grape production.
"Everybody ought to take a drive through North East when they are processing grapes," Mason said. "I have just been around it so much I have trouble smelling it anymore."
Contact Jim Martin at jmartin@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNMartin.
The Link LonkOctober 03, 2020 at 01:46PM
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Sweet fall smells? Erie region's grape harvest is underway - GoErie.com
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