MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Vintners in southern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota are reeling from a weekend cold snap that ruined huge swaths of their grapes.
Temperatures dipped below freezing in much of those areas late Saturday and early Sunday, wiping out grape buds that had emerged early due to a warm spring.
Steve Johnson, head of the Wisconsin Grape Growers Association, said Tuesday that vineyards west of Madison suffered the worst. An informal survey of growers shows at least 30 vineyards in that area lost more than 50 percent of their crops, he said.
John Falconer, who owns the 12-acre Falconer's Vineyards in Red Wing, Minnesota, said he lost his entire crop after the mercury dropped below 30 degrees for four hours.
Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, lost 75 percent of its red grapes and 25 percent of its white, said co-owner Julie Coquard. She said workers dragged a "frost dragon," a propane-fueled heater, across the winery's 30 acres of vineyards, but to no avail.
Johnson didn't have any loss estimates. Some wineries may yet see secondary grape buds on their vines, though it's unclear how much fruit they might bear as the plants recover from the freeze, he said. Generally, though, each lost acre of grapes amounts to a loss of approximately $7,000 to $8,000 and 3,000 bottles of wine, he said.