Drought cuts into grape production for region's vineyards
MINOT, N.D. (AP) — For the first time, Pointe of View Winery at Burlington called off its annual Grape Harvest Festival this year.
Wineries and vineyards in western North Dakota struggled with drought, and some parts of the state were dealt a blow with a late spring frost in 2021, said Rod Ballinger, Fargo, president of the Winery Association of North Dakota. Many vines died or failed to produce.
“The ones that did survive, the berries themselves are smaller than normal and less clusters,” Ballinger said.
At Pointe of View, the drought devastated the grape crop, said owner Jeff Peterson. His vineyard produced about 100 pounds of grapes, compared to a typical 2,500 to 5,000 pounds, the Minot Daily News reported.
The loss of the grapes is a small part of the disaster for the state’s oldest winery, established in 2002.
“The real loss is not having the wine to sell because we normally sell out of that product every year. That’s a pretty big hit for us,” Peterson said.
Although there won’t be much wine from the winery’s grape vineyard, Pointe of View still will be making and selling its other wine.
“We will make do,” Peterson said.
Heat and drought also set back the grape crop at Sawyer Crossing Vineyard and Winery, which has operations near Sawyer and Minot.
“It started out real early in the spring. During the time that plants were flowering, we had that extremely high heat,” said owner Alan Verbitsky. “That high heat burned the flowers up on the grapevine. You wither the flowers, you are not going to produce grapes.
“Of course, having no rain, the plants don’t have the moisture to produce the foliage,” he added. “Plants went completely dormant.”
In some cases, vines or portions of vines died.
“It would not be...