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College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

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Bad Weather? Bad Wine.

Oct. 14, 2019

The expectations, for wine grapes, can be crushing.

A vintage stands or falls on the fruit’s quality. Soil quality, temperature, the health of the plant and summer rainfall — everything has to go just right for a grape to make a fine wine.  

When it comes to the last couple of growing seasons, that’s bad news for Ohio and the region in general.

“If you talk to anybody in the eastern United States, 2018 was one of the worst years in memory,” said Maria Smith, viticulture outreach specialist for Ohio State’s Department of Horticulture and Crop Science. Things are looking up in 2019. "Early harvests beginning in mid- and late August have been going well. The fruit is hanging quite nicely so far, without too many problems with late season fruit rots. I expect, overall, that this is going to be a good vintage."

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Article by Ohio State Insights, September 2019