Oregon wine grape growers' late harvest compounded by infestation of feasting birds
Oregon wine grape growers' late harvest compounded by infestation of feasting birds
Oct 20, 2010 6
The hills above Dundee -- and just about everywhere else wine grapes are grown in Oregon -- are a war zone these days as vintners battle voracious flocks of migrating birds for the spoils of an already meager 2010 harvest. A damp spring, followed by a cooler-than-average summer, pushed grape ripening back anywhere from two to three weeks. So instead of nibbling on the remains of vineyards that would normally have been picked by this time, swooping clouds of starlings, jays, robins, cedar waxwings and flickers are feasting on clusters still not quite ready for commercial clipping.
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