US: Severe weather may crush wine varieties in Ohio

(Cantonrep) - Perennial Vineyards in Tuscarawas Township was hit hard by the severe weather this month and may have lost a few acres of vines. Other local vineyards fared better.

If chardonnay and Cabernet Franc are among your favorite fine wines, and you prefer to buy from Ohio wine makers, you may not find shelves as readily stocked this year.

Temperatures this winter have been colder than we've seen in about two decades and that has crushed some local wine makers' hopes for producing certain varieties of wines this season.

One of the largest Stark County vineyards, Perennial Vineyards, may have lost four to seven acres of its more than 17 acres of vines. But owner and wine maker Damon Leeman said he won't know for sure until spring.

"There's definitely damage," said Leeman, who owns the Tuscarawas Township vineyard with his wife, Kim. "We cried over it."

The couple certainly has not put a cork in their business. They can fall back on Vidal Blanc and Chambourcin, along with other hardier varieties in their vineyard. They're just disappointed that after producing 50 gallons each of chardonnay and Cabernet Franc last fall, they had hoped to add those varieties to their shelves this year. That hope faded when the area was hit by record low temperatures — minus 10 and minus 11 degrees — on two days in January.

"I was thinking this year we'd really break out with a lot of that (chardonnay and Cabernet Franc)," he said. "I think we're in trouble."