Dead on the vine: Cold snap devastates vineyards, orchards

The cold snap that hit the East Coast this week devastated some local vineyards and orchards.

At Windridge Vineyard, grapes are dead on the vine.

“It’s catastrophic,” owner Robert Butz said.

Farmers say they’re used to temperatures dipping below freezing this time of year, but the cold snap Monday night into Tuesday morning dropped the temperature into the mid-20s, killing grapes and fruit crops.

“It was below 30 degrees for more than four hours,” Butz said. “We threw everything at it, but there’s nothing that really you can do when you’re that far below the freezing point.”

That means everything from spraying with a potassium solution to using heat to protect the vines from the deep freeze. They used frost dragons to blow hot air into the vineyard and a huge fan to circulate the air and prevent frost from settling on crops, but the cold won this week.

Butz is still assessing the damage but fears some varieties like chardonnay and alvarinho are a total loss, which will affect next year’s wines, too.

“To me it’s just a reminder that growing things isn’t easy, and we need the support of our community and customers, right?” Butz said. “It’s how it all works.”

At Butler’s Orchard in Germantown, farm manager Ben Butler said the frost hit his fruit crops hard as well. While blueberries and strawberries have mostly survived — just in time for pick-your-own season — cherries and blackberries were severely damaged, and the apples are a 60% to 70% loss.

“I did see some dead fruit, he said. “You know, it was the size of your thumb, and I’ve never seen fruit that big turn black before. So, it kinda goes to show how cold we did get.”

They also took measures to protect the crops. They also lost to Mother Nature.

“We had six, seven hours, I believe, here under 32, and that’s just a lot of stress on small fruit and buds,” Butler said.

Despite the devastation, the wineries, orchards and markets remain stocked and open for business. Farmers say they need customer and community support now more than ever.