GENEVA, Ohio — The huge plots at South River Vineyards hide the fact that one cold snap that drops a little too low can wipe out the grape crop worth about $500,000 every year.
"In 2014, my crop income from the wine grapes was literally zero," said South River Vineyards Owner Gene Sigel. "There was nothing."
Gene Sigel stands in the parking lot of his distillery, talking about the wine vineyards behind him.
Sigel says the vineyards had to be cut all the way down to the ground in 2014. Now, he says wineries know to keep extra wine in storage just in case because there's only so much wineries can do to protect their crop.
In Ohio, wineries help contribute to a billion dollar industry that can hang in the balance if grape crops get wiped out. That figure includes selling wines and tourism dollars from Ohio and out of state.
Vineyards can combat the effects of the cold weather by changing how they cut vines.
"These polar vortexes where we get high winds and cold temperatures together leave us really defenseless," said Sigel.
Sigel says in 2014, there was nothing left but lumber and wiring when the vines had to be cut to the ground because of the extreme cold temperatures.
He says the frigid temperatures throughout Northeast Ohio in the final few days of January didn't get quite cold enough to repeal Sigel's 2014 problems. Some sensitive grapes might have some trouble but for the most part, Sigel isn't too worried.
Sigel says he thinks his vineyards will have handled the cold weather well, but that vineyards have lost three of the last six crops because of cold weather.
"It's too early to tell what the damage from this is going to be," said Spring Hill Vineyards owner Tom Swank.
His winery is much younger than Sigel's and was also wiped out in 2014. Swank says he thinks the vines are still feeling the effects more than four years later.
Swank says how his vineyards react to January's cold temperatures could influence which kinds of wines are available after harvest in the fall.
"A lot of them were brought back so they're still kind of damaged a little bit and it might not take as much to damage them again," said Swank.
Swank says all he can do is wait because every year seems to bring a different challenge.
Swank's ice wines offer a more flavorful drink because of the way the juice is taken from the grapes.
"It seems like there's more extremes," said Swank. "Hotter or drier. Wetter or colder."
