THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 28, 1995 TAG: 9511280304
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
The dry weather of summer may translate into between $11 million and $14 million after Virginia's wine makers finish with the state's grape crop.
This year's large crop should produce between $3 million and $4 million worth of grapes and between $11 million and $14 million worth of Virginia wines, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
``The harvest looks like the best ever,'' said David Morrisette, owner of the Chateau Morrisette Winery in Meadows of Dan. ``The fruit is beautiful. We're seeing large quantities and the flavor of the grape is excellent.''
Virginia is the nation's seventh-largest wine producer. Tom Wolf, viticulturist with Virginia Tech, predicted the harvest at around 3,500 tons of grapes, well above the 3,000-ton average.
Last year, Virginia vineyards produced 2,800 tons of grapes, a drop attributed to the year's winter ice storms, damaged vines, and spring and summer rains.
This year, Wolf said, spring rains combined with a dry summer to produce great conditions for growing grapes.
The state's 47 wineries and 130 commercial vineyards cultivate about 1,400 acres of grapes. The operations represent a rebirth of Virginia's once-thriving wine industry, which died with Prohibition in 1919.
Figures on grape production before Prohibition are sketchy, but Wolf said that since Virginia's wine industry re-emerged about 15 years ago, this year's harvest is the largest.
Jim Lawson, an Agriculture Department statistician, said statistics on commercial grape production before Prohibition are unreliable because farmers primarily grew grapes and produced wines for their own consumption.
KEYWORDS: WINE INDUSTRY VIRGINIA by CNB