Illinois Grape Crop Growing Each Year, Harvest Getting Sweeter

Like any fruit crop, or crop in general, the Illinois grape crop is largely dependent on the weather and this year, Mother Nature was not particularly kind to the vineyards.

The best weather for grape harvest is hot and dry, to “draw the sugar”, said local winemaker and vineyard owner Annet Lofton.

The hotter and drier the weather, the more sweet the grapes will become and the less work will be required of winemakers. “In perfect conditions, with a good harvest, you would simply extract your juice, add some yeast and let nature do the rest,” Lofton said. This year, with the weather turning wet and cooler by mid-August, expect the wineries to have to add sugar to get the grapes started in the fermenting process.

And, grape harvest lasts form nearly two months, depending on the variety of grapes being grown, so the unusually cool temperatures in late August may impact everything from the yield to the quality of the grapes.

“The weather hit us with some late season disease too,” she said. That means that growers had to harvest some crops early to prevent loss.

Illinois vineyards are generally small and hand-tended because of their size, so growers were able to notice the subtle changes in the grapes very early on. “When the weather is bad, you can have disease sprout up basically over night,” she said.

Since the growers have babied these plants since before the first blooms last spring, they notice quickly when something changes in the vineyard.

Most Illinois growers produce cross-bred grape varieties hybrid from French grapes and native American grapes. Here is a break-down of the six most popular grapes grown in Illinois and their histories as supplied by the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association. All except the Norton are hybrid French and American varieties. The Norton is an American grape.