Not-quite-so-bountiful harvest

~ Area wineries say although the quantity of grapes is down, the quality is up.

You can't ask for a bumper crop every year. Bob Breuer knows that. And this isn't a bumper crop year.

But Breuer has other things to be happy about. The co-owner of Tower Rock Winery in Altenburg is celebrating awards at the state and national level for his locally made wine. Like other local winery owners, Breuer not only makes wine, he grows many of the grapes that go into making that wine.

And this year's grape harvest has still been good to Breuer, even though it doesn't approach the amazing season he experienced in 2005.

In 2005 Breuer and other local grape growers reported a bumper crop. The grapes are good this year, but a bit fewer in number. No bumper crop, but many hope it is a quality crop nonetheless.

At this point the harvest season is nearing its end. Starting in early August, grape growers take to the field to pick their crop, not stopping until mid-October or later, when the last of the late-growing Cynthianas (also known as Norton, Missouri's specialty grape) are lifted off the vines.

Unlike more conventional crops, many varieties of wine grapes require less water, not more, to be at their best when harvest time comes around.

Matt Palisch walked between rows of grapes carrying a tub of fruit he had just picked for Tower Rock Winery in Altenburg, Mo. (Diane L. Wilson)

"It was pretty good, probably about 80 percent of what we had last year," said Breuer. "Last year was a drought year, and we had a bumper crop."

But this year's spring and late-summer rains made for less favorable conditions for grape crops that love dry climates, Breuer said.

Jim Anderson, executive director of the Missouri Wine and Grape Board, said so far this year's crop is shaping up to be a great one throughout the state in terms of quality.

"This year has been excellent," said Anderson. "It's a little hotter than we would have liked, but quality-wise, the molds and disease pressure have been low."

About 95 percent of the grapes grown in Missouri are for use in wine, Anderson said. Most of those grapes are grown in the east-central part of the state, near St. James, Rolla and Hermann. But Anderson said Southeast Missouri is becoming an important part of a grape-growing and wine-making economy that continues to expand.

Where 10 years ago there were only 30 wineries in the state, now there are 58 growing about 1,200 acres of grapes, Anderson said. This winter a study is being conducted to get a clear picture of how those wineries affect the state economy, Anderson said. He estimates about 1.5 million people visit Missouri wineries annually, pumping $35 million directly and indirectly into Missouri's economy.

In 2005 Missouri produced nearly 4,000 tons of grapes.

Illinois boasts nearly 60 wineries and 300 grape growers across the state, pumping an estimated $20 million into the state's economy, according to the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association.

In Southeast Missouri, the area around Ste. Genevieve boasts several growing vineyard and winery operations. Closer to home, Breuer's Tower Rock Winery, the River Ridge Winery in Commerce and the Hemann Winery in Brazeau are putting extreme Southeast Missouri's stamp on the wine market.

Like Breuer, River Ridge Winery's Jerry Smith said the yield on his six acres of plants will also be lower this year thanks to storms in the crucial weeks of spring when the vines bloom.

Where grape clusters would normally be full, this year some of them are half-full, Smith said.

"All the growers in the Midwest had poor fruit conditions in the spring, when the grapes go to bloom," Smith said.

Across the Mississippi River, StarView Vineyard in Cobden, Ill., took a hit this year on the grape crop. A rainy, cool spring reduced owner Scott Sensmeyer's yields from six grape varieties, because grapes need dry, warm weather when the vines bloom in spring, he said. The vignoles, said Sensemeyer, were reduced by 50 percent.

Starview is one eight vineyards and wineries on Southern Illinois' Shawnee Hills Wine Trail.

He knows growers nearby who faired better than he. But the outlook isn't entirely bleak.

"I think the grapes will still able to produce good wine, but we'll find out," he said. "I don't think the weather impacted the fruit quality, just fruit quantity."

And the crop of Missouri's specialty grape, Nortons, that Sensmeyer planted seemed to fair better than the vignoles, thanks to the Norton's later growing season, he said..

In Brazeau, the 2006 growing season didn't go as well for Al Hemman. But it wasn't the weather that affected his crop -- it was the critters. Hemman said his crops were eaten up by the birds and bees. The birds took advantage of a lack of netting on his Concords, Catawbas and Niagras -- grapes that will make sweet to semi-sweet wines. The Hemmans also grow raspberries and blackberries for wine production.

As for the bees, "I really don't know," said Hemman. "It's just part of the business."

When winemakers' crop yields are lower than expected it doesn't mean they will forgo making as much wine. Instead they'll buy grapes from local and national growers to increase their stocks of the fruit.

Quantity can be purchased, so quality takes on more importance.

"Really the main thing, from a winery's standpoint, you definitely want quality," said Anderson. "The quantity is going to be a little smaller this year. You might be up one year and down the next year in fruit business, but I think most wineries would sacrifice a little bit of quantity for quality."

That's what Smith is doing. This year he said what fruit he has is better, even though there's less of it.

Of course, several months will pass before anyone gets to taste the fruits of 2006. White wines will be ready by next summer's wine season, but reds from this year will sit for over a year before they hit the shelves. The winemakers, and the public, will just have to wait.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182