Cold Winter Could Have Killed Half Of State's Grape Vines

PALISADE, Colo. - Bruce Talbott strolled down the middle of one of his expansive fields on Orchard Mesa, outside of Palisade. Surrounding him on either side for acres were rows upon rows of Vitis Vinifera vines, or common grape vines.

The vines showed no signs of growth, still dormant from the winter. But any day now it will be a revealing moment as the buds begin to grow. Talbott, like many grape growers on the Western Slope, will learn in the next few weeks how poor the grape crop will be this year.

A period of extreme cold blanketed Mesa County in early December. The combination of the unusually frigid temperatures along with the timing of the cold snap has caused great concern with vineyard growers and winemakers alike in Colorado's nascent wine industry.

Talbott estimates he could have lost a quarter of his grape crop. What types of grapes fared the worst he can only speculate. The death of a vine can set back a farmer for nearly two growing seasons.

"Of course we'll have to start from scratch training it," Talbott said. "We will lose this crop and then we'll lose a percentage of the next crop. Then after that we should be back in the game."

Talbott Farms is the largest grape grower in Colorado. Talbott said the one saving grace is that it looks like it will be a good peach crop this summer. But the grape kill came at a time when his farm was seeing its bounty grow every year.

"The year before that it was 350 (tons), and the year before that was probably 220. And the year before that was probably 150," he said. "So yeah, it's been going up fairly quickly."

Talbott's neighbor to the west, Neal Guard, owner of Avant Vineyard, thinks it might be a poor year for his syrah grapes but that his Cabernet Franc grapes could have weathered the winter.

"It also depended on what type of grapes," Guard said. "Like the Cabernet Franc over there, they did fine."

"But right across from them in Bruce's Syrah and my Syrah, it's not good -- 10 percent live buds. We don't know if we have trunk damage. It's not good," Guard said.

Doug Caskey of the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board said the estimates he has heard is up to 50 percent of Mesa County's grape crop could be lost. The damage seemed to worsen the further west traveled away from De Beque Canyon.

John Garlich, owner of Bookcliff Vineyards in Boulder, said he estimates he lost only 10 percent of his upcoming crop. Garlich's fields are located in an area known as the Vinelands -- a low land that rests up against the Colorado River.

"I don't think it will be that big of a thing for consumers," Garlich said. "They may not get as much of the 2010 vintage as past vintages."

Garlich said he thinks his winery might have to make less bottles of some certain wines but overall he doesn't think he will be hurt as bad as some smaller wineries. Caskey agreed thinking some start-up wineries might be forced to close.

"Is this event poorly timed? Any crop loss is poorly timed," Caskey said. "There are some with existing inventory that won't feel as much of an impact. The smaller outfits could be hard pressed."