Hot News

9.27.05

By KATE GREGORY

MARYDEL, Md. — The hot sun beats down, and the air is dry; perfect weather for grapes. Harvesting has started in the world of viticulture and workers are spread out about the rows of vines, sitting on five gallon buckets, shears in hand, dropping clump after cluster of grapes into small plastic pallets. Bill Rohrer, clad in tall brown Wellies and a straw hat, moves along the trellises, clipping, and dropping; turning his dreams into a reality.
“When I was in the military, I remember my dream was to have a dog, a boat, and a little farm … I’m living my dream,” said Rohrer, president of the Maryland Grape Growers Association.
Rohrer purchased the vineyard he calls Safe Arbor Acres seven years ago. There were some existing Chamboursin vines, overgrown by neglect, but he was ready to take the property to its full potential and to tough it out in the labor-intensive industry.
Veteran grape grower and treasurer of the grape growers association Bill Kirby says a lot of people try to get into wine grape growing because it seems like an exotic lifestyle, when in actuality, it is extremely labor intensive and a large investment; hopefully yielding a large return.
“Bill bought an existing vineyard and needed a lot of hand holding to get started. He deserves a lot of credit for sticking with it and learning the hard lessons of viticulture,” said Kirby.
Rohrer hails from Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania and has been involved in agriculture his whole life. He holds a BS in agriculture from the University of West Virginia.
The Chardonet grapes that were picked the evening before sit in the small flat wooden tag-along he uses to haul the grapes to the Nassau Winery in Lewes, Del. Rohrer clips Merlot from the vines and directs his three workers of the day. The grapes will be forked out of the pallets at the winery and be crushed and in vats within hours.
Merlot is the diva of grapes. The strain is tough to grow; it does not like the cold and is easily killed off by frozen weather.
“Merlot is a high-value fruit with very high maintenance,” explained Rohrer.
Though viticulture is labor intensive and an expensive initial investment, the returns are very high. Another favorable aspect of the farming is that a very small acreage produces a high yield of fruit. On just a couple of acres, Rohrer gets eight to 10 tons of fruit per year; which is small when compared to the Maryland wine grape market demand for 800 to 1,000 tons of fruit.
Once you plant vines it takes five years for them to mature, and about three to four years to yield fruit. There is no instant gratification when it comes to growing grapes; the fruit matures slowly, like the viticulturist himself. One must prune, spray, hedge, and pull leaves around the fruit to help them mature and stay disease free. You must be familiar with the primers; sugar and acidity. The fruit is ripe when the Brix (sugar) is 21 percent and the PH is 3.4. The raucous and seeds turn brown when the sugars are balanced and the skin will taste fruity, instead of a grassy like taste, according to Rohrer.
“It has been said, ‘that the wine is made in the field,’” he quotes.
Rohrer has Cabernet Souvingnon planted around his house that should be ripe to pick in another couple of weeks; this variety needs cold nights to balance out the sugars. He says that many of the white varieties seem to fare better than reds. The plants are grafted clones from the root stalk, and Rohrer buys his from a nursery at a cost anywhere from $3 to $15 per vine.
“It’s been quite a challenge,” he said.
There are fungi to battle and animal damage from deer and birds. Rohrer is armed with a sprayer, strapped to the back of his ATV, to conquer fungi and weeds.
“The dogs keep most of the large pests out of the vines near the house,” he says.
Though difficult, viticulture does have a high monetary return at approximately $800 to $2,000 per ton, with a harvest rate from two to four tons per acre.
Maryland has a very small network of growers, yet farmers and bureaucrats alike are beginning to recognize viticulture as a viable source of profitability in agriculture as well as a potential draw for tourists. This year, the Maryland Department of Agriculture awarded the industry with $100,000 to go to wineries and grape growers. An advisory commission will form over the next two months to allocate the funding.
Growers, the MDA, and the University of Maryland have been working together to further the viticulture community.
“It’s been a joint effort,” said Rohrer. “The MDA has gone out of their way to help.”
“It’s been amazing; absolutely mind boggling,” said Joe Fiola, PhD and specialist in viticulture and small fruit. “The climate for the industry to grow has been just right, especially with Gov. Ehrlich in office.”
The Maryland Grape Growers Association has about 300 members, yet Maryland has very few grape farms, and there are only about five growers on the Eastern Shore. Ten or 15 years ago Maryland and Virginia were neck and neck when it came to vineyards and wineries, yet the farms and market exploded in Virginia, leaving Maryland in the dust. The plan is to model Virginia.
“Virginia decided to direct a part of the excise tax raised from wine sales back into the industry in the way of education and a part toward promotion of the industry. Now they have around 90 wineries and Maryland still has something less than 15. The grape acreage in Virginia is many, many times that of Maryland. The growing potential here is equal to our neighbor in the south and our new governor has shown a real interest in the industry and various groups are making a valiant effort to improve the political climate and encourage growth,” said Kirby.
Traditionally grain farmers, Hans and Jennie Schmidt are rather green when it comes to viticulture. They are in their third growing season, yet this year is the first harvest.
“We were looking for a means of farm diversification that paid higher prices per acre than traditional commodities. Our family manages risk by diversifying our crops. We grow not only corn and soy, but we also grow fresh market and cannery vegetables, hay, and now grapes,” said Jennie Schmidt.
They planted 700 vines to the acre and are just under 2,100 vines on just three acres. There are 1,110 Vidal vines, a hybrid white and 450 Sangoiovese, an Italian red. They also have a “test plot” of Syrah, a red, and Tramminette, a hybrid white of a German grape called Gewurtztraminer.
The family spent about five years researching, learning about growing, surveying sites for the vines, and weighing the pros and cons of such a labor-intensive product.
“There are five of us working full or part-time on the farm … we also have two part-time employees and have hired some seasonal workers as needed. The vineyard requires about 30 hours of labor per week from March through October. This includes pruning, tying, training, positioning, suckering, hedging, spraying, mowing, and ultimately harvesting. We harvested 4,200 pounds in 2 1/2 hours using 10 people. We finished harvest at 9:30 a.m. last Friday, and the grapes were delivered, de-stemmed, juiced, and ready to ferment by 3 p.m. that afternoon,” said Schmidt.
The family sells their grape harvest to Woodhall Wine Cellars in Baltimore County and Tilmon’s Island Wine Cellar located in Sudlersville.
Most of Maryland’s grapes will be picked by the end of October, and growers excitedly wait until next year, after fermentation, to taste their creations. Last year, grower Wic Dudley grew some of the merlot that Linganore Winery turned into the Governor’s Cup Best Wine of the year.