Great weather for grapes

 From the Merlots to the Rieslings, grapes at area wineries are getting ripe enough to pick. Weather like what we've been experiencing in Central New York lately is what the experts say makes a great harvesting season.

"Blue skies, warm days, cool nights. And that's exactly what we want, the succession of the warmth that comes during the day and helps the grapes mature and develop sugar and flavor, and night it cools things down and keeps them just the way they are, so, like Mother Nature's refrigerator,” said Bob Madill, Sheldrake Point Vineyard Partner.

When it rains, Madill says you can't be as picky about picking grapes. He says you either collect them, or write them off.

"In a season like this we can pick the whites when we think they're fully, appropriately ready, and then we have time to let the reds just sit on the vine and just ripen further,” said Madill.

Some of the vines at Six Mile Creek still have the grapes on them, but if we go a few rows down, you'll notice the vines are empty because the grapes are already being harvested."

"We did about three varieties and we did very well. There were lots more grapes this year than there were last year,” said Nancy Battistella, Six Mile Creek Owner.

Battistella attributes that extra grape production mainly to the weather, and says she hopes winter doesn't come too early.

"The worst things that can happen are a bad frost before we pick and there's always that possibility that we'll get an early frost, but it sounds like it's going to be a great year for the grapes,” said Batistella.

And if Mother Nature cooperates, grape harvesting season will continue through October.

Both winery workers we spoke to say that wine tours pick up during grape harvest season, and in case you were wondering, it takes about 12 pounds of grapes to make one bottle of wine.