Hard frost hits Washington wine country

When Washington winemakers and grape growers looked at the forecast for last weekend, they saw a hard frost heading their way and immediately ramped up harvesting efforts.

"Luckily, most of the vineyards I'm involved in saw it coming and finished harvest by the time it hit," said Norm McKibben, owner of Pepper Bridge Winery in Walla Walla, Wash.

McKibben, who is an owner in famed Seven Hills Vineyard as well as other vineyard operations, said he has yet to find a green leaf left in the Walla Walla Valley. He said the all-time low for the valley for Oct. 10 had been 33 degrees, but it reached 20 degrees Saturday. The timing was especially difficult because most wineries were at capacity, so they simply could not bring in any more grapes because their fermenters were full.

Rob Griffin, owner and winemaker for Barnard Griffin Winery in Richland, Wash., had harvested pretty much everything except Cabernet Sauvignon.

"There doesn't seem to be any degredation of fruit at all," Griffin said. "This hasn't affected us too badly."

He added that in his 33 years in the Washington wine industry, he can't recall a frost like this.

"I don't remember it happening this profoundly this early," he said.