Essex County vineyards enjoying extended warm weather during grape harvest season

Wine makers in southern Ontario are in the homestretch of this season’s grape harvest with growers in Essex County enjoying a mild fall.

The majority of this year’s harvest began in late August and is expected to continue into November.

“It was looking a little iffy at the end of August with all the rain and cloud cover we had, but September saved the day,” said Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery wine maker, Tanya Mitchell.

According to Mitchell, a wide variety of grapes at the family winery were being picked by machine and hand, noting higher quality wines require handpicked varieties.

“We have quite a few,” Mitchell explained. “Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio. I'm playing around with a bit of Auxerrois on the on the white side. We have Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Baco Noir, of course we’ve always had our Merlo, but we just added on Marquette and petite Pearl, which are two new varieties we've been growing in our vineyard that are very promising,” Mitchell continued.

“They're sustainable and they last through the winter as well and they require less sprays and they're just altogether a better growing grape.”

Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery in Amherstburg, Ont. on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

Mitchell said the season started with record dry conditions followed by a wet summer, but believed a mild and dry September helped bring things together. Mitchell noted the region benefits from an extended growing season allowing the grapes to hang a little longer on the vine and let flavours continue to concentrate.

“As you progress and watching the grapes, you're checking for its sugar level, its pH and acidity,” Mitcehll said.

Mitchell added, “We are in a wonderful location in the world to grow grapes and we have the longest and warmest growing season in all of Ontario and I think Canada as well.”

Mean time, Pelee Island Winery’s Tim Charisse said a good vintage is expected from Canada’s most southern vineyard.

“An extended growing season is definitely better for sure,” Charisse said.

Pelee Island Winery & Vineyards in Kingsville, Ont. on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

Charisse told CTV News the island winery boasts between 700-800 acres of grape vines, with each acre yielding upwards of five tons.

“We had a really dry start to the growing season,” he explained. “Basically the opposite of what we kind of want for our growing season. We want a little bit more wet in the starting time and definitely dry in the end. So the grapes are bringing up the sugar level and getting ripe.”

Charisse continued, “The longer the lake stays open the better is for us. That means the grapes are more secured in the winter from frost.”

Pelee Island Winery is partnering with Tourism Windsor-Essex Pelee Island (TWEPI), EPIC Wineries and Scotiabank to host the first ever EPIC Wineries Harvest Festival, on November 4 at their Kingsville location.

“You can get our wine in Quebec. You can get our wine in Saskatchewan. You even can get our wine in China,” Charisse said. “So yes, we are basically all over the world and trying to expand more and more and make sure people enjoy wine everywhere we can sell.”