'Widespread devastation': Frost damages grape buds across multiple Eastern states
Overnight temperatures dropped into the mid-20s from New York down to Virginia. What it means for a lot of wineries is far less fruit to harvest this fall.
What would appear to be one of the worst early-season frosts to hit East Coast vineyards has done irreparable damage to the 2026 vintage, based on social media posts and comments from a mix of industry sources.
This one, a perfect storm of warm temperatures that brought summer-like temperatures last week and hastened bud break followed by a night of temps that fell 15 to 20 degrees below normal, caused widespread damage to vines from New York and New Jersey to perhaps as far south as Georgia.
The bull’s-eye appears to be southern Pa., and across Maryland and many areas of Virginia, with several winery owners and staff posting on Tuesday about the depth of the damage.
Nissley Vineyards, in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County, posted on Facebook a photo of shrivelled leaves and buds on a vine, with the accompanying text: “Overnight, we, like many vineyards on the East Coast, suffered the worst frost event in at least a decade and maybe two. Consecutive 80° days last week were the precursor for this overnight cold killing about 70% of primary buds that had emerged. We will hope for a small harvest from the secondary buds that will now emerge.”
Noted Carl Helrich, who operates and makes wine for Cadenza, Allegro and Pinnacle Ridge wineries from his location in southern York County, sent the photo seen at the top of the story by text and added: “First time we’ve ever had frost. Bad on Chard, Cab Franc, Merlot and Albarino. Not good on everything else. It’s disastrous for the whole East Coast. From NY to VA.”
He added, citing Cain [Hickey], an assistant teaching professor of viticulture at Penn State Extension, “maybe even GA and NC.”
Per a post by Joe Juniper, the co-owner and winemaker at Vermilion Valley Vineyards near Sandusky, Ohio, the frost damage extended far from the East Coast. “From Michigan to Virginia, we all fought the good fight. Some of us won, some of us lost. For me, it's a mixed bag,” he wrote.
Anyone searching Facebook on Tuesday could find similar gloomy assessments, reminiscent of 2023 when a frost on May 18 led officials from Pennsylvania and nine other states to write to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and request aid to cover damages from the late frost.
A mid-June 2023 story by The Associated Press reported that vineyards and apple orchards across the Northeast were still assessing damage that “wiped out a third to most of the crop for some growers who say it’s the worst frost damage they’ve ever seen.”
That same year, Missouri’s agriculture director told Brownfield Ag News that extreme weather has caused a 70 percent decline for the state’s wine production this year.
This spring has brought milder-than-normal temperatures and below-normal rainfall, including to the East Coast. March was the warmest ever recorded in the continental United States; as of April 14, more than 60 percent of the lower 48 states were experiencing drought.
One of the longer posts on Tuesday was published by Black Ankle Vineyards in Mount Airy, in central Maryland. It is considered one of the East Coast’s elite producers.
The post read as follows:
“We’re heartbroken to share that on the night of April 20th–21st, we experienced a frost unlike anything we’ve seen before.
“After weeks of beautiful spring warmth, budbreak had already taken place across the entire vineyard. Tender green shoots had emerged, then, last night, temperatures dropped to 24 degrees here at the farm.
“Frost damage occurs when those young shoots freeze. Ice forms within the plant cells, causing them to rupture. Once that happens, the shoots cannot recover.
“We did everything we could to prevent damage, including using frost drains and even lighting fires around one of the farms. We’re choosing to be optimistic before we make a final assessment, though we are dealing with the possibility that this year’s fruit is largely if not entirely lost.
“We’re not fully sure what things will look like moving forward. What we do know is that we have the most incredible vineyard, winery, and tasting room team to lean on each other as we navigate the realities of being farmers in this day and age.”
These links will take you to similar reports at the following East Coast wineries:
Maryland: Linganore Winecellars, Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard, Serpent Ridge, Burnt Hill Farm and Old Westminster Winery
Virginia: Bluestone, Keswick, Casanel Vineyards & Winery, Domaine Fortier Vineyards, Linden Vineyards (parts 1 and 2)
Pennsylvania: Waltz Vineyards Estate Winery, Armstrong Valley Winery, Allegro Winery (followup)
Maryland: Corteau Vineyards, Harford Vineyard & Winery, The Vineyards at Dodon, Two Lions Vineyards
John Cifelli, general manager at Unionville Vineyards in central New Jersey, said from what he heard, there was “widespread devastation” across his state. “Only wineries I haven’t heard from are in Cape May. Widespread devastation in all other parts of the state,” he said.
Joe Fiola, a specialist in viticulture and small fruit for University of Maryland Extension, said his conversations with growers in all regions indicted “widespread significant damage” across that state.
“We experienced many hours below freezing and critically low temperatures down into the mid- to upper 20s at most locations,” he said. “I talked to Somerseat Vineyards, Robin Hill (South), Bordeleau, Golden Run Vineyards (Eastern), The Crossvines, Black Ankle, Sugarloaf, Big Cork, Boordy, and others, and all reported significant damage. Catoctin Breeze had damage but not quite as significant as the others. It’s just a wait-and-see now what develops in secondary and tertiary buds and if any primary meristems survived. The worst day in my 38 year history of working with the wine and fruit industry. Very tough. God bless fruit farmers!”
Vicki Ruckman serves as the secretary and event coordinator for the Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail in Virginia. She responded to a question about what she heard from members of the wine trail by saying that “this morning was bad, very bad, pretty much all over. 22-28 degrees for 5-6 hours.”
Cave Ridge — ”Possible total loss of all our whites and reds in lower vineyard. First time in 25 years.”
Brix & Columns — “Lost most of everything that was out.”
Noer Vineyards — “We suspect a good chunk of vineyard lost for the year.”
“Comments I saw from around the state basically said almost complete loss of any shoots that were out, especially white grapes,” Ruckman added. ““High elevation vineyards not as bad. Growers employed wind machines, burn piles, giant candles, helicopters, even spraying water. So there won’t be much wine made this year. Fortunately, lots of outstanding wine made the past 3 years. Some said they lost 80-90%.
“Peaches were almost decimated by last week’s freeze and apples may have been hit hard this morning — I haven’t seen anything about that yet. If you find a Virginia Wine Love group on FB, you can see a lot of the posts.”
“If there is damage, it certainly won’t be for lack of trying.” Sarah Haines, Grandview Vineyard
Farther south, Jay Raffaldini said that North Carolina, including his namesake winery in Ronda, suffered “spotty damage, mostly in mountains, but it was really close this morning to hit the major AVAs (Yadkin and Swan Creek). Another degree or two lower for a bit longer would have been terrible. What helped is the very low humidity and rapid warm up but overall it’s been a knife edge month.”
On Long Island, Kareem Massoud of Long Island’s Paumanok Vineyards, said in an email that the extent of the damage there was “still a little too soon to assess.”
Added Massoud, the head winemaker at his family-owned and run winery, “It did get slightly below freezing on Sunday night, so I expect that there will be some damage, as we did already have budbreak in certain varieties.”
To the north and west, along Seneca Lake, Jeff Zick of Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery said the “last 2 nights were not good for us.”
Zick is the Hammondsport vineyard manager for the iconic Finger Lakes producer.
“Both of our farms, Seneca and Kueka, had 30 Sunday night and 24 Monday night. We were up all night doing what would could; not sure how effective it was being so far below freezing, but time will tell. Thankfully, only younger Chardonnay and Cab Franc vineyards with closer proximity to the lake were further along. Riesling, Rkatsitelli and other later varieties should be less affected. It would be nice to escape any trunk or cane splitting since it had been close to 80 degrees days prior to the cold snap.
“I spoke with some other growers in the region this morning and they have already contacted their crop insurance agents to file loss claims,” he added.
Among the wineries in the hardest-hit areas was Grandview Vineyards, also in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County.
Co-owner and CEO Sarah Haines noted that her husband Scott spent Monday getting ready for the frost — “setting up and filling about 30 burn barrels around the vineyard and positioning the frost fan. He lit everything at dusk and was out there all night tending the fires and refilling wood to keep them going. We also had the frost fan running nonstop. He said there was already a thick layer of frost on the ground by around 10:30 p.m. A couple of local vineyards have already reached out and are reporting pretty significant damage, some as high as 80%.”
They plan to take a peek at their vineyard on Wednesday morning.
“If there is damage, it certainly won’t be for lack of trying — we did everything we could to protect it,” she said.
A Wednesday post confirmed the worst. Despite actions to alleviate the frost, “conditions were simply too extreme to prevent devastating injury to the vines,” it said.
Grape growers weren’t the only ones hit hard by the frost, Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Atticks noted in this Tuesday evening post: “Many of our state’s vineyards suffered the irreparable blow of frost damage last evening. They deployed every tool in the book to mitigate damage, but it was too cold for too long. It wasn’t just our vineyards. Orchards and other specialty crops were set back significantly.
“I remain hopeful the vines will yield some crop,” he added, “but in the meantime, it’s a good reminder that farming is not for the faint of heart.”
Paul - breaks my heart for all those workers and people trying to make a living and wonderful wines.
Thanks for this Paul, Shenandoah Valley wineries are determined and will carry on!