The Struggle Between Rainstorms

It has been a week for the record books. Hershey/Hummelstown was the center of one of the worst storms ever experienced in Southcentral Pennsylvania. The rain from Hurricane Katia and Tropical Storm Lee met dead center over our hometown and vineyards this past week. The rain caused record flooding and destroyed millions of dollars in property as the Manada, Swatara and Susquehanna Rivers all reached record flood stages not seen in 40 years. We were fortunate in the respect that we only had a foot of rain in and around the farm. Our grapes were ready to pick last week when the rain began. Unfortunately for us the rain caused the Concord grapes to begin to take on a huge amount of water as they swelled up and began to split. Fortunately for us we had several days and lots of help. In the end all of the grapes are picked, crushed, pressed and into the primary fermentation . Next up will be the Vidal Blanc. Hopefully, there will not be a storm that complicates that weekend of picking. We are fortunate that it all ended as well as it did.