2 Niagara wines casualties of 2014's polar vortex

Good luck finding a 2014 merlot from Niagara whenyou're shopping for wine over the next couple of years.

A bottle of sauvignon blanc will likely be a rare sight foroenophiles as well.

They're two casualties of the polar vortex that plagued southernOntario this winter. A frigid and prolonged season took its toll ongrape vines, with some faring better than others.

Rieslings, vidals and baco noirs are among the most cold hardy,while merlots and syrahs are less tolerant to chilly conditions,experts say.

"You won't see a 2014 merlot from Niagara, it won't happen,"said Derek Saunders, who founded the Calamus Estate Winery nearBeamsville, Ont., with his wife. "That just will not happen. There won't be any."

The quantities of sauvignon blanc will be tiny, he added.

"But you work in a business where Mother Nature is in charge,"he said. "That's the deal."

The bud survival rates for sauvignon blanc ranged from eight percent along Lake Erie's north shore to 51 per cent at FourMile Creekin central Niagara-on-the-Lake, according to the latest dataprovided by the VineAlert program.

The survival rates for merlot ranged from four per cent at LakeErie's north shore to 64 per cent along the Niagara lakeshore.

Wait and see

It's still unclear exactly how much damage the harsh winter mayhave done, as the final harvest numbers won't be in untilmid-November, said Debbie Zimmerman, CEO of Grape Growers ofOntario.

But Mother Nature gives too, providing exceptional spring andsummer weather conditions, she said. The warm days and what's knownas "million dollar rains" that fall at just the right time in thegrowing season are helping crops recover after the tough winter.

There may be smaller yields this year, but "the quality is goingto be terrific of this vintage," Zimmerman said.

"This is a bit of wait-and-see because of all the variableconditions we have," she said. "Nobody's saying, 'Oh, disaster!'We're not saying that. We're saying we've got to wait and see howthe harvest progresses."

Many grape growers employ new technologies to reduce potentialinjury to the vines, said Jim Willwerth, a viticulturist with BrockUniversity's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute whichruns the VineAlert program.

Some use wind machines that mix the cold air that settles on theground with the warm air above it, which raises the temperature andavoids damage. Many growers also leave extra buds on the vines whilepruning to compensate for those that may not survive the winter, hesaid.

"I think our vines are in a lot better shape than otherregions," such as New York state and Ohio, he said.

Diverse vineyards not hit as hard

There's still plenty of wine to go around, as Ontario had abanner year in 2013. Grape growers harvested a record 79,756 tonnesof grapes valued at nearly $100 million, according to the provincialgovernment.

Saunders said he's not worried, as merlot accounts for only oneacre of Calamus' 32 acres of diverse planted vineyards. He expectsto be down about 10 to 15 per cent in tonnage, but smaller wineriesprune their vines to produce fewer, more high-quality grapes anyway.

Larger operations, like Peller Estates, that are paid by thenumber of tonnes they produce may take a bigger hit, he said.

"They're the ones that will probably see the effect more becausethey'll just get hit right off the top with tonnage," Saunderssaid.

"So it's a year that's going to hurt me a little bit, but not asbad as I think some of the larger ones that their whole mantra is toproduce lots of tonnes of grapes."