Niagara vineyards assess impact of recent heavy rainfall

Residents in the Niagara Region have been hit hard with rainfall over the past two weeks, but it’s not just homeowners who have had to deal with it — many vineyards have also experienced the unprecedented rain.

“We get another bad, another couple of big storms like this, so I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Rob Condotta from Honsberger Estate Winery in Jordan. “I don’t know, I really don’t know, I’m actually worried about it right now.”

Condotta says he’s never seen so much rain.

“No sleep whatsoever, I mean we have five pumps running here steady right now — we have two two-inch pumps running full-time in the basement right now, we have three-inch backup on site here,” said Condotta.

READ MORE: Niagara Falls launches ‘Flood Recovery Support Registry’

He’s not alone, as many Niagara-area vineyards experienced significant rainfall over the past couple of weeks.

“Better today, obviously, because it’s nice and sunny outside, but the last couple of weeks have been a little bit dicey, and definitely more rain than I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” said Will George from George Farms.

George says it’s a little early to know how his farm will be impacted, but the moisture will likely lead to a lot of growth in the vineyards.

“So it’ll make things explode a little bit, but really the big problem for us was our implements and our tractors being able to get into our vineyards, being flooded out like that,” said George. “You can’t get out there, so it’s difficult to go out and do the jobs you need to do at the time.”

WATCH MORE: Niagara winery acquisitions bring stability amid changing industry landscape

Bill Redelmeier from Southbrook Organic Vineyards, Canada’s first biodynamic winery, says he thinks the vineyards are going to be okay.

“We’ll find out in a couple of weeks, but we have been working with organics and more particularly regenerative organics for years,” said Redelmeier. “Regenerative is a way of dealing with weird climates, which we’re seeing more and more of. It’s treating the soil to be a long-term asset as opposed to something to be mined.”

While grape growers are just getting over the most current rainfalls, they are hoping we don’t have a repeat in the coming days.
“The next few days are going to be pretty important, so if we get another rain event, we’re going to really be in trouble,” said Kevin Watson, the Grape Growers of Ontario board chair. “But we’ve had some nice windy days and sun so we’re drying it up, and the tropics this year are looking very good.”

Growers say they won’t know the true impact of the rains, if any, until the fall harvest.

WATCH MORE: St. Catharines declares state of emergency after flooding