WALLINGFORD, Conn. — A Wallingford vineyard is still feeling the effects of August's hailstorms in Connecticut.
“We’ll make the best out of a bad situation,” Jason Gatcomb, winemaker and vineyard manager at Gouveia Vineyards, said.
Gatcomb never thought a hailstorm would take out his grapes. The manager at the Wallingford vineyard is now being forced to throw them all out because of the August storm.
“We knew at the wind was really bad and combining with the hail that was the size of golf balls, we knew that the vines were going to take a lot of damage,” Gatcomb said.
Staff at Gouveia Vineyards now have to pay special attention to each individual grape because of the damage.
“We’ll have to sort through all of these grapes as we go through the crusher and make sure any of the rot and unripe fruit come off so, that will take some time,” he said.
This also means their highly anticipated annual harvest won’t go on this year.
But all hope is not lost for wine lovers. Gatcomb said they are still going to make wine with what they can.
“We’ll do the best that we can and are probably going to have to blend California this year to make the wines the way we want,” he said.
Kaye Paddyfote is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at kpaddyfote@fox61.com. Follow her on X and Instagram.
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