2024 Harvest Update: Walloon Lake Winery | Petoskey, Michigan
Quality is high – and harvest could conclude early in the Tip of the Mitt AVA
Matt Killman, winemaker at northern Michigan’s Walloon Lake Winery, sent the following harvest update on September 30:
White wine grape update: All of our whites have been in for about a week. Forecasting to be done bringing fruit in by the end of next week (which is early for us). Quantity is a bit down here and there, but quality is high and so are sugar levels. We've had an extremely warm late season without much rain, so we're seeing high brix and without the acid dropping out too much. It's always a bonus when you get to pick white fruit based on chemistry and taste rather than disease pressure or poor weather forecast.
Red wine grape update: We're currently pressing rosé and about halfway through the reds. We've seen a lot of sugar accumulation in our reds this year and they're just starting to dehydrate a bit on the vine (at least the stuff that's still hanging). With the way the fruit has been coming in I'm seeing a really nice harvest quality wise, with especially low disease pressure.
Overall it's been a great growing vintage in the Tip of the Mitt AVA. We had an early budbreak, avoided spring frost, had a little bit too much rain in July, and recovered with a warm and dry late season. This will be an extremely nice vintage for us in Northern MI!
Later today I’ll have the first update from the Finger Lakes. Stay tuned.
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