Exemptions available for NYS Farm Wineries impacted by crop loss during the late April freeze event

RIPLEY, N.Y. (WROC) — On April 25, 2024 a significant frost and freeze caused widespread damage across many New York Wine Regions. None were more impacted than the Lake Erie Wine Region which suffered heavy losses of their Concord Grapes. Enough so that according to a press release from the New York State Department of Agriculture, 40% of the Concord Grapes in New York State that were destined to become wine were lost.

For some wineries, the widespread loss of Concord Grapes could lead to them being unable to meet certain requirements of their winemakers license with the New York State Liquor Authority. These wineries, known as Farm Wineries, must have 75% of the grapes involved in the production of their wines grown in New York State. Farm Wineries are the only wineries licensed to label their wine as “New York State Wines”.

To help alleviate the stress, a one-time exemption is being offered to Farm Wineries to use a higher percentage of grapes from other states by the New York State Department of Agriculture. However, there needs to be reasonable proof provided that they’ve made an effort to source grapes from New York State first, according to the State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball.

“In the event of something like this, a catastrophic event where they can’t get enough access to grapes, we have the ability to waive that requirement and allow them to purchase grapes from say Pennsylvania or Ohio or something like that,” said Commissioner Ball. “They need to demonstrate that they tried to get grapes from another grower. We asked them to try to get grapes from at least three other sources.”

Before this exemption could be offered the amount of crop loss had to be determined by the state agriculture department. To make the determination , a long and intensive process was carried out by the Cornell Lake Erie Research and Extension Lab to see just how much was lost and where.

“It takes several weeks. You got to let the crop heal. You need to count blossoms and evaluate exactly what you got inside each cluster,” said Commissioner Ball. “They ran around, looked initially, they came back a few days later. They came back a few days after that until the crop has pretty well manifested itself. And then they’re able to count and estimate how much loss there was.”

While the overall loss varied from place to place within the Lake Erie Wine Region, the loss was substantial almost across the board.

“In areas east of Ripley [NY] it was probably 60 to 85 percent loss in areas to the south, where it was just a couple of degrees warmer. The damage was less. But overall it exceeded 40 percent,” said Commissioner Ball.

Further information from a release from the New York State Department of Agriculture provides information on how to apply, as well as an informational webinar and is copied below:

“Farm wineries can apply for the exemption here . The deadline to apply for the exemption is October 31, 2024. For the Department to consider your request, farmers must complete and return the application by October 31, 2024.

The Department will be hosting an industry-wide webinar on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, 1:00 pm, to provide information on the application process and to answer any questions farm wineries may have. The webinar can be accessed here .”

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