News from Wisconsin - from the Madison, WI NBC affiliate:
Wisconsin vineyards hurting after cold, wet spring
September is harvest time for Wisconsin vineyards, but several saw much smaller crop yields this year, or even none at all.
Owners said the weather in 2019 is the problem, especially the bitterly cold winter and a wet spring.
Peter Botham, co-owner and winemaker at Botham's Vineyards and Winery in Barneveld, is one grape grower who struggled this season.
How bad are things:
However, in 2019, for the first time in 27 years, Botham is not harvesting at all.
"For growing grapes, it could not have been worse this summer," he said.
The cold winter burned the buds for the grapes, and the wet spring and summer made it hard for grapes to ripen. Botham's vineyard saw so little fruit that he did not think he could harvest.
"You'd see a lot of purple right now and all you see right now is green," he said.
The article also mentions a second winery that suffered a 60% crop loss. We are entering a time of increased cold.
Facts and data, not narrative.
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