Idaho Wine Trouble

Idaho Wine Trouble

Rick Worthington
Rick Worthington
--- A bitter January cold snap damaged a lot of wine grape vines in the heart of Idaho wine country and this year's harvest is expected to be down significantly as a result.

Idaho Wine Commission Executive Director Moya Dolsby says the Caldwell/Marsing area was the most effected:

"What that means is the plant is not dead, but this years crop on some of those vineyards is. So what they do is they cut off the cane, the vine, to the ground, and then they train it up. So there will be a harvest next year on those. I think the thing to remember here is that grapes are an agriculture product and it's farming and sometimes in farming you have loss and you have to be prepared for that."

--- Dolsby says, some Idaho wineries may have to reach outside the state if they want to produce bottles this year.

"Some wineries will have to get some wine from Washington if they are running low on grapes. But because last year was a very big crop, many wineries should not have a problem. As a whole, this won't have an impact on Idaho's wine industry long term."

--- The number of Idaho wineries has increased more than five times over since 2000. Idaho now has 52 wineries.

Idaho's wine production pales in comparison to that in neighboring states like Washington, where the smallest wine-growing region in the state produces almost twice as many grapes as all of Idaho.

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