Triple digit heat has caused a vineyard’s grapes to ripen all at once

LORENA, Texas (KWTX) - It has been an extremely hot summer and that heat is now causing a certain fruit to become ripe weeks ahead of schedule.

Country Spring Vineyard in Lorena has had to ramp up their harvests this season to ensure none of their grapes are left on the vine to go bad.

The vineyard, owned by Curtis and Mary Timmons, had to do this because all of their grapes, white and red, have ripened at the same time.

“It’s been a different season. We had two days of 100 degrees last year, we’ve had 55 this year. So everything’s ripened on an accelerated basis and it’s been a struggle to keep the plants healthy,” said Curtis Timmons.

The vineyard normally begins their harvests the last week of July but due to the continuing heat, they had to start two weeks ahead of schedule.

Compared to last year, the minimal triple digit heat allowed the Timmons to push their harvests back by two weeks to reach peak ripeness.

“This year we were intending to harvest through august 27 but since everything was ready we moved it up two weeks. Hopefully we’ll finish this weekend,” said Timmons.

The accelerated readiness of the grapes has caused the vineyard to get creative to ensure no grape goes unpicked.

Relying on volunteers to help pick the berries, country spring added an extra day of harvest and they say it’s proven to be successful.

“We are picking twice a week instead of once a week now. We have Friday night picks and Saturday morning picks. We have a wonderful fan base that supports us and takes care of us and helps us get this done,” said Timmons.

The Timmons duo are expecting to pick 27,000 pounds of grapes this season from their vineyard.

If they didn’t start their harvest early, they could’ve missed peak ripeness and lost their grapes to the sun or worse… birds looking to eat the ripe berries.

Country Spring Vineyard saw a record turnout for their first Friday harvest.

If you want to get out and help them harvest some grapes, you’ll have the opportunity to this Friday from 7-9 p.m. or Saturday starting at 7 a-m.

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