John Ardiel has been growing apples in the Beaver Valley for 40 years, grapes for the past 10 years and he liked what he saw in his vineyard on Tuesday – bright green leaves and flowers on his Chardonnay Vines. 

Grape growers were facing an uncertain spring because of the extreme cold that settled over the province back in February, when temperatures consistently dropped below -20 C and as low as -30 C.

That’s cold enough to damage grape vines and even some varieties of apples. Ardiel says he was expecting the worst, but the damage was not as bad as he feared.

"We have been nervous ever since late January early February very nervous," he says.

Then just as the growing season was getting started, cold weather returned again on the weekend, with temperatures dropping below 0 C in many parts of the region. Some grape growers in Niagara and Prince Edward County are reporting extensive frost damage.

However, here in the Beaver Valley, it didn't get quite as cold thanks to the moderating effect that Georgian Bay has on the temperatures especially in areas close to the water.

The new growth on grapes vines is extremely sensitive to the cold, but around the bay they pulled through the cold snap without further damage.

Even so, a smaller crop is expected this year because of the cold weather over the winter. Georgian Hills Vineyards' Robert Ketchin says most vineyards anticipate that some years will be better than others and there is plenty of wine in reserve to keep wine glasses topped up.

“We had a good yield in 2013, a very good yield in 2012 and pretty good one 2011,” Ketchin says. “So we have been building inventories on the positive side. So I suppose this is part of our marketing and business plan that we will be beginning to get low going into next year.”

This will be the second year in row Local wineries have had smaller than expected crops, but hopes are high the vines will recover this summer, so they will be back in full production for the 2016 growing season.