WNY farmers take precautionary measures

NEWFANE, N.Y. (WIVB) - With Hurricane Sandy on its way, farmers in Western New York who grow grapes for ice wine had to make some adjustments to their farm this season.

Schulze Vineyards in Newfane wrapped up their harvest last week when the weather was really warm.

The ice wine grapes stay on the vine, but with the high wind warnings, precautionary measures needed to be taken.

Ann Schulze says, 'They are good, but it we have heavy winds then they are going to probably drop some of the grapes. But, in the next couple of days, we have to be netting at the bottom and clipping to protect them."

Being close to Lake Ontario, allowed them to have a good crop this year because it moderated the temperature and their grapes were not hurt by the Spring freezes. The drought helped them out even more.

"Grapes love hot and dry weather, and wouldn't have asked for more. We had higher bricks which is the sweetness in the grapes when we harvested, and the quality because we didn't have a lot of rain so we didn't have fungus and mildew," says Schulze.

However, the lake can also bring trouble including some of the strongest gusts of wind that can come off Lake Ontario making it necessary to protect grapes that make up 5-8% of the wines.