Central Virginia Blue Ridge
Farming of any kind carries a certain risk. You’re always facing a battle of sorts with Mother Nature. Floods, droughts, and such. For vineyard owners it’s especially concerning each spring as they head out of winter into spring. That’s when the first buds on grapevines begin to appear. It’s a very vulnerable time. A late spring frost or freeze can ruin an entire season overnight.
A run of hot weather sometimes touching 90° allowed everything to bud out, only for those buds and blooms to be killed by temperatures days later that took a dive into the mid 20s.
That concern is becoming a reality for the 2026 season in the Central Virginia Blue Ridge. Grayson Poats, semi-retired from his vineyard consulting and management days, says 2026 assessments are still ongoing, but initial reports are highly concerning.
“I’m not sure this will be like what we called the Mother’s Day Massacre back in 2020, but I am hearing of significant damage at many places,” Grayson tells us.
Grayson says one of his clients near Lovingston faired pretty well because he thinks this particular freeze was elevation dependent. “This freeze seemed to affect some of the vines at lower elevations but those say around 1000 feet and above did ok.”
And it’s not just vineyards.
What Grayson told us closely pairs with what John Bruguiere, owner of Dickie Brothers Orchard, told us Wednesday afternoon. “In our apple orchard the losses were confined mainly to the lower elevations. Anything up higher wasn’t as affected. But I can tell you from talking to other growers from around the region, this freeze has caused major damage in a lot of places.
Outside of our immediate area (above) it seems more vineyards are running into the same issue. Considerable damage to vines as a result of the hard freeze and frost that came after very warm temperatures that had everything budding.
Back in April of 2007, and again in 2020 as mentioned above, the situation was similar.
Above, in Bridgestone, the story was the same. Lots of damage.
Above, Steve Barnard, the winemaker at Keswick Vineyards explains just how bad the damage is there.
We have inquires our to some of the Nelson vineyards, but are being told the situation is similar, anything in the lower elevations got the most damage with crops up higher getting the least amount of damage.
Grayson does tell us there is a bit of a silver lining to all of this. “Some of the wineries I have spoken to tell me they have considerable inventory from last year on hand. So, if this had to happen I guess it’s a little better now than in a year when inventory is low. But it’s still bad, no matter when it happens.
