MUKWONAGO -- Recent freezes have been devastating for local winemakers.
Making wine in Wisconsin is not for the faint of heart. Especially this month. Mid-May temperature drops below freezing have proved disastrous.
"I'm figuring I lost about 50 percent of my crop because if you look at the plants, they all have some frostbite," Todd Pieper said. "Those frozen buds are going to fall off and die."
Pieper invested thousands of dollars planting his own vineyard in Mukwonago four years ago. He started making wine in his basement as a hobby and grew it into a business: Pieper Porch Winery.
Losing half of his crop in one springtime cold snap is a big price to pay.
"It will cost me more for the grapes that I have to get elsewhere, rather than from my own vines," Pieper said.
While his vines will recover, a whole year is wasted.
"It won't affect this year's wines that you're buying today or tomorrow or this fall," he said. "It's next year. There won't be much to harvest next year."
Pieper is not the only one feeling the pain. Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac, which owns Cedar Creek Winery in Cedarburg, lost more than 75 percent of its crop. They said it's the worst frost they've seen in more than 30 years.
Even more than the financial impact is the heartbreak. A lot of hard work goes into the plants. It's truly a labor of love.
"They're our babies," Pieper said. "We take care of them. I'm out here watching over them every day. When mother nature does her thing, there's not a whole lot we can do about it."
