By DOUG GRAVES

Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Think of wine in the United States, and the state of California comes immediately to mind. But Ohio, with its often variable temperatures at growing time and its variance of soils, has inched up in its ranking for wine production to sixth-highest state in the nation – just a notch above longtime gridiron rival Michigan.

Ohio’s annual wine production has doubled since 2012 to nearly 6 million gallons. Ohio wineries grew to 265 in 2016 from 175 in 2012, according to a state report. Still, Ohio’s production significantly lags behind the wine-producing states of California, Washington, New York, Pennsylvania, and Oregon.

“Everyone has always thought of California, Germany, France, and Australia as wine-producing regions, and it’s becoming more evident to people that there are Ohio wines,” said Todd Steiner, who leads the science of winemaking program in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) at The Ohio State University.

“Part of the challenge is that more vineyards are needed to supply Ohio’s wineries. We have so many wineries in Ohio now, we want to make sure there’s enough accessible fruit on hand for the wineries.”

The number of gallons produced in Ohio in 2016 doubled the total in 2012, according to a recently released report by the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Ohio Grape Industries Committee.

“As every grape grower here knows, brutal winters can be an obstacle, such as the one in 2014,” Steiner explained. “That killed us. We had to replant or retrain a lot of vines. Any newly planted vines take about four years before they produce wine-quality grapes.”

According to Steiner, weather is a major reason why vineyard owners on the West Coast have an edge on the Buckeye State. Still, he said there are plenty of types of grapes that can handle frigid temperatures and hardier winter varieties are being grown in Ohio for experimentation.

“From north to south, Ohio’s weather varies, with it being warmer and dryer in the south, and varieties can be grown that do well in each region,” he said. “A grape that is performing well here is a variety called Arneis, a white grape originally grown in northern Italy. In northwest Ohio, growers produce La Crescent, Frontenac, and other cold-hardy selections, as well as Labrusca varieties, which can handle subzero temperatures.

“Favoring a longer growing season with increased heat and milder winters, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Norton red grapes stretch across vines in southern Ohio. Still other varieties grow in northeast Ohio near the Lake Erie shoreline.”

American cultivars suggested for Ohio include Concord, Fredonia, Steuben, Catawba, Delaware, and Niagara. All varieties offer winter hardiness in this state. Concord is the most commonly grown backyard grape, while Catawba, Delaware, and Niagara are most-used for producing wine.

While Ohio seems favorable to many grape varieties, pathogens remain problematic.

“The high level of moisture, particularly in northeast Ohio, the largest grape-growing region in the state, can be problematic for vineyard owners,” said Melanie Lewis Ivey, an OSU extension plant pathologist. “We have an ideal environment for pathogens because of the state’s humid and warm summers and falls.

“The three most destructive grape diseases are all caused by fungi, and they are black rot, downy mildew, and powdery mildew. All three can destroy grapes.”

Few natural fungicides exist, so grape growers have to spray artificial fungicides, she said. “But that doesn’t make the grapes less marketable because they were sprayed. That’s because the demand for organic wine is not significant.”

The Ohio vineyards have one perennial pest: The spotted-wing drosophila fruit fly.

“When growers leave the pruned clusters on the ground, they’re offering a meal ticket to this pest that plagues grape vines across the country,” said OSU extension entomologist Elizabeth Long. “After the larval flies devour the discarded grapes, they will mature and a new generation of adult fruit flies will emerge.

“They’re going to be looking for food, and it’s going to be the grapes on the vine.”

A native of Southeast Asia, the spotted-wing drosophila fruit fly was first spotted in Ohio six years ago.

“The idea is to spray only when you need to so you don’t risk harm to beneficial insects and save yourself some money in the process,” Long said. “It’s a balancing act of dealing with a few insects, because they’re going to be there, and not breaking the bank to have this pristine ‘insect-free’ vineyard that, in reality, doesn’t exist.”