SHERIDAN, N.Y. — It's a busy time of year for many wineries along Lake Erie in Chautauqua county.
"Coming into this weekend Lake Erie Wine Country has our Wine and Chocolate weekend," said Beth Margolis, Marketing Director for Liberty Vineyards and Winery in Sheridan. "Twenty-three different wineries participate, get a wine and chocolate sample at each winery."
Liberty Vineyards was ready for the Valentine's Day rush right into the weekend. And it's also a time to get out and check the grape vines for possible damage after up and down temperatures so far this winter season including record lows below zero for some of the area two weeks ago.
"We do worry if it gets too much below zero," Margolis said. "We did take some of the canes from the grapevine and put them inside put in some water and see if going to bud out, and at least at this point looks like it should be OK."
"There's always a little bit of damage and we can change how we prune based on what exactly has happened ... but we do like that there is a lot of ice out on Lake Erie to keep it cool, and keep spring from coming too early, when the vines could bud out and there's potential for frost damage."
Liberty Vineyards opened its winery 11 years ago this weekend. But parts of the vineyard are more than a century old.
"Some of the vineyards were planted in the 1860s," Margolis said. "And still have about 8 acres of the original vineyard that's still in production."