Winemakers have high hopes for wines produced from this year's grape harvest.
The word "drought" usually conjures up images of withered crops, brown lawns and water restrictions.
In the wine business, though, drought can mean good news.
"When people say drought, right away it's a negative connotation, but that's not so with wine grapes," said Dr. Gary Pavlis, Rutgers University professor and agricultural agent specializing in blueberry and grape/wine production. "We love a dry year. When we get one, that's often a great vintage."
Most of North Jersey remains under a drought warning, while areas south are faring better in terms of rainfall.
What does this year's rainfall mean for 2016 wines from New Jersey?
"We're looking at a very good vintage," Pavlis said.
The harvest has wrapped up and wine production is in full swing across the Garden State.
New Jersey's wineries produce 1.5 million gallons a year, according to the state Department of Agriculture, making it the seventh largest wine-producing state in the nation.
North Jersey's drought didn't worry Robert J. "Matty" Matarazzo, owner of Four Sisters Winery in Warren County. "My experience has always been that drier is better," he said.
Dry whether promotes a concentration of flavors within the grapes, Pavlis said. It also means fewer plant diseases.
"You end up with really exceptional wine," he said.
Four Sisters grows French-American hybrids and native wine grapes, which are those native to America. "Those are the ones that have made us successful," Matarazzo said.
He was pleased with this year's harvest.
"I would say it was a really good harvest," he said. Harvest runs from just after Labor Day through early October at Four Sisters.
While going a month without rain in an area with sandy soils could be devastating, North Jersey's sandy loam and gravel base holds moisture longer, Matarazzo said.
The third-generation farmer recalls his days of growing vegetables when a drought meant 24/7 crop irrigation. In his 32 years of growing grapes, irrigation has never been necessary.
The key to surviving drought is deep roots. Plants like corn and soybeans don't "scavenge" water the way grapes do, Pavlis explained. Grape roots can run 20 to 30 feet deep to find water.
For Dave Davis, vineyard manager at Auburn Road Vineyard & Winery in Salem County, it's all about the number of sunny days that determines a successful growing year.
Rain came in bunches this year at the South Jersey vineyard, with plenty of sunny stretches in between, he said. "You can't really look at total rainfall when you're talking about wine grapes," Davis explained. "It really has more to do with sunlight."
For example, a day of heavy downpours that delivers several inches of rain is preferable to a long stretch of cloudy days and drizzle because the sun returns quickly and the crops dry out.
Too much rain can mean trouble.
Grapes behave much like tomatoes, in that both suck up water and can split if they take in too much.
"The biggest problem we have in the East here is too much water," Pavlis observed. "It puffs up the grapes with water and it causes diseases."
What really stood out about this year was the heat, Davis observed.
"It was one of the hottest summers on record in the Mid-Atlantic," he said. That meant managing heat stress.
The crop made it through with no problems, though, and Davis calls this a "very high-quality" year, marking the fourth standout year in a row since 2013. "This has been an outstanding run in terms of consistency and quality," he said.
Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Chardonay are the all-stars at Auburn Road.
When Davis is asked early in the season what kind of year he expects, he can't answer.
"What really matters the most is what the weather is like in August, September and October," he said, as the grapes are ripening. "It's not how you start, it's how you finish."
To illustrate that truth, he points to 2011 and 2012, two mediocre years thanks to Tropical Storm Lee in September 2011 and Sandy the following year in October.
In South Jersey this year, a wet spring followed by a dry summer means the harvest of grapes used to make white wines -- including Chardonnay and Pino Grigio -- was "one of the best ever" at Cape May Winery and Vineyard, winemaker Darren Hesington said.
Hot, dry weather brings out very intense flavors and varietal characteristics, he said.
The harvest for whites, which were picked from the vine in early September, was above average, and it was a "really good" year for the reds, he said. Dry weather gave way to heavy rains in Cape May toward the end of September. Thankfully, those September rains were followed by drier weather as harvest approached. The harvest of reds wrapped up last week.
Cape May vineyards enjoy an extended growing season because of warmer fall temperatures and the harvest stretches into early November.
The decision of when to harvest can be difficult and comes down to a combination of weather watching, daily monitoring of the plants and experience.
"We sort of become meteorologists ourselves, I guess, trying to predict when the rain is coming," Hesington said. "It's tough to predict."
Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.