The morning of April 21, 2026, residents in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania noticed the morning was chillier than usual. A frost had settled across the region the previous night, a dramatic switch after several days of unseasonably warm temperatures in the 90s.
For farmers across the region, the April 21 frost was a devastating blow. Tiny buds, enticed by the warm temperatures, were killed as overnight temperatures dipped into the 20s. Now in harvest season, many farmers and vineyard managers are finding that the frost had a worse impact than expected. Several lost nearly all of their expected harvest.
The Catholic Herald interviewed several Catholic-owned wineries to find out just how significant their losses were.
St. Peter parishioner John Quièvremont, owner of Quièvremont Vineyard and Winery in Little Washington, said he lost 90% of his harvest. “We got hit really hard,” he said. “It just decimated all the blooms.” After a meager harvest, all that was left was “secondary growth,” grape clusters too small to be processed.
At Rappahannock Cellars in Huntly, St. John the Baptist parishioner and co-owner Kelly Knight said she was filled with “dread” the night of April 20. “At that point, you alert the family phone tree that bad weather is incoming, do everything you possibly can to prepare the vineyards, and then pretty much drop to your knees and start praying,” she said. “We then spent the night obsessively watching the weather and waiting for the sun to come up, so you can actually get into the vineyard and see what Mother Nature decided to do.”
“We ended up hitting 26 degrees consistently for five hours,” said Anna Want, general manager of Casanel Vineyards and Winery in Leesburg and a St. John the Apostle parishioner. Casanel lost more than 60% of its harvest, netting eight tons of grapes as opposed to its usual 21 tons.
“Weather is always one of the biggest variables in farming, and spring in Virginia can be particularly unpredictable,” Knight said. “But in our nearly 30 years of farming this site, this was the single worst weather event we’ve experienced.”
The impact differed from winery to winery. Rappahannock Cellars escaped somewhat unscathed. “That’s one of the interesting and devastating aspects about an event like this,” Knight said. “Two vineyards can be relatively close geographically and have completely different outcomes based on grape variety, elevation, slope, soil, airflow and how far along the vines were when the freeze hit.” With two vineyards, the family was able to compare the impact of the frost on grape varietals at different elevations. “Our chambourcin, for example, came in with an abundant crop, while our viognier yields were extremely low,” Knight said.
Since it can take several years to produce certain wines, future wine lineups are unpredictable, winery managers said. Since white grapes were the earliest to bud and were consequently killed by the frost, white wines may be limited in the future, according to Want. “Chardonnay was the biggest varietal across the state that was completely gone,” she said. Quièvremont lost all of his chardonnay, while Casanel yielded barely any.
Winery managers said the frost forces them to be creative with their small harvests. “Rather than trying to force the same wine lineup every year, we have to work with what the vineyard gives us,” Knight said. Quièvremont said he views the tragedy as a new opportunity. “The good news is that I’ve always wanted to experiment, making different styles of wine,” he said, describing his plans for his limited harvest. He said a large backstock in his wine cellar will help prevent future financial struggles.
For Casanel, current trends compounded by the frost’s impact are threatening the family business. Over the last few years, the winery has observed that wine drinkers are drinking more dry white wines and rosés but avoiding red wines, according to Want. “If the whites that we have currently all sell out before the end of the year or become very little … it’s making us question whether or not we can open right away next year,” she said. The greatest help guests can give wineries is to expand their palates and try a red, she added.
Wineries have already taken a financial hit the last few years. Quièvremont said that the recent sobriety movement popular among Gen Z young adults has negatively impacted business, along with a surge in “microbreweries” throughout Northern Virginia, which provide wine options along with beer and other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
Mother Nature has also been unkind the last few years, Want said. “We’ve seen more death, like more vines actually completely dying over the last two or three years,” she said. She attributes the vine death to several years of spring and summer droughts, too much rain during harvest season, and damage from the invasive spotted lantern fly.
Scenarios like the April 21 frost remind farmers that, “You put the whole enterprise in the hands of God,” according to Quièvremont. Knight at Rappahannock added that the very nature of farming forces farmers to realize there is little they can control. “You work hard, you prepare as much as you possibly can, and eventually you have to have faith and accept that the rest isn’t entirely in your hands,” she said.
Want said she and her husband have turned to prayer as their winery faces an uncertain future. “My husband and I have said, ‘What is God trying to tell us?’ ” she said. “We’re hopeful that we will get an answer.”
Donofrio can be reached at anna.donofrio@catholicherald.com.
If you go
For Casanel Vineyards and Winery, go to casanelvineyards.com.
For Quièvremont Vineyard and Winery, go to quievremont.com.
For Rappahannock Cellars, go to rappahannockcellars.com.
