Paumanok-vineyard-spot

Paumanok-sauvignon

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor

As you probably saw earlier this morning, most of the post-Irene reports coming out of wine country are positive. I have yet to hear if any of the rain that fell on the vineyards had high levels of saltwater or not, which could cause further damage.

But, probably the most fascinating pictures come from Paumanok Vineyards, where it seems a small tornado damaged 100 sauvignon blanc vines.

As you can see in the picture at the top, the damage is very isolated within the vineyard and when you get closer (at right), the damage obviously isn't the result of wind blowing in a single direction.

According to winemaker Kareem Massoud, only one of the 100 vines was killed, however.

Special thanks to Kareem for the photos and for this short video, which offers a bit more perspective on the damage.