Celebrating the grape harvest in late July would be unheard-of in the world’s great wine regions, where some varietals aren’t ready for picking until early November. In Texas, however, “la vendange” for 2018 is upon us. Messina Hof kicks of its 41st annual Harvest Festival celebration Friday night at the original winery in Bryan — and that’s two weeks after Bending Branch Winery in Comfort started bringing in its tempranillo.

Historically, our relatively short ripening season has been a problem for Texas wines. But advances in winemaking technology — and a shifting focus to varietals that don’t need as much hang time as, say, cabernet sauvignon — have made it far less of an issue of late. Truth to tell, the early harvest for the right red grapes guarantees vibrant color in the bottle and, with the heat we’ve had, there’s no reason to worry about the brix.

A further benefit of Texas’ narrow ripening window is that it takes Gulf hurricanes out of play. Though Hurricane Harvey’s unrelenting downpour caused the state myriad problems in 2017, the record rains happened well after the largest harvest in the state’s history, which began in mid-July after the unusually warm winter brought about an early bud break and, mercifully, no frigid spikes followed. Our sultry summers notwithstanding, the most harmful damage gets done when the mercury plunges dramatically on multiple occasions.

It was hoped 2018 would be a start-to-finish encore, but the polar express that decimated the tender vegetation in Houston in January also took a toll in Texas wine country, ensuring diminished yields for most growers, although ongoing vineyard expansion provides a counterbalance for some. Messina Hof founder/owner Paul Bonarrigo has gone on the record predicting a statewide harvest as large as 18,000 tons, compared to last year’s bountiful 13,000.

Though even the most resolutely optimistic growers might question Bonarrigo on that, nobody’s predicting a drop-off in quality. That’s crucial. With nearly 350 wineries — yep, that’s how many Texas has now — collectively bringing some 1.8 million cases of wine to market in 2017, the Texas wine industry has a $13 billion business, but the numbers can still increase dramatically as greater year-to-year consistency is achieved.

Austin-based publicist and certified sommelier Denise Clarke recently polled folks at the Texas Fine Wine wineries she promotes for thoughts on what we can expect from this summer’s grape crop. The consortium, which is 100 percent committed to Texas fruit, provides an excellent cross-section of what’s going down in these parts.

Pat Brennan, owner of Brennan Vineyards (Comanche)

More Information Grape days ahead The Messina Hof Harvest Festival kicks off Friday night and runs for the next four weekends at the Bryan winery, followed by a final weekend at the Fredericksburg property. The schedule of events that still have ticket availability follows. For more information, go to messinahof.com. Bryan Friday: Moonlit Harvest, 7:30-10 p.m. $59.95 plus tax and gratuity. Saturday: Daytime Harvest, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. $35-$80 ($12 for children). Aug. 3: Dinner in Rio at the Vintage House Restaurant, 7:30 p.m. $69.95 plus tax and gratuity. Aug. 4: Daytime Harvest, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. $35-$80 ($12 for children). Harvest Cellar Tour and Dinner, 6:30 p.m. $69.95 plus tax and gratuity. Aug. 11: Daytime Harvest, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. $35-$80 ($12 for children). Go Texan Dinner at the Vintage House Restaurant, 7 p.m. $69.95 plus tax and gratuity. Aug. 18: Daytime Harvest, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. $35-$80 ($12 for children). Grand Finale Gala and Harvest Moon Dinner at the Vintage House, 7 p.m., $99 plus tax and gratuity. Fredericksburg Aug. 24: Sunset Harvest, 6-10 p.m. $15-$55 ($30 add-on for dinner). Aug. 25: Daytime Harvest Festival, Barrel Tasting and Brunch, 9 a.m.-12.30 p.m. $15-$55 ($30 add-on for brunch).

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“Generally, our vineyards look good. However, we did sustain some winter freeze damage to some vines when it got down to 2 degrees here in January. On the other hand, we dodged the devastating spring frost, which is usually our biggest worry. It looks like this is going to be a hot, dry summer, so we have our irrigation going almost nonstop. Preliminary crop estimates put us on target for yields similar to last year. Our growers on the High Plains tell us that they, too, sustained some winter freeze damage and that yields may be down a bit. But, all in all, we will take quality over quantity any day.”

Dave Reilly, winemaker for Duchman Family Winery (Driftwood)

“We are battling some hot, dry, tough conditions in both the Hill Country and High Plains, but that’s one reason why we plant primarily heat-tolerant varieties. Given the drier conditions, we expect to get smaller berries with concentrated flavor and color. We are excited about our montepulciano and aglianico. Both produce great wines in OK conditions and exceptional wines in great conditions. This year looks to be a good year for our dolcetto. If we avoid late-summer rains, it’s shaping up to be a really outstanding year. But I like to say it’s not a great vintage until the grapes are in the loading dock and you see what you’ve got.”

Joanna Wilczoch, assistant winemaker at Pedernales Cellars (Stonewall)

“We are feeling pretty good about harvest this year. Conditions have been warm and dry across the state, meaning smaller berry sizes but more concentrated fruit. There has been very little disease pressure due to the dry, hot days, so despite our yields looking smaller, everything is looking beautiful. We are on track to begin harvest this week, starting, of course, with tempranillo. After getting hailed out last year, we are also looking forward to our first crop of carignan and tannat from Andy Timmons’ Lost Draw Vineyards in the High Plains. At our estate, we’re going into our second harvest of our newest block of mourvèdre. Last year this became a whole-cluster-press rosé, and we have big plans for it with the 2018 vintage, too. We’ll also be playing around with a couple of small experimental lots of roussanne and vermentino that have just come into maturity.”

Ron Yates, owner of Spicewood Vineyards (Spicewood)

“The Spicewood estate vineyard is as healthy and happy as it has ever been. This year is looking to be one of our hotter years, so we expect to see ripening earlier, but our late bud break in the spring should help counteract it. We have a new block of tempranillo, and our first estate carignan fruit is coming online this year. We plan to make single-varietal carignan in the years ahead. Our vermentino in the High Plains looks great. The heat has really rocketed things along. We will start with some of our smaller white grapes, and that should lead in to picking most of our white-wine grapes by the end of July.”

Dr. Bob Young, owner/winemaker at Bending Branch Winery (Comfort)

“We’re on track for a banner year with fruit coming from excellent growers in three areas. Our Comfort vineyards look outstanding, and we’re expecting moderate yields. Four of our favorite varietals will be harvested locally, including our signature red, tannat, and signature white, picpoul blanc. Souzâo and malbec are projected to have higher-quality fruit than last year, which we are thrilled about. The local vineyards have successfully dealt with some minor infestation from a new pest, the grape berry moth. The tannat in Mason County has been phenomenal the last two years, and this year should not be an exception. The Texas High Plains fruit also looks excellent at this point. Cabernet sauvignon will have low yields but intense fruit. Tannat and petite sirah should have above-average yields. We are especially excited to receive our second crop of sagrantino, an Italian grape that reveals itself as a highly structured, age-worthy red. Sagrantino holds great promise for the Texas wine industry.”