Want to talk blueberries? The amiable 61-year-old Winney, with a smile breaking under his walrus mustache, will walk you down a sandy path, trailed by his cats Frasier and Max, into long rows of bushy four- to five-foot-tall plants.

Blueberries, unlike other crops, have a long season, he explains. “We’re ready for pickers around the fifth of July, and hopefully, we’re going through August.”

Like grapes, blueberries come in different varieties with different flavors and sugar content. Each variety reaches maturity at a different time, and the taste of the berries is affected by rainfall and soil. “They taste one way when they are two years old and at five, they taste different,” he says. Even the same variety grown only ¼ mile away may have a different flavor due to different soil conditions.

The farm, a mile from the Hudson River, is in Zone 5, warmer than the most of northern Saratoga County, which is Zone 4. “Because of the Hudson River, we can raise varieties that you can’t raise two miles from here,” he says.

Duke, Sierra, Bluecrop, Nelson, Eliot, Liberty, Legacy, Arlen, Collins, Brigitta, Blue Jay are some of their names. Winney grows 18 varieties of the native North American fruit. “I like Sierras and Brigittas,” he says. “And if I was blindfolded, I could tell the difference.”

Although Winney’s berries are notcertified as organic, they are chemical free when you pick them. That’s because early in the season, right after the plants flower, they get only one light dose of pesticide to keep away the nasty cranberry fruit worm.

“You don’t have to wash them, the pesticide wore off long ago,” says Byron, who snacks on fresh berries by the handful while he waits on customers. “I end up eating a pint of berries a day.”

Although many customers can’t tell a Duke from a Bluecrop, there are faithful pickers who call to find out when their favorite varieties are ripe. “If you want Collins and Blue Jays, come on the 10th or 12th of July,” he says. “Brigittas, they come on toward the end of July.” Dick Bennett, a Clifton Park resident who has been picking at Winney’s with his wife Dorcey for more than 15 years, discovered a new variety last summer called “Little Giant,” which he describes as “a cultivated berry resembling a wild blueberry—small and very sweet.” And once, a chef from a Saratoga restaurant spent hours on the farm, sampling and savoring each variety.

Blueberry lovers don’t care about the weather, Byron has found. “Often times, it’s pouring rain and people are still coming. They have to dry their berries.”

On nice days, pickers bring their lunch and sit inthe field at a picnic table or spread a blanket on the ground, while at the farm stand, as big as a two-car garage, others queue up to get their berries weighed by Winney and his crew.