Global Courant 2023-04-16 01:06:12
British Columbia’s wine industry expects a significant reduction in wine grape production this year due to a prolonged winter cold snap that damaged vineyards in the Okanagan Valley, the province’s main wine-producing region.
First forecasts Winegrowers BC according to CEO Miles Prodan a drop of 39 to 56 percent in wine and grape production this year due to a two-day drop in temperatures below minus 20C across the region at the end of last December.
“More than half of the grapes will not bear fruit this year and that is of course a major concern,” says Prodan.
“It’s quite extensive in terms of its range throughout the valley.”
Researchers have examined the tiny buds on vines that go dormant through the winter by dissecting them and looking for signs of cold damage.
A dissection of a vine bud with a partially damaged bud. The primary bud in the center has turned brown and is dead, while the secondary and tertiary buds are green and likely survived the cold damage. (Contributed by Ben Min Chang)
Extreme cold freezes cells in vine buds
In some less hardy varieties or in parts of the valley where temperatures dropped closer to minus 30C, up to 100 percent of the buds have been damaged, said viticultural physiologist Ben-Min Chang of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
“When the temperature drops (the cold) the cells will be killed. Ice formed in those cells and those cells even burst,” Chang said.
“We see a brown color and that basically means the bud is now dead.”
Much of the damage is in the South Okanagan region, which is known for growing the vast majority of red wine varieties that require a lot of heat and sunlight to fully develop.
The BC wine industry expects to produce up to 55 percent less grapes and wine this year due to two days of prolonged cold winter temperatures. (Christian Amundson/CBC)
‘Some species are quite toast’
For Balwinder Dhaliwal, co-owner of Kismet Estate Winery, the cold damage is more severe and widespread than he has ever seen in his three decades of growing wine grapes in the region.
“It looks really bad. Some varieties are quite roasted,” Dhaliwal said.
“Some varieties are a bit more hardy, like Cabernet Franc or Pinot Gris. We still find a little bit of live bud, but some varieties like Merlot are dead.”
It will be another four to six weeks before the full extent of the damage is known, Dhaliwal said.
Balwinder Dhaliwal, co-owner of Kismet Estate Winery, grows 600 acres of wine grapes in the southern Okanagan region. He says there has been significant winter damage this year. (Christian Amundson/CBC)
The worst case scenario is severe winter damage requiring the replacement of entire plots of vines.
“That will be a nightmare. We will have to pull out all the plants and plant new vines that will take three to four years to start producing again,” Dhaliwal said.
BC isn’t the only wine-producing region in Canada to experience significant winter damage to vineyards.
Last month, Nova Scotia promised $15 million in emergency funding for wine grape producers hit by an extreme cold snap and last year Ontario’s Niagara region suffered significant winter damage to its vines.
Wine grape production has fallen by 30% in recent years
In BC, last winter’s prolonged cold spell is part of a trend of extreme weather events that have affected grape production in recent years.
It’s something that Wine Growers BC has followed, according to Prodan, who says yields are down about 30 percent in the past seven to eight years.
“We see heat domes in the summer, we see smoke that can affect the growth (of grapes), if not ultimately the taste,” he said.
“We can rectify that with climate change.”
The BC wine industry contributes nearly $3 billion to the provincial economy and creates 12,000 jobs. (Christian Amundson/CBC)
The situation is making growers think about replanting their vineyards with varieties that are more resistant to extreme temperatures.
Prodan points to a provincial replanting program to help farmers replace their vines with more cold-tolerant varieties.
“With climate change, we have to turn back the clock a bit. Now that we know what grows well where, we have to make sure those grapes are in the ground.”
Impact on tourism in the Okanagan
However, for the 2023 vintage, the consequences of the expected reduced grape volume will not be felt by consumers in the coming years.
White wines hit the shelves next year and reds a year after that.
Vineyards in Nova Scotia are still recovering from the extreme winter temperatures in early February that devastated their crops. (Paul Palmer/CBC)
Some winemakers, such as David Patterson of Tantalus Vineyards in Kelowna, are concerned that the much smaller volume of wine produced could affect tourism in the Okanagan region.
“A big reason people come here because of other destinations is the wine industry here and they can go on a wine tour,” said Paterson.
“If suddenly we don’t have wine to sell because of the short harvest, it will have a spillover effect on jobs in restaurants, jobs in hotels, because why do the tourists come here if they can’t?” go and do the tourism they want to do?”
The BC wine industry has an impact of $3 billion on the province’s economy, creating more than 12,000 jobs.
But as Prodan points out, that assumes there are plenty of grapes grown in BC to produce wine. That probably won’t be the case this season.
