A combination of winter damage and warm weather has resulted in a record low ice wine harvest this winter. Just four wineries registered their intention to pick grapes for ice wine with the BC Wine Authority last fall, but by the time temperatures allowed for the harvest, just three proceeded. A total of 12 tonnes …
BC Wine Authority
Wine industry faces losses
Winegrowers across the province welcomed bountiful yields of high-quality fruit in 2022, according to Wine Growers BC in its annual vintage report released this week, but the coming season is likely to see yields significantly below normal. An extreme cold weather event on December 21-22 saw temperatures in the province’s major wine-growing regions fall below …
Ice wine intentions rise
An inflow of Arctic air pushed temperatures in Kelowna towards levels needed for ice wine this week, just as the deadline for producers to register their intention to make the sweet beverage approached. Temperatures approached -7° Celsius as midnight approached on November 7, a degree away from the -8° C that frozen grapes must reach …
Okanagan wine appellations expand
The province recently approved six new sub-geographical indications in the Okanagan Valley. “I think it’s a logical next step in the progression of looking harder at the Okanagan Valley and seeing what it has to offer north to south, east to west. A lot of people do that anyways, certainly within the industry,” says Julian …
Warm winter stalls icewine
Despite an early frost at the end of October, the winter’s warm weather has shrivelled the hopes of icewine makers. Just one winery of the 12 wineries that registered an intention with the BC Wine Authority to pick grapes for icewine this year has followed through. According to the BC Wine Institute, Bench 1775 picked …
Icewine harvest begins
BC’s icewine harvest kicked off in the wee hours of November 28 as temperatures in the Okanagan dropped below -8 degrees Celsius, the threshold required by law for harvesting and crushing frozen grapes for one of Canada’s signature agricultural products. Quails’ Gate Estate Winery of West Kelowna was one of 20 wineries that registered with …