With the grape harvest getting underway in the Okanagan, an analysis of last year’s crop for the BC Wine Grape Council sets the stage for what growers will be picking this fall. Plantings have been expanding in BC in recent years, with some growers pushing into new, higher-elevation locations for cool-climate vines. Those acres yielded …
grape
Pruning priorities different for FV grapegrowers
LANGLEY – Close to 30 grape growers in the Lower Mainland attended the BC Grapegrowers’ Association’s first workshop outside the Okanagan on January 21. The session, held at Chaberton Estate Winery in Langley, included a safety discussion and hands-on pruning workshop. Township 7 winemaker Mary McDermott notes events like this are needed in Langley because …
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 …
Grape diversification in play
With the province’s grape harvest set to begin in earnest, a glance at a summary of the 2018 harvest from the BC Wine Grape Council reveals growing diversification in the province’s grape crop. The report notes that more that 42,732 tons were harvested in 2018, split almost evenly between red grapes (21,332 tons) and white …
Vineyard damage lowers expectations
Okanagan wineries hope growing conditions this summer will deliver a decent grape crop, despite delayed budbreak in vineyards across the Okanagan that hampered vine development. BC Grapegrowers Association members discussed the problem at a field day in May. “Some vines in some vineyards saw poor bud break this year, with erratic and late development,” says …
Cowichan Valley seeks sub-appellation
Cowichan Valley wineries and grape growers are rallying behind a proposal to create Vancouver Island’s first sub-appellation. A proposal to designate the Cowichan Valley a sub-geographical indication (GI, or appellation) of the larger Vancouver Island appellation was filed with the BC Wine Authority on April 16. “The proposed sub-GI has been identified as a unique …