B.C. winemakers in good spirits about 2021 vintage despite summer of fire and extreme heat

Grape growers in B.C's Okanaganregion are looking at reduced yields of up to 30 per cent as workers bring wine grapes from the vineyards during the annual fall harvest.

While an unprecedentedsummerofrecord-breaking heat and extreme drought conditions hascontributed to the smaller wine grape crop, those same growing conditions have helped yieldfruit that winemakers are especially excited about.

"I'm very optimistic about what's going to come out quality-wise for 2021, in spite of all that Mother Nature threw at us this year," said Barclay Robinson, head winemaker at Road 13 Vineyards, in Oliver, B.C.

"I'm seeing fantastic flavours across the boardin our whites and our rossand then the reds that are coming in right now."

The winery and its vineyards are located on the Golden Mile Bench, a sub-wine region in British Columbia on the western slope of the OkanaganValley, south of Oliver.

Temperatures reached into the high 40sC for multiple days in late June a crucial time in the growing season as grape vines movefrom flowering to fruit set.

"With that much heat, the plant just basically shuts down, Robinson said. "It'snot ripening, it's not growing because it can't pull up water and nutrients out of the ground at all."

The heat stress led to poor fruit set which occurs when a fertilized flower begins to develop a seed and grape berry and reduced yields in some varieties.

According to Wine Growers British Columbia, yields are down 15 to 30 per cent this year.

Continuous warm weather through the summer coupled with drought conditions in the region resulted insmaller berries ongrape vinesbut a strong concentration of flavourin the fruit, Robinsonsaid.

"That concentration of flavour is going to give fantastic wines for 2021," headded.

'Mother Nature this year helped the wineries'

A few kilometres away,Balwinder Dhaliwalis also anticipating an excellent vintage from this year's crop, despite lower yields.

Dhaliwalgrows about 200 hectaresof wine grapes, which he sellsto wineries across the Okanagan and usesto make wine athis family'sKismet Estate Winery.

"Mother Nature this year helped the wineries," he said. "I think this is the best vintage since we've beendoing this, almost 25 to 30 years."

Red wine grape varieties such asMalbec, Cabernet Sauvignonand Shiraz especially benefited from the hot and dry summer,Dhaliwalsaid, noting thatthe concentration of flavours will light up customers' palatesin wine-tasting rooms.

"People that know wineand love wine,they definitely can tell the difference this year," he said.

Growers across the Okanaganare reporting similar stories of lower yieldsbut high-quality wine grapesas they bring in the harvest fromvineyards, said Miles Prodan, CEO of Wine Growers British Columbia.

The OkanaganValley, stretching across more than 250 kilometres, is home to 86 per cent of B.C.'s vineyard acreage.

WATCH | Winemakers expect flavourful wine after warm summer:

Hot summer producing low yields, flavourful wine, B.C. winemakers say

3 years ago

Duration 2:01

Winemakers in B.C.'s Okanagan region say the record-breaking temperatures over the summer produced a small amount of grapes, but should lead to flavourful wine.

Region endured wildfire smoke in summer

This pastsummer, the valley was blanketedinsmoke for days on end from the many wildfires burning in the region.

Fire smokecan taint the flavour of wine whenairborne compounds from burning trees and soil settle on grapes still on the vine.

Prodan said he's not hearing from winemakersthat they'reworried about fire smoke tainting thewines in 2021 vintage.

"The interesting thing about the smoke taint is it really varies on the concentration of the smoke, where the smoke originates from and what step in thegrowth process the grapes are on," he said.

A fire burning next to a vineyard, with ash falling on the vine and grape clusters, is much more worrisome than smoke just hanging in the air throughout the valley, Prodansaid.

Winemakers also have ways of dealing with smoke compounds during and after fermentation, Robinson said.

"At Road 13, we didn't see such extreme smoke taint that it would affect not bringing in a vineyard block, so ours were very mild cases,"he said.

"It's something that we can definitely work with and still get a very good quality product, for sure."