Record early grape harvest

The 2015 summer will go down as a hot, smokey season to remember but now it will also be recalled as the year for a record-breaking start to the grape harvest season.

What usually begins in late September or early October is taking place two to three weeks earlier as many wineries in the Okanagan valley are already halfway through harvest.

The first Sauvignon Blanc grapes for table wine were picked by Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate on Aug. 20, a week ahead of the 2013 vintage and their earliest harvest on record.

Troy Osborne Director of Viticultural at Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate said each year gets better and better for growing grapes.

"Every winery has a picking strategy depending on what style of wine they are looking for. We pick our Sauvignon Blanc grapes early to achieve those green, veracious notes and fresh, crisp flavour profiles.

The biggest challenge is dealing with increased growing degree days and matching our crop loads to balance that.”

The BC Wine Institute attributes the record setting start to above average ‘Growing Degree Days’ (GDD) and lower than normal precipitation this summer.

GDD is the measurement viticulturists use worldwide to calculate whether the growing season has sufficient days where the sustained temperature is at least 10 C, the minimum temperature conducive for ripening grapes. The calculation of daily GDD is a tool used to predict important stages for grapes such as bloom and crop maturity.
 
Wineries outside the Okanagan and Similkameen Valley are also experiencing record-breaking harvest dates, as Winemaker Patrick Murphy at Vista D'oro Farms and Winery in the Fraser Valley described this year to be the earliest harvest they've ever had.

He said the harvest started Aug. 28 with their estate, which is picked early to create their lighter style red.

"The wet clay we have here in the Fraser Valley creates a much different tasting Foch to the grapes grown in the dryer, sandy soils of the Okanagan. This year's crop looks fantastic."

In Kamloops, along the South Thompson River, Monte Creek Ranch kicked off their harvest on Aug. 19 with their young vines. Winemaker Galen Barnhardt said the weather this summer had been off the charts compared to previous years, although mentioned that 1998 was a scorcher year as well.

"We didn't get the typical rain we usually get in the month of June, giving the vines a lot of growing degree days.This year marks the first vintage for Monte Creek working out of their new onsite facility near Kamloops.

The pressure's on, we thought we would have a few more weeks to get everything organized so the biggest challenge for us this year is getting our cellar ready in time for harvest."
 
Over on Vancouver Island, winemaker Daniel Cosman noted a different trend, what started as a hot dry summer with barley any precipitation is not back on par with the regular harvest season after two weeks of straight rain.

"It's been an interesting year on Vancouver Island, if I could sum up this year's growing season in one word, it would be ‘monumental.”

While wineries might be rejoicing over the summer’s hot weather the  smokey skies didn’t go unnoticed, as several vineyards were threatened by wildfire.

Mike Watson the Viticulturist for Constellation Brands Canada said there isn’t a perceived problem at this time, but wineries are doing their due diligence in testing and monitoring for smoke aromas; however from initial indications everything is coming out clean.

"We have seen this before in 2003 where heavy smoke never amounted to anything for the wine or the fruit. If there are any affects from smoke aromas, it will be very site specific and will be monitored accordingly.”  

Either way the 2015 vintage will be and exciting one to watch for.