This is the second of our BC Vintage 2018 series. To read about the winemaker’s feedback on the harvest for The Okanagan Valley and the Kootneys see our earlier post.
This article focuses on the Cowichan Valley plus an update from one of the West Kelowna wineries.
Vancouver Island
Cowichan Valley
Zac Brown |Alderlea Vineyards
The year started out well. A warm May giving us some measurable degree days which was a much better start than 2017. Unfortunately, we had some big storms during fruit set. This resulted in a much lower grape yields than in the previous few years. Talking with other Cowichan growers we were not the only ones impacted.
At Alderlea, Pinot Noir was down by over 55%, Pinot Gris by 30% and Merlot by 15%. Bacchus and Gewürztraminer had completed fruit set before the storms and were unaffected. The upside to reduced crop loads is that the quality of the fruit harvested was exceptional, with higher Brix levels and lower acidity than the previous few years. Our Pinot Noir hit 24.3 Brix and our Sauvignon Blanc 23.5, acidity levels were textbook and no adjustments of acid or sugar levels were required on any of our Vinifera.
July and August were very hot and dry, our vineyard has irrigation installed and we irrigated up to the ten years average level in a rotating block pattern. Reviewing the vineyard’s records going back 15 years, this is the most irrigation used in established blocks. Irrigation was stopped at the onset of veraison. The first week of September saw significant rainfall and irrigation was was stopped for this season.
We started harvest on the 26th of September with the white varietals and had the whole crop brought in by October 8. October’s exceptional weather allowed us to get our bird nets in early. The new wines bubbled away in their jacketed tanks. This year we diverted 1/3 of our red production into a new Rose´ program so we didn’t need to push for additional hang time.
This was our second harvest since taking over Alderlea and I can say it went much smoother than our first year, which was like being shot out of a cannon, doing it all on our own. We made some improvements to our facility with larger capacity jacketed tanks. Also, a bigger must pump reducing the re-handling and physical labour aspect. We also bought a new tractor and I trained Julie to operate it! So she stepped into the role of harvest lead. Her organisational skills had the fruit picked and brought in with military precision. This made my work on the crush pad much easier, with a steady feed of grapes.
Short-term plans include planting a couple rows of Zweigelt this spring to add to our Matrix red blend. Longer term plans include the acquisition of additional land. This will be used for vineyard expansion and a new winery production building.
We will continue with our non-estate label Moto Vino Plaid Wines introduced 15 months ago. This will cap at the current 500 cases per year level. The Philosophy behind Plaid is to produce affordable local coastal wine blends that are food friendly and approachable by new wine fans and sophisticated tastes alike.
I’d also like to shout out to those Cowichan Viticulture Veteran’s who have provided us with solid advice and many laughs. We will be forever grateful for the advice and support from WIGA, Saison Vineyard, Emandare, Unsworth and Enrico.
Chris Turyk & Dan Wright | Unsworth Vineyards
In general, all varieties achieved fantastic chemical and phenolic ripeness. Some blocks achieved the greatest chemical ripeness on record. Acids took a little longer to drop than I expected given the beautiful summer we had. I attribute that to the cool/wet period in the latter half of September which put ripening on pause.
Luckily we had a redemptive October and were able to wait until the week of 14-20 to harvest the reds. Unlike years where the weather forces a mad rush to get everything in, we were able to space out the picks. It was very civilized. Yields were down in certain vineyards, which I believe was due to a combination of a long, cool, cloudy flowering in June and a very dry July/August. Our overall yield for 2018 was the same or marginally higher than 2017.
Looking back on the data, 2018 was neck and neck with 2016 for the second warmest (cumulative GDD) season on record, albeit they had very different weather during the seasons. They are surpassed only by 2015 in GDD.
Note: Cumulative growing degree days (GDD) are calculated from the average centigrade temperature of each day over a time period–usually from planting to the present.
Okanagan Valley
West Kelowna
Edwin Chu | Grizzli Winery
The Big Reds – Merlot and Cabernet Franc from our Osoyoos and Oliver vineyard are achieving high Brix again this year. The Siegerrebe from our East Kelowna vineyard was harvest around mid-September and was also very successful.
As for Grizzli Winery, our winemaker team works all year round, next move is icewine harvest. The Grizzli winery and its sister winery together
Conclusion
Cowichan Valley
- Spring storms during the bud set meant some vineyards experienced significant yield decreases compared to a normal year.
- All varieties achieved fantastic chemical and phenolic ripeness. Some blocks achieved the greatest chemical ripeness on record.
General
While we are enjoying a warm Okanagan Fall, the wineries are patiently waiting for the temperature drop to begin the ice wine harvest.