This is the second in our BC Harvest 2020 series. To read about the winemaker’s feedback on the Okanagan Valley harvest see our earlier post.
Many thanks to all the winemakers that have contributed to these articles.
This post focuses on the Vancouver Island’s Cowichan Valley, Fraser Valley, Thompson Valley and Shuswap plus more comments from Okanagan wineries.
Vancouver Island
Dan Wright | Unsworth Vineyards
A relatively dry and warm April and May lead to early jump on the season which was quickly taken away by a classic June-uary. Which lead to a slow and imperfect flowering and ultimately to loose clusters and lower yields.
On the positive side, these lower yields likely helped speed up ripening but the timing resulted in a later season. We hit another hiccup with the smoke accumulation in early September which slowed sugar production. However, we lucked out with a beautifully dry and warm fall which kept acid metabolism on track and allowed us to pick well into the latter half of October.
Despite lower GDD this year, we still remained in the low end of the last 6 years which is much higher than the historical average of the last 20 years. We ended in a similar place as 2019 albeit by a very different route.
I think the flavours are a little more developed owing to a slightly nicer fall but I certainly don’t want to short change 2019.
To read more about Unsworth Vineyards new releases see – Unsworth Vineyard 2020 Releases and you can order their wines here.
Bailey Williamson | Blue Grouse Estate Winery
Bud burst in April followed the usual timeline and pattern, only to be followed by a cool slightly damp spring which resulted in marginal fruit set through flowering. July and August were fairly standard but there were very few + 30 days.
In Sept the high smoke rolled in and cooled the first half of the month which put us behind slightly for sugar accumulation. Things brightened up after that until we received 7 cm. yes you read that correct, in 3 days, not optimal when the grapes are at their most vulnerable. Again the skies brightened up and allowed us to harvest into October, the last of the Pinot Noir came off on the 19th .
Having gone through the cellar early this week, I feel the wines, although with slightly elevated acid, are going to show well the character of the Cowichan Valley. The Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris will show a bit leaner, but that bodes well for ageability and elegance.
Please visit Blue Grouse Estate Winery to see their complete wine portfolio.
Fraser Valley
Gary Zhygailo | Chaberton Estate Winery
The yields were lower than what we are used to because of the large amount of rain in June during flowering. However, the quality of the grapes was still high. We are expecting the same quality of juices that we are accustomed to, but just in less volume.
Please visit the Chaberton Estate Winery to see their complete wine portfolio.
David Zimmerman |Seaside Pearl Farmgate Winery
This year for our grapes we had a light crop for Petit Milo but with great chemistry and the fruit was in good condition. For our Cabernet Foch, it was a normal to heavy crop. We let it hang longer so there was some bird damage not very many wasps this year. One of the guys in Okanagan told me the crop was lighter for him as well for Harvest 2020.
To read more about Seaside Pearl see – Seaside Pearl Farmgate Winery and Petit Milo and the link to review their wines here.
Thompson Valley
Galen Barnhardt | Monte Creek Ranch
2020 started off cool but we had a warm and dry August and September which got the timing a bit more back to normal. Quality seems high so far, though it appears to be a year of lower sugar levels, which should make for more moderate alcohol wines. Even though later ripening varieties aren’t as high Brix as we might see in an average year, phenolic ripeness is actually quite advanced, so again I think freshness and elegance will be the name of the game this year.
Normally in BC we have to push the Brix levels (and of course corresponding alcohol levels) a bit higher than I might like in order to get the phenolic ripeness we want, but that doesn’t appear to be the case this year. I doubt you’ll be seeing anything California-like out of 2020, but if you’re a fan of restrained but flavourful wines that should age well, then this might be the year for you.
Shuswap
James Clark | Sunnybrae Vineyards & Winery
We experienced a rather cold and wet spring here in the Shuswap leading to late bloom, fruit set and lower yields across some varieties. However, some hot and sunny weeks in late August pushed our Siegerrebe and Ortega back on schedule for harvest. An overcast and misty start to Autumn led to an unusual break in harvest momentum and a frost on October 23rd coaxed us to bring in the final blocks but helped to bring up the sugar levels.
On average, harvest dates were within a week of 2019 with the exception of Kerner which came in on October 29th, our latest end to the season since 2013!
The silver lining to this year’s weather was minimal wasp damage and no battles with Botrytis. A steady ripening phase also allowed for some very exciting balance between Brix and Acidity. The condition of the fruit was beautiful!
Please visit Sunnybrae Vineyards & Winery to see their complete wine portfolio.
Okanagan Falls
Mark Simpson | BC Wine Studio
Nothing about 2020 has been normal, but the grapes grow and ripen without regard to politics, pandemics or elections. This year had been overall a good harvest and the wines of 2020 will be well regarded as remembered as one the better harvests in recent memory.
We had a cool spring and later fruit set, so that set the stage for lower yields all around. My vineyard visits showed flowering 2- 3 weeks behind other years in some areas like Naramata and a little less behind in Okanagan Falls and South Okanagan.
July and August were hot and dry, and many vineyards caught up somewhat in colour and flavour development, but not cluster size or sugars.
September and October were mostly dry and sunny, so we avoided the perfect storm from 2019 of rainy September and early frost in October, which really hurt the 2019 harvest. Disease pressure this year was lower and hanging the fruit as long as possible to get the sugars and ripeness up to normal seemed a reasonable risk. That paid off in most cases until a cold snap and dump of snow in later October closed the door on further ripening. Most of us scrambled to pick everything quick as possible after the storm, so sorting times were up as lots of leaves ended up in the bins.
We crushed our last batch of fruit in early November and got all our reds in the winery in good shape and with good quality and balance. Brix levels and yields were lower than normal so some lower alcohol wines will arise from that scenario, but with good finesse, ripeness and balance.
The smaller berry and cluster sizes will bring good concentration to the wines and that will be good for the quality. Many growers had lower yields than normal, so there was less fruit to go around, but what there was is quite good!
Another exciting development for us is the release of our Estate Wine Series under The Carter Wine Company label. Please check out these wines of terroir from the new Okanagan Falls Sub Appellation.
Please visit www.bcwinestudio.ca to view our portfolio.
West Kelowna
Robert P. Fiume | Ciao Bella Winery
In my 20 years of growing this was one of the most challenging yet exceptional in terms of quality, flavour and colours!
Spring was late and super rainy and chilly. Summer hit with a vengeance with extreme heat the third week of July to mid-August which resulted in intensified flavours, characters, slightly lower sugars and higher acids in both our Pinot Nero (Noir) and Pinot Grigio. We were also very excited to be expanding our vineyards, planting over 2000 Pinot Grigio plants. Lower yields seen throughout the valley were also seen here at Ciao Bella Winery. However, as often is the case, lower tonnage resulted in excellent fruit with beautiful flavours and deep colour!
As was the case not only industry-wide but in all agriculture across Canada labour was a challenge! Our Famiglia (Family) which includes many loyal customers who’ve become close friends and part of the famiglia pulled together not only during the growing season but also culminating with one of our latest harvests on record!
Our winemaking team (Jim Faulkner, Roberto Fiume and Antonio Fiume) were beyond excited to process our first harvest in our newly built production building (our Ciao Bella famiglia affectionately refers to the building as “La Cantina”).
Overall a successful season producing what we humbly submit as our best vintages yet!
Please visit Ciao Bella Winery to view their BC wine portfolio.
Kelowna
Grant Stanley | SpearHead Winery
We may be down 10% this year but the fruit quality was really good and we are anticipating some classic cool-climate pinot from this vintage.
There was a cold snap mid-January on our home estate in South East Kelowna that triggered some winter damage made very visible come spring. Luckily there was no damage to the permanent wood and we anticipate a full recovery in this section of the vineyard by 2022.
Spring came late this year, which rolled into a good summer with an even day time high and evening low-temperature range overall. These conditions produced a low yield of high-quality fruit with moderate sugars.
Please visit SpearHead Winery to view their complete BC wine portfolio.
Stephen Stecko |The Vibrant Vine Winery & Frequency Winery
What can we say about the 2020 Vintage? It was a tale of two seasons.
What started out as a rainy, miserable spring and early summer, changed into a beautiful, sunny July, August and September. This led to a great three months of ripening.
Our Pinot Gris responded very well to the late-summer sunshine, bringing with it excellent flavor profiles, and a bountiful harvest at the end of September.
We saw a decreased crop of our Gewurztraminer this year due to the poor weather. On the bright side, this allowed for incredible flavor development and early ripening of the grapes.
Riesling, typically a later ripening variety, made some huge gains in September which allowed us to harvest it in October. This variety will be a great addition and a welcome comeback to our “Woops” white wine blend.
We were thankful for the great weather in September. We harvested just before the epic snowfall in mid-October. The week of the snowfall, our team members finished harvesting grapes on Wednesday, some squeezed in a few holes of golf on Thursday, then we pulled out our snow shovels by Friday. It was a strange way to wrap up Harvest 2020.
Conclusions
Brix levels and yields were lower than normal so some lower alcohol wines will arise from that scenario, but with good finesse, ripeness and balance.
The wines have more developed flavour profiles, higher acid and lower alcohol levels.
The low yields and excellent fruit quality means 2020 will be a stellar BC vintage.