With cool spring, B.C. wineries face delays
Though spring is a month old, winter has kept a stubborn icy grip on many parts of the country this year, with snow and cold rain blotting out hopes for sunshine and warmth.
This month, when flowers are usually blooming in many areas, the weather has been anything but balmy: there was wet snow and cold rain in Toronto recently, a fierce snow storm in Alberta and unseasonable cold in the Maritimes.
In British Columbia, meanwhile, cool temperatures have resulted in the coldest April recorded in Vancouver in 74 years, delaying beach bums from hitting the coast.
Cold weather has put Okanagan wineries at least two weeks behind schedule. April 21, 2011.
But farther inland, the weather could have a more pronounced effect on the important local wine industry.
"We're hoping Mother Nature is going to co-operate with us, and we're probably going to catch up in the summer," says Adrian Cassini, who runs Cassini Cellars in the Okanagan region.
In fact, though the calendar says it's almost May, there is still a lot of snow on the upper elevations of the Okanagan.
In the meantime, producers like Cassini are looking at all the options, just in case the weather stays cool.
"We're going to find a way, that's our job," he says, noting that adapting to the conditions is the name of the game in the B.C. industry.
In short, that means that rather than sacrificing quality, wine makers in B.C. would rather sacrifice quantity.
So far, the 2011 vintage appears to be about two or more weeks behind schedule, and producers like Grant Stanley are bracing for smaller yields if things don't improve.
"There's going to be less of it, that's for sure. I mean, the smart operators in the valley will drop the crop throughout the growing season," said Stanley, who works with Quail's Gate Winery.
Still, Stanley thinks that a burst of warm weather will get things back on track.
"What we need is a few days of heat and, boom, everything is set up to go," he told CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat.
"The most important thing is we learn every year how to adapt to these conditions. And so you know every year we get better at working out what we need to do to change our game along the way."
Molgat reported that those looking for 2011 vintages in the future would be wise to stick to varietals that perform well in northern climates. Otherwise, selection could be smaller than usual.
While Environment Canada is calling for subzero overnight lows this week, the weather picture should improve through the weekend. While overnight temperatures will remain frigid, daytime highs on both Saturday and Sunday should reach seasonal levels in the Okanagan.