Wineries in Central Okanagan take advantage of early cold snap to harvest grapes for icewine
The earliest icewine harvest on record should also be one of the swiftest, with most of the grapes expected to come off in just two nights.
Successive nights of temperatures below -8 C, months earlier than in some years, have provided ideal conditions in the Central Okanagan for picking grapes reserved for icewine production.
“It was a great night to pick. The grapes are in really good shape, without too much degradation from wind, weather or animals,” Summerhill Pyramid Winery winemaker Eric von Krosigk said Monday.
About 14 people harvested the grapes from two acres in one of Summerhill’s contract vineyards in Lake Country early Monday morning, taking advantage of the -11 C temperature. They plucked 14 bins of Pinot Blanc grapes.
Temperatures weren’t quite cold enough at Summerhill’s main property off Chute Lake Road in Kelowna for the icewine harvest early Monday. But with last night’s forecast of -9 C, expectations were volunteers would be called again to bring in the grapes from that vineyard.
Some years, a one-night freeze that allows picking to begin is followed by a rapid warm-up, so the harvest has to be stretched over days or weeks.
“Those two nights of cold temperatures provide a quick time frame for the harvest,” said Scott Hennenfent, general manager of the Penticton-based B.C. Wine Authority.
In 2014, the icewine harvest began on Nov. 12. Some mild winters, it doesn’t get underway until late December or January.
Slightly warmer overnight temperatures in the South Okanagan the last two nights meant the icewine harvest hasn’t yet begun in that part of the Valley, where most of the region’s wineries are located.
Although grapes must be picked and crushed at temperatures of -8 C or colder to comply with regulations surrounding icewine production, there is no requirement winemakers harvest the fruit at the first blast of cold weather.
“Some winemakers leave the grapes on after the first cold snap,” Hennenfent said. “Even if the temperatures warm up again after that, some of them believe that helps with the overall flavour of the icewine.”