Vancouver Island wineries expect a banner year while Okanagan suffers

Vineyards in the Okanagan are hurting after a devastating winter cold snap affected grape crops, in some places wiping out entire yields.

In the Cowichan Valley, it’s a different story. Wineries are expecting to have a banner year as they were spared from that same extreme weather event.

“We’ll probably start our harvest in September and run it through right until the end of October, depending on the weather,” said Pamela Sanderson, tasting room manager at Blue Grouse Winery in Cobble Hill.

Sanderson points to small blossoms beginning to grow on the vines at the winery. Soon they will become grapes that will be ready to harvest in about 100 days.

“Right now things are looking very good,” said Sanderson.

Last year's harvest was excellent at Blue Grouse Winery. The 2022 whites have already been released and the reds are in production.

In the Okanagan, things are not so rosé.

“Driving down the Okanagan is lushness and green – green vines, and the assumption is that those vines are doing well and they are not,” said Miles Prodan, the president and CEO of Wine Growers British Columbia.

December’s arctic outflow saw temperatures plummet in the Okanagan, killing off entire grape crops and causing an estimated financial loss of $133 million. Some 29 per cent of total acreage will need to be replanted.

“For us, it wasn’t as cold so we didn’t get as much damage. So from that perspective, we were lucky,” said Sanderson.

Island producers still had challenges.

“It was tough beginning to the year last year, we had a really late spring,” said Sanderson.

By July, summer had finally arrived, producing enough grapes to get the winery through the rest of the year.

“It's getting out there that the Cowichan Valley is a world-class wine-producing region,” said Jill Nessel, general manager of the Cowichan Valley Wine Festival.

The Cowichan Valley Wine Festival is taking place on July 27 at Brentwood College in Mill Bay.

“The second part of the festival is the wine passport,” said Nessel.

Running throughout the month of August, 12 wineries will be participating.

“It’s a self-guided tour,” said Nessel. “You take your glass and your map and you go to all of the wineries on your own schedule and enjoy a tasting at each one of them.”

It’s an opportunity to discover what the Cowichan Valley Wineries have to offer.

With files from CTV Vancouver's St. John Alexander