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Bob Roshard
Bob Roshard the father of the Lillooet- Lytton grape industry standing in the Foche planting of 1972.
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Lytton Lillooet
Weather Hawk and iButton (right) at Grossier Farm Jan 24, 2008. Battery is housed in the cooler for protection.
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Brad Kasselman/coastphoto.com
Fort Berens Estate Winery, Lillooet, BC
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Myles Burns
Myles Burns downloads data from Davis Vantage Pro weather station.
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Graham Strachan Myles Burns
Myles Burns and Graham Strachan discuss battery housing for the Weather Hawk June 4, 2007.
Will grapes grow and survive in the Lillooet – Lytton region of BC?
This was the basic question potential grape growers asked at a 2004 grape short course in Lytton where several speakers explained the basics of soils, climate and grape growing economics.
Several meetings, discussions and planning sessions later a project was born. The goal; to evaluate grape varietals for growth in the Lillooet-Lytton region, and to monitor the climate at the test sites and at existing Environment Canada weather stations in Lytton and Lillooet.
All of the viticulture aspects needed to evaluate the vines performance would be monitored and recorded, including wood maturity by early October, winter survival, dates of bloom and harvest, fruit sugar, total acid and pH, and the effects of wildlife such as wasps and bears. The critical climate characteristics of minimum winter temperature, length of the season with no frost and growing degree-days would also be recorded.
The project was simply and aptly referred to as “The Grape Project”. Seed money came from a provincial grant of $30,000. By March 2005 a group of six people had examined potential test vineyard sites. Three sites were accepted. The first site overlooked the Thompson River near Skihst Provincial Park, east of Lytton, a second site was at the Ruddock Gold Pan Ranch, midway between Lytton and Lillooet and a third site was at the Roshard property located on a terrace above the Fraser River, in Lillooet. Participants included representatives from the Village of Lytton, the District of Lillooet, staff from several Provincial Government Ministries, FORREX (Forest research Extension partnership), local land owners and a consultant.
Volunteers traveled to Oliver vineyards during the winter of 2004-05 to collect enough grape cuttings of Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc, Chancellor, Lemberger, Merlot, Pinot noir, Syrah, Tinta Madera, Zweigeltrebe, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Cocseji Zamatos, Johannisberg Riesling, Pinot blanc, Pinot gris, Riesling Muscat and Sauvignon blanc. Fifty vines of each variety were planted in three test vineyards.
In early 2005 Bylands Nursery rooted cuttings and in June delivered plants to the Roshard site in Lillooet. Planting took place at the Roshard site the same day and June 2 at the Ruddock Ranch. The site overlooking the Thompson River withdrew from the project leaving a large number of vines without a home. The surplus vines were nurseried at Roshard Acres. Two additional land owners were added to the project, one at Fountain, east of Lillooet belonging to Jones & Brown and another on the west side of Lillooet known as the Pietila property. These sites were planted with varieties of the landowners’ choice. The rest of the vines were given away.
Phase 1
The first phase of the project saw the collection and propagation of the cuttings and the purchase of three Weather Hawk weather stations to help monitor the climate at the Roshard and Ruddock test plantings and at the Grossler Hay Ranch in Lillooet. Viticulture data was collected in 2005 and 2006, but problems with the weather stations prevented climate data collection at these sites.
Phase 2
The second phase of the project began in 2007 as the British Columbia Grapegrowers’ Association agreed with a request to make a grant application to Investment Agriculture and to carry the project forward. The project title was formalized to “Climate and Feasibility Assessment of Growing Grapes in the Lillooet – Lytton Area.”
Funding was approved to 2009, and a funding extension was later approved to 2011. The goal and the objectives of the project remained the same but the scope of the project was expanded to collect weather data from a network of I-buttons, (one cent sized temperature recorders also called data loggers), over a much larger area. The project participation was expanded in 2007 to include representatives from the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre (PARC) in Summerland, who designed temperature shields for the I-buttons. PARC would receive, process and retain all climate data and would analyze fruit samples at the end of harvest for sugar, total acid and pH.
A representative from the former British Columbia Ministry of Jobs Tourism and Innovation in Kamloops also joined the project team and diagnosed the problem with the existing Weather Hawk weather stations to be small batteries that were not able to hold their charge from the solar panels during the winter months due to a lack of sunshine. The batteries were replaced, and housed in a cooler, then the stations worked well for the duration of the project.
He also provided useful maps for the project area, downloaded climate data from the five larger weather stations every two months and emailed that data to a technician at PARC, Summerland.
Two additional Vantage Pro 2 weather stations were provided by the Fraser Basin Council and were deployed at the Halfway Ranch midway between Lillooet and Lytton and at the Diamond S Ranch midway between Lillooet and Pavillion. A project technician was hired to assist in recording observations at the test vineyards and to install and download climate data from eighty nine I-buttons located on private property and at various elevations extending from 15 km south of Lytton to 80 km north of Lillooet along the Fraser River, part of the Thompson River near Lytton, into the Botany Valley near Lytton and along part of the Bridge River Valley just north of Lillooet and email the data to the technician at PARC, Summerland every 4 months.
Winter Temperatures
Minimum winter temperatures during December of 2008 reached -31.36 C at the most northerly portion of the study area; -26.5 C at the Brown/Jones site; -24.6 C at the Roshard site; -25.7 C at the Pietila site; -23.5 C and -21.28 C at the Ruddock site. Minimum temperatures at the Environment Canada weather stations at Lillooet reached -24.6 C and -23.5 C. at Lytton. The warmest I-button site recorded -22.1 C and was located near Lytton. Minimum temperatures reported from other Environment Canada weather stations included Kamloops Airport -26.5C, Kelowna AWOS -30.6 C Penticton Airport -21.6 C, Osoyoos CS -21.7C.
Anecdotal information from grape growers report winter temperatures of -29 C in East Kelowna and -24 C in vineyards on the upper benches in Oliver and Osoyoos with reports that many young vines suffered severe bud damage. The warmest winter temperatures of -17C were reported from Okanagan Center and along the Naramata bench.
Vine Damage, Recovery and Testing
Extensive damage occurred to all the Vitis vinifera selections at the Roshard, Pietila and Jones/Brown test sites, but lesser damage at the Ruddock ranch site. Foch planted in 1972 at the Roshard site was not damaged. The damage caused by the low winter temperatures illustrated the risk associated with growing grapes and the philosophy that grape varieties should be matched to the climatic conditions of the site. Vine recovery began in late May 2009 and continued into 2010. Vine growth came to a sudden stop at the Ruddock vineyard in July 2009 as a result of an accidental application of a herbicide not licensed for use in vineyards. All vines except six rows of red varieties in this test planting died. Vineyard observation at this site was discontinued, but the recording of climate data continued. Twelve additional Hobo Pro 2 data loggers were added to the climate network in 2010 and the grape varieties Petite Verdot and Viognier were added to the Roshard site. Monitoring of the remaining test vineyards and the climate collection continued until the project completion in March 2011. Harvest grape samples were collected annually and sent to PARC where official harvest quality determinations were made for sugar content, total acid and pH.
Solar Radiation Mapping
In 2009 Professional Agrologist David Whiting offered to produce solar radiation maps for the study area in support of this project. David assembled a team of volunteers and together they produced 36 calculated solar radiation maps. Dave Whiting P.Ag. and Associates divided the study area into three sections and produced three map sheets for each month of the year showing spring, summer and winter solar radiation. Each map sheet has a legend, identifies the location and number of the I-buttons and weather stations used in the grape project and a table with the project summary data for growing degree days, frost free period and extreme minimum winter temperature. The maps were completed and published in 2011 and are available free of charge for viewing or download from Whiting’s web site. Each map is designed to be plotted on 34 by 55 inch paper at a scale of 1:50,000.
Harvest Data
Summary viticulture data showed that Foch was the only variety to produce a full crop each year during the test period. Mid-season and early maturing varieties generally matured with a higher brix compared to late maturing varieties, with the exception of merlot which had acceptable brix values most years. Harvest dates ranged from late September to early October for Riesling Muscat, Pinot Gris, Foch and Gewürztraminer to mid October and late October for all other varieties. October sixteen was the cut off date for late varieties due to concerns for fall frost, which on average occurred by Oct. 21 in Lillooet. Varieties that did not meet commercial harvest standards were picked on the 16th of October. Early to mid-season varieties appeared to be best suited to the Lillooet area while later maturing selections may be better suited to the Lytton area.
Growing Degree Days
Climate data results show that all areas except part of the Botany valley near Lytton have a sufficient number of growing degree days for a range of Vitis Vinifera selections. All areas have a sufficient number of days with no frost, but minimum winter temperatures limited the area for the production of European (Vitis vinifera) grape selections to sites between Lillooet and Lytton. Foch would be suited to some areas near Fountain and areas south as far as Lytton. All of the study area from Big Bar in the north to areas south of Lytton including the sites that recorded minimum winter temperatures of -31.3 C would be suitable for some of the hardy hybrid wine grape selections developed by plant breeders such as Elmer Swenson in Wisconsin (e.g. varieties Adalmiina, ES 10-18-30, Louise Swenson, and vines such as Vandal-Cliche and Baltica developed by others) and all of the hardy wine selections introduced by the University of Minnesota. (Marquette, Frontenac, Frontenac gris, LaCrescent) as well as Frontenac Blanc, a bud mutation of Frontenac found in a vineyard in Quebec. These varieties are making wines in areas once considered unsuitable for wine grape production that even a vinifera wine aficionado can appreciate in areas. These hardy varieties are entirely reliable in areas where grape growers hover around their weather station or wind machines, stressing over the possibility of bud or cane damage during cold winter weather episodes.
Research Results in New Winery
There were field days and many visitors; among them a young Dutch couple who came to visit the Roshard site in 2008. Rolf de Bruin and Heleen Pannekoek were pursuing a dream to invest in a vineyard and winery and were looking for a site to fulfill their dreams. They liked what they saw, and shortly afterwards invested in 20 acres of land and developed the Fort Berens Estate Vineyard. Soon afterwards they added the first winery in the region, and newspaper headlines soon followed: “Wine from Lillooet?” Numerous gold and silver medal awards for their wines followed, including The Lieutenant Governor award for wine excellence.
Activities during the beginning phase were published by Don Gayton of Forrex, in the FORREX Newsletter under the title “Innovation and elbow grease bring viticulture project alive” page 14 -15, Summer 2005, Vol. 7 Issue 1 and can be found in the library pages of Forrex. WWW.forrex.org ■
All data from phase two of this project (2007 – 2011) was published annually in progress reports Progress reports and a summary report can be viewed and downloaded from the following web sites.
Association of British Columbia Grapegrowers
http://www.grapegrowers.bc.ca/growers/llcfa.htm
British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture
www.al.gov.bc.ca/grape/factsheets.htm
District of Lillooet
www.lillooetbc.ca/Business-Investment/Agriculture-Viticulture-Development.aspx
Village of Lytton
http://www.lytton.ca/siteengine./activepage.asp?PageID=78
Fraser Basin
http://www.fraserbasin.bc.ca/resources_publications.html.
Solar Radiation Maps