Extensive winter damage, on top of weather events the previous two years, signals change for grape growers in B.C. As viticulturists each deal with the state of their vines, some say this might be the time for an industry reset.
Only harvest will provide final numbers, but predictions of low yields and dead vines appear to be playing out across much of B.C.’s strongest grape producing region, the Okanagan.
Depending on the situation, growers are nursing the grapes they have, trying to retrain damaged vines, taking cuttings to retain unique varieties, or removing dead vines. If estimates hold true, 30 per cent of vines need replanting. That means what happens now will set B.C.’s 30-year-old wine industry up for the next 25 years.
What happened?
On December 21 and 22, cold weather across B.C. significantly impacted grape production as 2022 came to an end. Temperatures in the Interior dropped below -20°C for an extended period, plummeting to -30°C in Kelowna and West Kelowna. This further exacerbated the damage to vines already affected by the 2021 heat dome and bud damage during the winter of 2021- 2022. Additionally, certain vines didn’t have sufficient time to acclimatize when temperatures rapidly shifted from unseasonably warm to well below normal in late October 2022.
An early 2023 growing season report by Ben-Min Chang from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Summerland Research and Development Centre estimates grape crop losses across the Okanagan to be between 43 and 70 percent. This region accounts for over 70 percent of B.C.’s historical yield.
Although specific areas and grape varieties are faring slightly better, projections suggest that grape and wine production for the 2023 vintages could decline by as much as 56 percent. White wine grape varieties appear to be less severely impacted compared to reds, which might experience losses of over 95 percent for varieties like Syrah and Malbec. Economically, studies indicate that industry revenues could drop by $341 million (43 percent), resulting in a $100 million reduction in government tax revenues from B.C. wine sales.
Resilience and risk-tolerance required
In 2014, after soil sampling, watching the weather and doing his due diligence, Matt Sarto planted ten acres of grapes at 680 metres elevation on what was a mountainside forest in the Garnet Valley of Summerland. Although he anticipates a low yielding site, the viticulturalist has since planted another six acres of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Gamay. The vines, plus another five acres belonging to his parents and some leased acres, will provide the grapes for Solvero Winery. It’s Summerland B.C.’s newest winery, opened in August.
As expected with new plantings, there won’t be much harvest this year. Of the less than favourable weather of recent years, Matt says he tries not to think about weather risks or he’d never sleep again.
“One thing we have in our corner is we get dramatically more snow out here than most of the rest of the valley. So, by the time we hit our first proper freeze last winter, I believe, November 13, we already had a reasonable snowpack on the ground. That does a reasonable job insulating buds at the bottom of the plant so the worst-case scenario for us, for the most part, is not vine mortality so much as the vines being knocked down to the graft union.”
Damages prompt calls for help
While Sarto’s vines might have escaped the worst, the overall vine mortality and limited grape yields prompted Wine Growers British Columbia (WGBC) to appeal for provincial and federal assistance. During a June press conference in Kelowna, Miles Prodan, president and CEO, declared the situation a disaster.
Winery representatives were on hand to share insights of the significant vine damage — the resulting negative impact on their 2023 wine production. Those speaking out were Dapinder Gill, general manager at Kismet Estate Winery in Oliver, and from Kelowna, David Paterson, general manager and winemaker at Tantalus Winery and Grant Stanley, general manager and winemaker at Spearhead Winery.
Asks included: updating crop insurance models to reflect today’s costs of production/replant, provincial and federal financial support, and, for the short-term, allowing grapes from outside B.C. to help make 2023 B.C. vintages.
B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Food Pam Alexis, visited the region a week later, responding with assistance.
Highlights include
$15 million Perennial Crop Renewal program, which now includes wine grapes as an eligible crop. (Applications for plant removal were paused on June 16, 2023, as funds were oversubscribed. The cap was lowered from 20 acres to 15 and as of August 4, $8 million has been awarded.)
A $20 million Agricultural Water Infrastructure program to improve water management and supply for B.C. producers.
A $4 million federal/provincial funded Beneficial Management Practices (BMP) program, which opened for applications in August. Running for over 15 years, the program aims to help producers become more resilient to climate change and contribute to a cleaner environment.
Way forward not unanimous
At Frind Estate Winery in West Kelowna, they’ve been planting about 100 acres of grapes a year. Owner Markus Frind says they’ll have about half of what they expected and will be short some varieties this year. Even so, he isn’t in favour of outside grape juice or grapes being allowed.
“If you can bring in grapes from other countries or places such as California and label it as B.C. wine, it will instantly wipe out all of the grape farmers, followed by real estate prices. It will also destroy the reputation of B.C. wine we’ve spent the last 30 years building,” he says.
Frind’s winemaker Eric Von Krosigk agrees. “Our customers recognize that when they purchase a bottle of B.C. wine, it truly originates and is produced in B.C. Each bottle contributes to the local economy and adds value to the agricultural sector. Moreover, granting direct access to our markets for locally bottled or vinted international wines would unleash a flood of international legal challenges, ultimately leading to the survival of only the largest commercial B.C. wineries.”
Naramata Bench escapes much damage
“We’re really lucky,” says grape grower Rod King who cultivates Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris on the Naramata Bench near Penticton. The region seems to have fared a bit better. The third-generation grower says his crop should align with his five-year average, pending the impact of fall weather.
Okanagan Lake moderates the Bench, causing his thermometer to only dip just below the -20°C mark in December. However, at the beginning of November, he had helicopters blowing six to eight inches of snow off his 40 acres of vines. That was followed by four days of temperatures between -9°C to -10°C. Normally, it likely wouldn’t be an issue except a cool wet spring delayed bud break, so come the end of October, he was still harvesting grapes in unseasonably warm conditions.
“Basically, the vines had no time to acclimatize for winter,” says King.
Like others, King is seeing vigorous vine and leaf growth as plants strive to recover, but he expresses concern about their susceptibility to cold weather in the coming fall. He says some of the region’s newer growers may not recall severe cold, such as the one in 1968/69 when the lake froze. Due to the generally higher market value of wine grapes compared to other fruits, more acres have been planted in places they’ve never been.
Retraining vines
Viticulturalist Jon Furkalo, Earlco Vineyards, favours retraining vines over replanting. Consulting since 2016 in Naramata, Penticton and Summerland, Furkalo now manages about 150 grape acres in addition to 50 acres of his client’s vineyards.
Furkalo notes reestablished vines will likely produce grapes sooner than new plants, and even with insurance and perhaps some government funding, replanting can be expensive. Demand for vines is likely to increase prices. Labour is costly and hard to find, and the biggest issue may be plant availability.
He thinks the combination of this year’s weather damage, coupled with weather impacts over the past two or three years, might be enough to cause a reset in vineyard varieties, particularly winter-hardy Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir.
“A lot of people move to the Okanagan with a notion of this picturesque valley and region that can produce wine and perhaps with less knowledge of the realities of growing,” he says. “Often, we see new property owners wanting to grow the grapes they love to drink. As we move forward, it’s going to be more important to plant what’s sustainable — and that might not be the heavy reds.”
Insurance supports
Currently, growers have four national insurance programs that they can access: AgriInsurance, AgriStability, AgriInvest and AgriRecovery. Each has specific criteria.
“In speaking with our clients, pretty much everyone has been hit (by weather impacts) as far away as Creston,” says wine industry business adviser Geoff McIntyre, from MNP Kelowna.
While most grape producers carry AgriInsurance, basic production insurance, less participate in AgriStabilty, a program intended to protects Canadian producers against large declines in farming income for reasons such as production loss, increased costs and market conditions.
The government recently extended the deadline to apply to the program to June 2024.
“The government is going to be looking at AgriStability to see who is enrolled,” says McIntryre, calling it a factor in any further government assistance.
He says the upside to events like ever winter damage, is the re-examination of policies and programs that follows, leading to clarity about who can participate and how.
As it stands today, wineries haven’t been involved in insurance in a big way unless they are growing most of their own grapes. He says true estate wineries are typically eligible for all these programs but other wineries are out of luck.
“We’re trying to get the government to understand that there will be wineries that don’t qualify for existing programs. Often the vineyard business is separate from the winery corporation. But there is little clarity about how businesses like this will be treated under AgriStability.”
The push continued for governments to announce an AgriRecovery more targeted disaster relief program for B.C. In mid-June 19, the Canadian and Ontario governments announced an AgriRecovery Program for Ontario growers who lost vines in winter 2021-22.
Access to financing
Whether producers need to wait for vines to re-grow or choose to they replant, seeing grape production come back to average levels will take two to five years and additional investments.
In Kelowna, Todd Glassman, ag-production senior relationship manager with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) says 75 per cent of the growers he’s reached out to will be using FCC special programs. Programs like: payment deferrals, which will be capitalized back into the loan and extend amortization by one year to minimize the payment increase; a two-year line of credit up to 500k, over and above their current line of credit; or a growing loan which all producers can utilize.
“We are being proactive in reaching out to see if and how much they would need for replanting. says Glassman. “However, the bigger issue is sourcing the vines.”
Glassman’s colleague, senior relationship manager Camilla Diaz also works with agribusinesses. “On the commercial financing side, we have only done deferrals (no capitalization, and only up to six months), and extension of the amortization by the length of the deferral. We have done some new financing to cover replant expenses and will likely look at additional working capital, depending on the need.
“All are on a case-by-case basis.”
Diaz adds that some clients face additional expenses managing plants due to top loss, expenses that don’t qualify under replant, but in those case, FCC may be willing to finance.
Replacement vines, buyer beware
Replacing vines sounds easy but may prove challenging. Along with B.C. growers, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Washington will also be sourcing vines. Canada has limited capacity to supply all the vines that might be required.
“We’re at a crossroads for certified Canadian plant material,” Ross Wise, Canadian Grapevine Certification Network member and winemaker at Black Hills Estate Winery told growers during a vine sourcing panel at the B.C. Grape Growers’ Association Grower Day held August 3.
Since testing standards and what is tested for are not consistent across countries, it’s up to growers to ensure they source clean vines. For example, France doesn’t test for grapevine red blotch disease. Blotch and leafroll disease are the two most common issues in B.C. “The onus is on the grower,” says Wise. “You need to know what certification is for everywhere you get vines from. What are they tested for? How many are tested?”
To truly see how a grape variety is growing, Andrew Peller’s senior viticulturalist, Devin Methven, encouraged growers to visit the nursery they intend to purchase from, inspect the vines and build an on-going relationship.
Winemaker Severine Pinte of Le Vieux Pin and Lastella wineries shared how she once sourced vine she assumed clean from a U.S. nursery only to find snails and be denied planting. She urged growers to “read the fine print and demand to know what each nursery certifies.”
Wise says there are early discussions occurring about testing plants from outside Canada in Canada but nothing is currently in place.
Dr. Sudarsana Poojari, principal scientist at Brock University, CGCN’s testing facility encouraged growers to randomly test roots and scions which can be done without damaging the plants.
“If you graft onto rootstock that has disease, it might take one to two years to see a virus like Red Blotch that moves very slowly.”
Signs of hope
At the end of August, the B.C. Grape Growers’ Association is expected to report to government addressing what needs to be done by government and industry to set the industry up for the future. While the report wasn’t final at the time of writing, authors Cascadia Strategy Consulting suggest there are still huge opportunities to grow the 100-percent B.C. wine market, pointing to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well as international markets.
Some ideas the report may put forward as next steps include replant support, expanding grape acreage, ensuring clean plant material, disease spread prevention, variety selection expansion and more research like variety trials. Another suggestion may centre around data, more of it, modernization of how it is collected and stored, and better sharing by involved organizations. “We need to improve the breadth, frequency and quality of data and then we need to better use this date to help people make decisions,” says Liam Elsworth of Cascadia.
