Cold snap causes catastrophic losses to B.C. wine industry
CBC
This year's mid-January cold snap has dealt a severe blow to British Columbia's wine industry, causing catastrophic crop losses across the Okanagan Valley.
The latest report from the Wines of British Columbia — a non-profit organization which represents the interests of wineries in the province — and a management consulting firm projects 97 to 99 per cent decrease in grape and wine production across B.C.
Temperatures plunged well below –20 C between Jan. 11 to 15, killing buds that would have eventually borne fruit, says grapevine physiologist Ben-Ming Chang with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
"The cold temperature [has] basically killed off the buds," he told CBC News.
Chang has dissected many grapevine buds since January. Under magnification, the cell tissue should be green in a healthy plant, but sample after sample have all turned up brown, he says.
Out of the 200 or so samples he has examined, Chang says he hasn't found a single live bud.
"A combination of the lower temperature and the longer exposure time to [temperatures below –20 C] resulted in the devastating damage," he said.
The setback comes on the heels of last winter's cold snap, which decreased wine and grape production by over 50 per cent as a result of a two-day long dip in temperatures below –20 C.
The prolonged cold snaps of the last two winters are part of a trend of extreme weather events impacting grape production in recent years, according to Wine Growers B.C. CEO Miles Prodan.
The organization has been reporting a consistent 30 per cent decline in yields over the past seven to eight years.
"We know mother nature can do this sometimes ... and back-to-back is like a perfect storm," Prodan said. "But the more immediate worry is with the wineries, without grapes to make the wine, there's great fear within the industry."
John Boynton, president of Arterra Wines Canada, says the severity of the damage surpasses anything he has ever experienced in the business.
"We've been short on crops [before but] nothing as catastrophic as this," he said in an interview with CBC News.
Boynton says while he is confident big wineries like his — Arterra owns several estate wineries in B.C. — can withstand the blow, he fears for small-scale wineries.
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