Category: harvest

The 2020 harvest and the days and months leading up to it will surely be marked in our minds. Starting in March we had the shutdown of our economy and quarantining to keep us safe from COVID.  In the summer there were major fires in California and Oregon, with the smoke travelling up to British Columbia.  Then in October the…

There is such a range of wines in France as you travel North to South and East to West, with so many different climates and soils.  The vintages can be different for major regions across France.  Luckily I was contacted by the Vignobles & Signatures Club whose members span France’s major appellations to tell me about the 2020 harvest, which…

I was fortunate to be invited to the Fladgate Partnership Virtual Press Trip with David Guimaraens to learn about the 2020 port wine harvest.  David is the head winemaker for the Flagdate Partnership that includes Fonseca, Taylor’s, and Croft Port.  We held a Zoom meeting, which is what helps keep us all safe and connected at the same time.   What…

I attended online Part II of the BC Virtual 2019 Vintage Preview which welcomed winemakers from the Similkameen Valley, South Okanagan Valley (Golden Mile Bench) and BC’s new Sub-GI, Naramata Bench.  It was interesting to hear the differences and similarities between the cooler regions in BC and the warmer regions.  We again had Barbara Philip, MW as our moderator, and…

BC’s wine regions, in my opinion, can be categorized as either a very cool, cool, warm, or hot climate.  Vancouver Island and the Fraser Valley I’d put into the very cool category.  Lake Country would be cool.  North Okanagan and the Kootenays, I’d regard as cool to warm.  South Okanagan, Similkameen, and Kamloops to Lillooet as hot.  These regions can…

This is my second year interviewing winemakers in Ontario about their latest grape harvest and wine production.  To get a more complete picture of the harvest I asked the following questions to three winemakers in three different grape growing regions of southern Ontario, which should have some differences in climate and harvest.  The three winemakers I interviewed this year are:…

In October the Wines of British Columbia sent out a brief media release about the current state of the 2019 Harvest, stating “…Despite a wetter than average September, winemakers are overcoming the challenges they are faced with right now crediting skilled vineyard management and embracing the lower sugars and alcohol levels they are seeing in the wines so far…” It…

I received this press release from Phantom Creek Estates in the Oliver area about their latest vintage, plus the promotion of one of their staff to Oenologist.  Below is the press release.  Plus if you want to read about this harvest from other BC wine makers, you can click on my article link at the bottom of this article.  Cheerio. ~~~…

For the past few years, I have been covering the BC harvest by interviewing winemakers and finding out how the weather affected this year, what they may be doing new, and other tidbits of information.  But I had not interviewed Ontario winemakers, to find out about their harvest, until today.  I used basically the same questions to the BC and…

In early October, the Wines of BC issued a press release and noted “BC’s annual grape harvest has arrived amid cooler temperatures in mid-August and early September. With the long, moderate season, wineries are indicating nice flavour development, beautiful acidity and increased crop levels for an exciting 2018 vintage…Above average Growing Degree Days this spring in BC contributed to an…