Oliver winemakers are looking favourably on an early harvest this year. Photo by Lyonel Doherty
Oliver’s wineries are set to begin their earliest ever harvest after months of hot weather has spurred the region’s grapes to ripen weeks ahead of schedule.
“The big word this year is early,” said Sandra Oldfield, a winemaker and CEO of Tinhorn Creek Vineyards.
Tinhorn started harvesting its grapes this week, a full two and a half weeks earlier than usual. According to Oldfield, the earliest the winery has ever began harvesting in its more than 20 years was September 2, back in 1998.
Glenn Fawcett, the general manager of Black Hills Estate Winery, also confirmed Black Hills began harvesting its earliest varieties August 23.
The record early start has left many vineyards scrambling to get barrels, bottles and labourers ready in time for the grapes, but it also has winemakers predicting a stellar year.
Oldfield said the overall health of this year’s grapes is “excellent,” as there has been very little pressure from disease, rot or mildew. And the harvesting head start only makes the outlook brighter.
“Early means that if you start running into tricky weather in the fall, like frost or rain or anything like that, then your grapes are much farther along and ready to come in,” she said. “So from that standpoint it’s less risky.”
She said the recent wildfire won’t likely affect the region’s grapes either. Sometimes smoke from large wildfires can settle on grapes and wreak havoc, but so far that’s not the case for this year’s fires.
And while winemakers are a little more than cautiously optimistic, the season’s early start has presented its fair share of challenges.
Fawcett explained that hotter weather has meant wineries have had to keep a close eye on the grapes to ensure they get enough “hang time” on the vines.
Warm weather means grapes ripen quickly. Once they reach a certain point they need to be picked, but if that happens before the sugars have had time to properly develop it can be bad news.
With proper management—controlling how much water the grapes get and the size of the canopy—these problems can be combatted, but it takes a careful and watchful eye to pull it off.
“Fortunately our experience this year has been that the flavour is awesome and the sugars are ripe, and it just seems to be clicking,” Fawcett said.
Oldfield pointed out that as long as the vineyard is managed properly, such challenges can be overcome. But of course if she had a choice she would choose a season like this every year.
“We’re much happier with an earlier year than a late. If I had to dial up another of these next year that’s what I would be doing.”
And while Oliver’s winemakers can’t help a little preliminary gloating, Fawcett isn’t ready to push in all his chips yet. As he said, the only thing that really matters is the final product.
“One thing we’ve learned is you never count your chickens before they hatch—and when the last grape is off the last vine then we can make some bold predictions. But right now ‘so good’ is looking great.”
By Trevor Nichols
