BC wine crop facing ‘catastrophic losses’ after extreme January cold

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Severine Pinte has been making wine for 28 years, the past 14 in the South Okanagan, and she’s never seen things so dire.

“It’s a very big worry,” said Pinte, winemaker and viticulturist at La Stella in Osoyoos and Le Vieux Pin in Oliver. “We were hoping to have a break this year and be able to put money back into our bank account.

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“It didn’t happen and it’s going to be even worse this year than last year.”

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This year’s B.C. wine harvest will be virtually wiped out after an extreme cold snap in mid-January, according to an industry report.

Preliminary estimates are that the crop will produce just one to three per cent of typical yields, most of that coming from the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island.

That would cost wineries and vineyards almost $350 million in lost revenue, with almost another $100 million in anticipated lost revenue for suppliers and distributors.

“This means that the production of B.C. grapes and wine is projected to be 97 to 99 per cent lower than usual in 2024,” according to the report by consultancy Cascade Partners. “Due to the extent of damage to primary and secondary buds observed across a wide range of regions and grape varieties, the January 2024 cold event is anticipated to result in catastrophic crop losses within the B.C. wine industry.

“Facing an almost complete write-off of the 2024 vintage, B.C. wineries will struggle to keep 100 per cent B.C. wine stocked on retail shelves, to supply hospitality channels, and to fulfil wine club subscriptions.”

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There will be long-term impacts, the report notes, including replanting, but those can’t be estimated until the end of this year.

“These impacts not only amplify the revenue losses, but also require significant capital outlay from vineyards and wineries to rebuild their agricultural foundation.”

The report paints a picture as bleak as can be.

“We’re devastated,” said Miles Prodan, president of Wine Growers B.C., which commissioned the report.

Using the same methodology last year, experts correctly predicted that the 2023 crop would be 58 per cent of normal, after a similar but briefer cold spell in December, 2022.

Wine Growers along with the B.C. Wine Grape Council and the Grapegrowers’ Association will lobby the provincial government for support, Prodan said, and hope for an announcement in next week’s provincial budget.

“But that’s all before what we endured the past few weeks, and we’re now facing complete crop loss,” he said.

Besides help for replanting, the industry will lobby Victoria and Ottawa for emergency funding and regulatory change to allow the buying of grapes in bulk from out of province, Prodan said.

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Consumers might not notice the effects until spring, he said, but wineries will begin selling most if not all their wine to tourists on-premise because profit margins are higher there, he said.

“We do have wine, but what it will mean is wineries will have to make a decision, and what they’re doing is pulling their wine back home from stores and restaurants.”

His association doesn’t have full figures for all the spin-off industries that rely on the grape harvest — tourism, supply chains, and more — but the B.C. wine industry alone has an annual economic impact of $3.4 billion.

After a warm December to end 2023 and a mild start to 2024 in the Okanagan, the mercury fell to minus-20 — considered the risk threshold for grape crops — between Jan. 11-15, with some areas experiencing more than 50 hours below that temperature.

“These conditions are a known risk factor for grapevines, particularly following a period of relatively mild winter temperatures as was observed throughout December and early January,” the report says.

After the cold snap broke, wine-industry experts collected and tested thousands of buds from vines across the province, sampling 32 grape varieties from nine growing regions.

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“Unfortunately, the results confirmed the industry’s worst fears, with the vast majority of samples showing no signs of life in their primary or secondary buds,” the report says.

“Due to the extent of damage, appropriate pruning practices will be ineffective at mitigating against severe crop losses.”