麻豆AV

Winery owners around the Okanagan are crossing their fingers and hoping temperatures will drop so they can harvest ice wine grapes.

Ezra Cipes, CEO of Summerhill Pyramid Winery, said the winery has been making ice wine since 1991 and only had one year鈥�1993鈥攚here ice wine couldn鈥檛 be made due to warm temperatures.

But this winter has made it difficult for harvesters.

鈥淗ere in 麻豆AV, it didn鈥檛 get to the required -8 C, not on our farm. It got to -7.5 C for four hours,鈥� Cipes said. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 picked anything, We have 12 acres (of grapes) hanging, a little in Lake Country, a little in Oliver and a little at our home block here in 麻豆AV, and they are all waiting.鈥�

READ MORE: Icewine harvest begins for some Okanagan wineries

鈥淲e鈥檙e adding extra clips and extra nets. There are deer and racoons and other animals that want to come and eat the grapes and we鈥檙e doing our best to secure them and keep them in the vineyards,鈥� he said.

If the grapes can鈥檛 be harvested for ice wine, they鈥檒l be harvested at the beginning of March to create another wine, Cipes said. While some Okanagan wineries began their harvest in mid-December, freezing temperatures didn鈥檛 last long, according to a .

Last year saw the earliest start to the ice wine harvest in 10 years.

READ MORE: Cold temperatures means early ice wine

鈥淚ce wine is really specific. It鈥檚 about the purity of the fruit, the essence of the fruit coming out because the water is frozen and in this case, the grape (when it hasn鈥檛 been harvested) is dried out and has changed quite a bit, so it鈥檚 a different character,鈥� Cipes said.

There鈥檚 always a risk for wineries to make ice wine as it鈥檚 difficult to produce.

鈥淚ce wine is a ridiculous thing to make, even in a sort of a 鈥榥ormal year鈥欌�� and it鈥檚 risky and expensive and you get a very small yield. Part of the prestige of the product is the extremes you have to go through to make it, so missing a harvest and not getting it in a year is part of the appeal and the value is the ice wine. It鈥檚 part of the deal, you don鈥檛 know if you鈥檙e going to get it,鈥� Cipes said.

鈥淭he vineyards are the only ones in the Okanagan Valley praying for very cold weather. Everyone else is happy.鈥�

He estimated about 42 tonnes of grapes are waiting to be harvested, but that number was determined at the start of the season. The crop diminishes over the season as it鈥檚 eaten by animals, drops off the vines and dries up.

This is historically the end of the time for ice wine grape harvesting.

鈥�(It will be) late ice wine harvest, if we get one, but we know since 1993 it鈥檚 possible to not get one,鈥� said Cipes. 鈥� We know this has happened, I don鈥檛 want to jinx us, but we might be due to miss a harvest.鈥�

麻豆AV鈥檚 forecast for the next week is expected to be sunny with periods of snow and a high of 3 C. The lowest temperatures are expected to be reached next Tuesday, with a high of just -2 C.

The winery sells four types of ice wine: Ehrenfelser Icewine, Library Series Merlot Icewine, Merlot Icewine and Zweigelt Icewine. They range in price from just under $100 to $170.

鈥淯nlike other ice wine-producing regions of Canada and the world that experience these cold climatic conditions each year, ice wine harvest in B.C. is a rarity. The Okanagan Valley and Similkameen Valley are the only wine regions to regularly experience these temperatures in B.C., but it is never a guarantee. Producers wait in anticipation each year for temperatures to drop, not knowing if or when they will have a window of opportunity to complete an ice wine harvest that vintage,鈥� BC Wine institute said.

carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com
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