Grape Report 2022

The 2022 Grape Report

BC Wine Production Recovers Despite Weather Challenges

By Gary Symons After four years of declining yields, it appears grape production has bounced back in BC, and particularly in the BC Interior. While the crop assessment reports won’t be published until next year, winemakers across the province told Orchard & Vine they are seeing much higher yields than in 2021, when growers faced the heat dome, torrential rain events, and a brutal cold snap.

This year also brought challenges, but the prolonged drought in the autumn literally saved the 2022 crop for many growers, and also guaranteed better quality grapes for most varietals.

Michael Kullman, winemaker at Osoyoos Larose, said he’s expecting a stunning 80 per cent increase in yields for his vineyards as a whole, although he also adds that the results were better for Merlot than for Cabernet Sauvignon. “Last year was just horrible for everybody,” Kullman said. “My yields won’t be double this year, but last year I got about 900 hectolitres (from 80 acres), and this year I’m expecting more like 1,600 hectos, so that’s ballpark about 80 per cent more this year than last year.” Lynne Schatz, winemaker for TIME Family of Wines, is seeing the same results in her vineyards. ““There was a bit of uncertainty in the growing season but we made it there,” Schatz said. “The 2022 crop came in well above average in some areas, and the red grape varieties seemed to be carrying a heavier crop load than the previous couple of years. “When I realized the grapes were coming in heavy, tank logistics in the winery got a bit complicated… something I call “liquid chess”.

Further north, winemakers Penelope and Dylan Roche at Naramata’s Roche Winery said they were hugely relieved to experience a year that was not filled with one crisis after another. “After last year’s heat dome, floods and toutes sortes de catastrophes, it was such a relief to experience a reasonably uneventful summer,” the couple said. “As grape farmers, we are always ready to adapt, but it is a blessing to have nice weather every once and a while!”

While 2022 may have had some challenges and some unusual twists and turns, the Roches said the season overall was excellent for grape production in the Penticton/Naramata region. “You may remember that spring took forever to arrive in 2022,” they said. “This was actually good for our vines. In early springs we worry about the new buds appearing and then being frozen off by frost. In contrast, the buds arrived safely, and with les belles journées d’été the vines flowered, made fruit, and ripened the grapes perfectly. “After a long and languid summer it really was breathtaking here on the Naramata Bench,” they added. “We harvested the grapes much later than usual. The fruit is of fantastic quality and we were happy to wait. There is plentiful acid in each berry, which will give the wines energy, and assist them to age.” O&V’s survey of winemakers this year showed that, in general, both the yields and the quality in 2022 have improved in the BC Interior regions of the Okanagan, Similkameen, and Thompson Valleys, but the weather’s blessing extended even more decisively in coastal regions like the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island. Ironically, while many tree fruit and berry