The second earliest Okanagan icewine harvest is likely to make wines fresher and fruitier than in past years, winemakers say.
The 2010 vintage will also be more acidic than in past years, thanks to a mild summer with fewer heat units than in past years, according to growers. Some 2010 icewine is also likely to be much sweeter because of the extreme cold in the past few days.
Most icewine makers in the Okanagan pick icewine grapes as soon as they have the opportunity.
Some, such as Tinhorn Creek Vineyards owner Sandra Oldfield, chose to harvest grapes on November 22 when the temperature read -9 C. Others, such as Tantalus Vineyards production winemaker David Paterson, chose to hold off until November 23 when the temperature read -17 C.
Oldfield told Business in Vancouver that had she waited until the -17 C temperatures on November 23, she would likely have got one-third less juice than she was able to extract on November 22.
“It’s 100% dependent on your outside air temperature,” she explained. “The colder it gets, the less you make. Some years, there’s a tonne of grapes that I can only get 200 litres out of. Then there’s years that I can get 400 litres from that same tonne of grapes.”