Recently, we did a leisurely visit to the Similkameen Valley just to the south of us to buy some wine and to admire the orchards and scenery.
It was a lovely spring day and we also came home with some great wine, too. We have to wait a bit for the fruit, though!
Happy Tuesday.
… means the return of beach time …
… followed by …
… wine time.
Happy Weekend.
Happy Monday.
The British Columbia wine industry took a major hit when a very unusual four-day January cold snap with temperatures as low as -25C did terrible damage to tree fruits and grape vines. Both these agricultural segments suffered huge losses. All of the peaches, apricots and plums and most of the cherries were lost, and many vine fields have been decimated.
There have been signs of hope, however.
Many older, well-established vines did survive, and even though they won’t produce this year, they are showing good signs of recovery.
And if the weather maintains its usual pattern this winter, the recovery for both agricultural segments will continue.
Fingers crossed for all those farmers and vintners that we have a more stable winter and a better season for them next year.
We took a long-way-around drive in the countryside to visit a favourite winery.
We tried a new production year of a wine we have repeatedly enjoyed and also admired the view from the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of their very comfortable tasting room.
Many of their vines suffered in the unexpected January cold snap and they have been severely pruned back so that the plants’ energy can be diverted into root recovery rather than spent on fruit growth.
This particular winery will get past this difficulty because it has stored juice from previous years and they have survived hard times before by creating (and succeeding hugely with) unique blends. Unfortunately, many others, especially the small ones, don’t have that kind of fallback. I understand that the government will be allowing wineries to buy juice from Ontario (and will also subsidise costs) until this hurdle has been cleared.
On the way home we stopped in several places to take a walk and enjoy the views and although we had a couple of sun showers we didn’t see that as a negative.
Happy Tuesday.
… has started growing again! M and I recently did a bit of a tour through one of the very dry, almost desert-like valleys just to the south of us where some very excellent Bordeaux-style blends and single varietals are produced. The Similkameen Valley has a couple of our favourite wineries.
We had a very enjoyable day. Have a good weekend.
We recently had company come to stay for a few days, and we lucked out with some beautiful weather.
We visited a winery near Kelowna where, although the vines hadn’t awakened yet and the opposite mountain tops still had snow, the sun was warm and inviting.
With a little wine, we sat outside, enjoying the warmth, view and soft breeze.
It was such a lovely and relaxing spring day.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. ☘️
The Okanagan Valley experienced a deep freeze for a few days in January. At times, the temperature dropped to -25C (-13F), leaving farmers scrambling to protect their trees and vines with heaters, fire pots and continuously flowing water. In this area, such low temperatures are extremely unusual; the last time this type of freezing occurred was 34 years ago in 1990.
As you can imagine, the owners of orchards and in particular, wineries, are very worried about the damage that has been done. Some reports are that as much as 60% of the grape vines have been destroyed and that there has been significant damage to some of the orchards.
Farming has never been for the faint of heart. When everything falls into place, all goes well. But the number of unexpected issues, especially from the weather, can cause catastrophe.
A lot rides on agriculture in this valley. It’s heavily connected to tourism and is also a huge employer, but the smoke and fires from last summer together with the January freeze may make it impossible for some people to continue. I hope not, but life is sometimes extraordinarily unfair.
The vines are sleeping …
… dreaming of plump grapes, green leaves …
… and sunny days. They will soon be back.
Happy Saturday.
Shhh … we’re getting our beauty rest …
Happy Wednesday.
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