The Longest Vintage

I don't keep records for start to finish dates in regard to vintage but...

It seems this has been the longest fruit receiving session I've experienced in some time. We started bringing in fruit in mid- September and I'm hoping to bring in some Cab Franc today to put an end to this endurance contest.

We don't make ice wine or any other sticky so this is all about standard table wine values.

The fruit has been good and sound; I wouldn't say exceptional. There is greatly varied levels of maturity that doesn't seem to follow any patterns. The only thing I can say about the harvest that applies across the board and has affected 90% of the wineries here in the Okanagan valley: the tonnage is down.

For the consumer: the quality will be there but the volume won't be. Expect many of your favourite aromatic whites to be sold out by late summer if not earlier. And 18 months from now certain reds from 2005 will be in short supply as well. Expect some producers to be quite happy as they clear out inventory that had been stockpiling due to stagnant sales or previous bumper crops.