I'm going to go out on a limb, or a vine, here and make a couple of rash statements.
Down on the coast they've had a whack of rain and cooler temperatures. There have been some brief warm spells of high 20's and low 30's but not enough to create any climate anomalies that would push this vintage up the scale any higher than fair. At Township 7 in Langley we're hoping to get the fruit off by the end of October. Given the development I saw yesterday, we need an extended fair and dry September at the coast to even get that. Good thing we grow for sparkling white wine in Langley and don't need
- colour or
- high brix
The Okanagan experienced some odd weather patterns with a dry April and May, a good warm June and July and now rain and cooler temperatures in August. We could use some temps back in the 30's and some warmer nights. Night temperatures are consistently dropping down to 15 or less and that slows the ripening process. We're going to have an old-fashioned Okanagan vintage with ripeness racing against the oncoming rains of fall. Two weeks of superlative warm weather NOW will change all that. Otherwise, temperatures traditionally tank after September 20 so if we're going to make a charge we have to do it now. Look for some late varieties to be still hanging in November unless we get the good stuff now.
