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Published: December 21st 2013
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Beautiful Vineyard
Summer in the North Okanagan Autumn is by far my favourite time of year in British Columbia, especially in the Spallumcheen, a township that teeters precariously on the most Northerly point of the sunny Okanagan. My family's vineyard is located in this wine growing region, and come late September, a certain crispness lingers in the air.
While trees throw out handfuls of painted leaves to be twirled by the afternoon gusts, the urgency of our impending harvest is signified by the cast of longer sun shadows.
One of the hardest things is the wait, the wait for optimum ripeness.
We eagerly check our Brix level while we do battle with a multitude of critters…all whom want to eat said grapes. Hitchcock-like flocks of birds swoop in, while swarms of drunken wasps buzz haphazardly around your person. Black bears sashay by as if they own the place, and wild deer actually do the limbo under wire fencing to access their delightful grape snack. We go bonkers trying to stop them. We often look ridiculous doing so.
For us, re-creating the War of 1812 as a last ditch effort to save the crop is not an option. Imagine if you will a blast cannon
The Final Product
All our blood, sweat and tears available in a bottle. We've won lots of awards for it. going off every couple of minutes during all waking hours. The Nuns at the Convent down the road would lose their nut. So, my Mum (who is brilliant by the way) bought a dancing balloon aptly named “Travolta” as our alternate line of defence. Normally found at used car lots and case lot sales, Mr. Travolta boogies away amongst the grapevines and scares the bejeebers out of every single bird and deer. Brilliant! Someone patent that. Also, he provides odd entertainment on the veranda at sunset while you enjoy a snootful of wine.
The vineyard we call the “Naughty Nuns” and it started by fluke really. About fifteen years ago, I was in my 4th year of Horticulture studies and considered specializing in Viticulture. I asked my parents if they would be willing to sacrifice some of their farmland for me to experiment with. Dad said no. Mum immediately vetoed his vote.
Never did we dream we could have award-winning wines one day.
Spoiler Alert: Those that have that romantic, albeit delusional, notion that establishing your own vineyard is fun and profitable, take heed. It wasn't easy.
Thankfully, the Okanagan has truly established itself as an
Okanagan lake
Stunning views and vistas everywhere you look in the Okanagan internationally recognized fine wine producer, and for that, we benefit greatly. But that wasn’t always the case. Many years ago, the Okanagan only grew California varietals and produced god awful wine. It wasn’t until V.vinifera was introduced in 1975 that the industry crawled out from the trenches to what it is today. These European varietals are way more hardy, yet finicky. Our vineyard faced some serious roadblocks being north by only a few degrees. I call it the Goldilocks syndrome. Too cold, winter too long, season too short, and summer too dry. You get the picture. But I, like Tom Cruise, thrive on mission impossibles.
After some lengthy field study, I was able to determine that my parent’s farm was sitting on top of a prime microclimate. Dramatic rolling hills, ancient lake bed, southern exposure sandy soils, and temperate old growth pine to block the winter winds.
It was a wine-growing Mecca, according to my lengthy analysis. Well slap me silly and call me Susan. Could it be possible? There was only one way to find out. I did massive research on grape varieties, and settled on two.
Ortega and
Siegerrebe. Both perfectly suited for Armstrong's
Fooling around in the Vineyard
I'd rather be drinking em not picking them! climate. Next came the trick of actually finding some cuttings. We made friends with Hans and Hazel at Larch Hills Winery in Salmon Arm and they provided us our first cuttings...with some accidental Mad Angie (
Madeline Angevine) mixed in. Mum and I set out to propagate our cuttings and plant out our first field.
Fast forward fifteen years and we are now producing quality wines.
The backbreaking work falls to my Mum, as I do not live nearby. She loves it, and walks up and down the rows cooing to her babies, and using this stupid tape dispenser to tie up stray vines. Dad is relegated to a ride-on lawnmower where he begrudgingly goes up and down the rows all summer long cursing at the plants. I come when I can to lend a hand.
It is relentless work (I know, I know, #firstworldproblems)
Whether doing ongoing vineyard maintenance or planting a new acre, there is always something to do, not to mention all those tasks that start early April and go into late October.
First thing we do is hard-prune all the vines (that's thousands of them) to manipulate them for their maximum production
Our Beautiful Siegerrebe
Tons of grapes harvested for the crush abilities --but timing is crucial for this step as if done too early, we have the potential danger of a late frost that can kill the tender buds -- meaning no grapes. All those whip like vines we cut off are then made into cuttings so we can propagate new plants, for either resale or to expand our vineyard. By the time this process is done, I can’t feel my hands, long numb from the cold and the repetitive snipping.
All summer long, you go up and down the endless rows spraying nutrients or fertilizers, or training the new vines for optimum configuration, or replanting, or pruning all the leaf overgrowth…all while monitoring for signs of malnutrition, drought, insect damage, and/or botrytis outbreaks. The best part is watching the grapes grow before your eyes, into bunches of glory.
After a scorching Okanagan summer, autumn quickly arrives and we are held hostage by our grapes until they decide when they will become sweet enough for harvest. They seem to enjoy messing with us just a little.
Oddly, pickers are hard to come by. This job is apparently beneath most Canadians. Sure, a few dreadlocked Quebecers wander by, but
Proud Mother Superior
All her hard work paying off. for the most part we have to rely on the kindness of friends and family. Luckily, a few diehards come back year after year, wielding their pruners and grinning like they forgot. It baffles me sure, but I'm also very relieved.
With the backbreaking, hand-numbing labour, and head to toe wasp stings (Epi-pens mandatory) lasting for about five days straight, we pick from dawn to dusk. I often feel like I’ve returned from a war when done. Sometimes it snows. This year, the grapes decided to ripen one month early and we were fried in the 30C degree heat.
To ensure our volunteers come back after the end of day one, we saturate them in all-you-can-drink wine, fill their bellies with our famous Armstrong cheddar, homemade chili with freshly baked buns before unleashing them back into the endless rows. They do us proud.
Our grapes are then shipped off to Larch Hills Winery, where they make our grapes into glorious wines.
This wine business is a fickle one and I don’t have enough fickles to pay for my own winemaking equipment right now. Anyone have an extra $1,000,000 lying around I can borrow? Anyhoo, the finished
product is sold under a VQA designation in boutique wine stores all over B.C.
I started this blog with the intent of highlighting the Okanagan wine region. It is spectacular area and many Vancouverites spend their weekends in the summer and fall doing an extensive winery crawl. Check out winebc dot com if you are interested in learning more about Canadian wine.
I’m very proud of what my mum and I have accomplished so far, and hope to have our own little winery one day. Come visit us won’t you!
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aspiringnomad
Jason
Lovely part of the world.
Didn't believe it was possible to grow grapes in Canada until I visited the Okanagan myself. The challenges clearly make a quality product even more highly prized. We'll try to drop by some time, preferably in autumn, to help you with the harvest. No, really!