BC Wine Country 2024 Year in Review

In early 2024, Mother Nature threw a curve ball at British Columbia wine grape growers unlike anything they had ever experienced.

An extreme weather event, attributed to climate change, plunged the province into a prolonged deep freeze in January. BC’s vineyards were subject to record-breaking low temperatures and the results were severe.

The two largest grape growing regions, the Okanagan Valley and the Similkameen Valley, were hit the hardest with bud damage. The yields were significantly lower than in previous years and some vineyards produced no viable crop to speak of. 

To make matters worse, a large portion of the destruction was permanent. Many growers found themselves left with rows of dead or dying vines. This has prompted one of the largest replant initiatives in the history of British Columbia wine since the introduction of the Vintner’s Quality Alliance in 1990.

The industry has had to regroup and rebuild.

Through consultation with vintners and growers, the provincial government has come through with two key lifelines. The first was funding for a $70 million replant program, benefiting not just grape producers, but growers of other fruit crops such as cherries, apricots and peaches, which were also devastated.

The second was granting wine producers temporary permission to make British Columbia wines with grapes and grape juice from outside of the province.

In the spring of this year, local wineries began debuting wines under a new category called “Crafted in BC,” courtesy of the Vintage 2024 Relief and Support Program.

While the start of the year cast a shadow on 2024, in the Okanagan and Similkameen, the remaining months were trouble free in comparison. It was hot and dry throughout the summer, but unlike previous years, there were very few threats from wildfires. The remaining grapes ripened quickly and harvest, albeit small, was earlier than usual. 

Some wineries opted to make very limited amounts of wine with what little estate-grown fruit they could pick, while depending on their inventory of previous vintages to pull them through the 2024 dry spell. Of those who opted to obtain out of province grapes and/or juice, most of them looked to Washington State and Oregon, whose terroir most closely mimics that of the Okanagan and Similkameen. Vineyards around Lake Chelan, Washington were of most particular interest.

The Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and Gulf Island winery regions fared much better than their interior BC counterparts. Moisture, not cold is typically their nemesis and 2024 was no exception. 

On the islands, the growing season got off to a slow start and was further hampered by continuing cool and wet weather. July and most of August was accompanied by sunny, warm temperatures, which sparked welcome growth until a late summer rainstorm caused some fruit splitting while the grapes were in the midst of verasion – when the fruit is changing colour and in the process of ripening.

Harvest was about a week later than usual, but most vintners reported being pleased with the overall quality of the fruit.

The scene was similar in the Fraser Valley with cooler than average temperatures and rain. The harvest there started about three weeks later than usual and ended in November.

Some Fraser Valley and island vintners were able to assist their counterparts in the Okanagan by supplying them with grapes. Typically, the reverse is true when Lower Mainland and coastal wineries look for heartier fruit to create bolder, more full-bodied wines.