Huge Drop In Grape Harvest After Extremely Cold Winter Event Worries Ontario Winemakers

Hamilton-based Steve Byfield is winemaker at iconic winery Nyarai Cellars, which buys grapes from vineyards in the Niagara region. He says the region’s climatic conditions are changing to the point where vineyards are considering developing new grape varieties. He said last year was “quite challenging” in the winter, with “some pretty cold nights and days”. “Climate change is affecting how we look at what grapes we can grow for the Ontario market,” Byfield told CBC Hamilton. “I know in France they are breeding newer grape clones of a different style that hopefully will hold up and withstand the changing climate conditions that we’ve been seeing over the last five or six years.” According to the Grape Growers Association of Ontario, grape production is down from 82,000 tonnes in 2021 to about 42,000 tonnes this year. “You just have to do without the quantity or even, in some cases, without the variety,” Byfield said. “Well, if I wanted to make a certain wine from a certain grape [varieties, I can’t] to pursue it because I cannot procure the fruit.’ Winemaker Steve Byfield examines a sample of freshly made wine. (Submitted by Sharon Little) Nyarai Cellars marketing and promotion manager Sharon Little says some growers are unable to fulfill their contract with winemakers. “Some of them… their contracts with the bigger wineries are just coming through, or they might not be able to because of the damage, and then we lose out too, of course, because… we only buy a small amount from here and from there and everywhere,” he told CBC Hamilton. “Well, it’s definitely hard for us.” Little and Byfield have been in the wine business for more than 20 years and have made some “very good relationships” with other winemakers – some of whom have leftover juice from 2020. Steve Byfield, left, and Sharon Little, right, have been in the wine business for more than 20 years. (Submitted by Sharon Little) Little says he was able to buy some of that juice, which they blend with fresh grapes from this year’s harvest. “The only thing about it is that we’re only allowed less than 10 percent from the previous year to make it vintage,” he said. If a bottle is labeled as a 2021 wine, “it has to have at least 90 percent grapes from 2021, so that makes it a little difficult,” Little added.

“The vines are literally dying”

Grape Growers of Ontario CEO Debbie Zimmerman says the fall and winter of 2021 were not favorable for vines to acclimatize and go dormant until spring. He said “climate change has a general impact on extreme weather changes, which ultimately put pressure on the continued cultivation of a crop. Disease pressures from invasive pests and grape virus issues are also amplified by changes in climate.” “With the vines literally dying, we don’t have a crop, a significant crop,” Zimmerman told CBC Hamilton. “It was one of those cases where what could go wrong did go wrong. We had a very wet fall and the grapes that were going to be harvested hung on the vines a lot longer than usual.” The wine industry in Ontario is being affected by an alarming decline in the grape harvest this year. (Shutterstock) Zimmerman said the month of December was also wet and that affected the plants’ closure so the sap stopped running through the trunk. “Then we had a very cold winter event, extremely cold in January and a lot of the … trunks froze and didn’t produce fruit,” Zimmerman said.

New vines take up to 6 years to produce

Meanwhile, Zimmerman warns it could be years before production returns to 2021 levels. “A new vine takes at least six years for that vine to produce grapes – what we call a full crop,” he said. “So we have many challenges ahead of us, not only this year but also next year.” Debbie Zimmerman, the executive director of the Grape Growers Association of Ontario, warns that it could be years before production returns to 2021 levels. (Submitted by Debbie Zimmerman) In addition, Zimmerman said there is a lack of an underlying grape. “It’s very difficult to get these pure vines, so next year growers will have a challenge in a replanting program.” He said replanting the vines is a “laborious process” that is “labor-intensive” and can cost growers “up to $45,000 an acre.” “We have to look at it from the perspective that they’re going to be out of cultivation for at least six years. So, how do you manage when there’s no income from selling your grapes for six years?” Zimmerman said. The association has approached the provincial and federal governments for help, the CEO said. He said the association is “working very closely” with the provincial government — Premier Doug Ford and Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Lisa Thompson — as well as federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau to come up with a program restoration. “The province of Ontario, the government of Canada have various enterprise risk management programs that we can look at,” Zimmerman said. “So it would help us, probably in the short term, to help us replant grapes. The problem is that we don’t have enough clean grape rootstock or, more importantly, vines to replant. “It’s a long process and a complicated process, but it’s something we need and the provincial government has asked the federal government to look at this recovery as [a matter of urgency] for our growers,” Zimmerman added.

title: “Huge Drop In Grape Harvest After Extremely Cold Winter Event Worries Ontario Winemakers Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-20” author: “Iris Oliver”

Hamilton-based Steve Byfield is winemaker at iconic winery Nyarai Cellars, which buys grapes from vineyards in the Niagara region. He says the region’s climatic conditions are changing to the point where vineyards are considering developing new grape varieties. He said last year was “quite challenging” in the winter, with “some pretty cold nights and days”. “Climate change is affecting how we look at what grapes we can grow for the Ontario market,” Byfield told CBC Hamilton. “I know in France they are breeding newer grape clones of a different style that hopefully will hold up and withstand the changing climate conditions that we’ve been seeing over the last five or six years.” According to the Grape Growers Association of Ontario, grape production is down from 82,000 tonnes in 2021 to about 42,000 tonnes this year. “You just have to do without the quantity or even, in some cases, without the variety,” Byfield said. “Well, if I wanted to make a certain wine from a certain grape [varieties, I can’t] to pursue it because I cannot procure the fruit.’ Winemaker Steve Byfield examines a sample of freshly made wine. (Submitted by Sharon Little) Nyarai Cellars marketing and promotion manager Sharon Little says some growers are unable to fulfill their contract with winemakers. “Some of them… their contracts with the bigger wineries are just coming through, or they might not be able to because of the damage, and then we lose out too, of course, because… we only buy a small amount from here and from there and everywhere,” he told CBC Hamilton. “Well, it’s definitely hard for us.” Little and Byfield have been in the wine business for more than 20 years and have made some “very good relationships” with other winemakers – some of whom have leftover juice from 2020. Steve Byfield, left, and Sharon Little, right, have been in the wine business for more than 20 years. (Submitted by Sharon Little) Little says he was able to buy some of that juice, which they blend with fresh grapes from this year’s harvest. “The only thing about it is that we’re only allowed less than 10 percent from the previous year to make it vintage,” he said. If a bottle is labeled as a 2021 wine, “it has to have at least 90 percent grapes from 2021, so that makes it a little difficult,” Little added.

“The vines are literally dying”

Grape Growers of Ontario CEO Debbie Zimmerman says the fall and winter of 2021 were not favorable for vines to acclimatize and go dormant until spring. He said “climate change has a general impact on extreme weather changes, which ultimately put pressure on the continued cultivation of a crop. Disease pressures from invasive pests and grape virus issues are also amplified by changes in climate.” “With the vines literally dying, we don’t have a crop, a significant crop,” Zimmerman told CBC Hamilton. “It was one of those cases where what could go wrong did go wrong. We had a very wet fall and the grapes that were going to be harvested hung on the vines a lot longer than usual.” The wine industry in Ontario is being affected by an alarming decline in the grape harvest this year. (Shutterstock) Zimmerman said the month of December was also wet and that affected the plants’ closure so the sap stopped running through the trunk. “Then we had a very cold winter event, extremely cold in January and a lot of the … trunks froze and didn’t produce fruit,” Zimmerman said.

New vines take up to 6 years to produce

Meanwhile, Zimmerman warns it could be years before production returns to 2021 levels. “A new vine takes at least six years for that vine to produce grapes – what we call a full crop,” he said. “So we have many challenges ahead of us, not only this year but also next year.” Debbie Zimmerman, the executive director of the Grape Growers Association of Ontario, warns that it could be years before production returns to 2021 levels. (Submitted by Debbie Zimmerman) In addition, Zimmerman said there is a lack of an underlying grape. “It’s very difficult to get these pure vines, so next year growers will have a challenge in a replanting program.” He said replanting the vines is a “laborious process” that is “labor-intensive” and can cost growers “up to $45,000 an acre.” “We have to look at it from the perspective that they’re going to be out of cultivation for at least six years. So, how do you manage when there’s no income from selling your grapes for six years?” Zimmerman said. The association has approached the provincial and federal governments for help, the CEO said. He said the association is “working very closely” with the provincial government — Premier Doug Ford and Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Lisa Thompson — as well as federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau to come up with a program restoration. “The province of Ontario, the government of Canada have various enterprise risk management programs that we can look at,” Zimmerman said. “So it would help us, probably in the short term, to help us replant grapes. The problem is that we don’t have enough clean grape rootstock or, more importantly, vines to replant. “It’s a long process and a complicated process, but it’s something we need and the provincial government has asked the federal government to look at this recovery as [a matter of urgency] for our growers,” Zimmerman added.