Print 2003 Winemaking Update

2003 Winemaking Update
By John Simes, Winemaker

Westbank, British Columbia, March 24, 2004: In recent days, we have been asked about the impact of the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire on the 2003 harvested wines, so I wanted to take this opportunity to explain what has happened to the wines in the wake of the fire. Certain producers in the valley, ourselves included, experienced some vineyard damage, but the good news is that being aware of the potential challenges early on; we began our search for solutions. In the process, we have discovered new winemaking techniques that have been able to remove any signs of the damage without sacrificing quality or flavour. We are very encouraged by the results and ultimately do not believe there will be a problem.

The hardest hit acreage in and around east Kelowna is home to a number of Mission Hill Family Estate's long-term contracted growers and that left us with a challenging decision. Picking presented its share of risks, but not picking shifted the financial burden to our growers, jeopardizing their businesses in some cases, and we were simply not comfortable with that outcome. So, we went ahead and harvested their fruit.

From the outset, we took a number of special precautions to limit any damage. At our Naramata Ranch, where the fire briefly threatened prior to turning its force on Kelowna, we designed an irrigation system to wash the affected fruit. Samples were sent to US labs for analysis before we decided to harvest the impacted areas. All fruit was hand harvested. At the winery, we adjusted the processing of the fruit to de-stem and not crush our white grapes before they were pressed, in a bid to lessen the likelihood of unwanted skin to juice contact. Lots were kept separate to ensure that if a problem did develop, we would minimize its impact.

We researched how others had dealt with similar smoke problems in wine regions around the world. In Australia, where they have been at the mercy of fierce brush fires in 2003, considerable work had been done and new practices were proving to be successful. Those findings led us to a California company that had experienced success with equipment to isolate and treat damaged molecules in wine. We were not certain the procedure would work on wines impacted by forest fires, so we contracted them to bring their technology to the Okanagan for trials at Mission Hill Family Estate. In very simple terms, this procedure utilizes reverse filtration to trap damaged molecules, allowing us to neutralize the smoke particles. We are grateful to the Australian and California researchers who advanced this technology.

In the end, we are on track to release some superb wines from the 2003 harvest in the coming months. It has been a challenging year, but I believe we have learned a number of lessons and are well positioned to face whatever Mother Nature has in store for us. The results of our trials will be shared with others in the valley.