Canadian winters can be tough on wine grape vines. A single extreme cold snap can damage vines and reduce crop yields significantly. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers in Summerland, British Columbia, are collecting data from multiple sources to determine the best practices for protecting vineyards against extreme cold.
It’s more than cool research. View this video to learn more.
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Full Video Transcript:
Narrator: Canadian winters can be tough on wine grape vines. A single extreme cold snap can damage vines and reduce crop yields by 20 to 30%. When temperatures drop below -20 for an extended period, the whole crop is at risk. And it takes two years for a vine to recover, amounting to a significant financial loss for growers and vintners. Carl Bogdanoff and his team at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, in Summerland, British Columbia are working with grape growers to better protect vines against the deep freeze.
Carl Bogdanoff: In the past, say about 30 years ago, the wine industry was fairly small and also was based on winter hardy hybrid varieties which produced fairly medium quality wines. The wine industry here in British Columbia decided to focus primarily on quality and to do that they replanted all their vineyards with premium vitus vinifera varieties such as merlot, cab franc chardonnay. All those wine varieties that we know and love. Vitus vinifera can tolerate some freezing but they are seriously tested when temperatures become record low temperatures. And when we do get these really freezing temperatures, grape buds are killed, vine tissue is damaged, the flowum or zylum or even the roots are damaged, or the vine could be totally killed outright.
Narrator: It is a multi-disciplined initiative that is fully engaged with the industry. The team monitors temperatures and bud hardiness at many locations across the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys. Participating growers receive a bi-weekly, bud hardiness report for major wine grape varieties. They use this information to assess risk of winter injury before and during an arctic event to help them decide when to operate fans that draw warmer air into vineyards. Knowing bud damage levels also helps in deciding how much to prune. Carl Bogdanoff: Last winter, this vine was compromised. It's flowum and zylum cells were damaged. It wasn't completely girdled, so this vine broke bud, sent up some shoots and had some crops but when it got really hot this summer this vine totally collapsed and now is dead.
Narrator: Additionally, the research team collects data in several other current research projects that are looking at the effects on hardiness of rootstocks and varietal selections irrigation practices use of fans to mix air in the vineyards amount of crop on the vines ground cover between vine rows disease leaf removal and cluster positioning and how a plant hormone, one that improves grape colour, is also contributing to bud hardiness.
Mike Watson: Anything we can do to make the vines hardier, even by 2 or 3 degrees, is huge. It's the difference between up to 50% damage and replanting crop loss to having a total successful year in the succeeding year.
Carl Bogdanoff: It is really important that we understand how we can help these vines weather these cold snaps that occur periodically and to develop new vineyard management practices that can improve the cold hardiness of the grape vine.
Narrator: Each summer, the team’s interim results are presented at the BC Wine Grape Council’s For Canadian vintners, smart science ensures you can enjoy Canadian wines room temperature or chilled.
