This year鈥檚 harvest is bringing a mixed bag of results to Okanagan orchardists.

A summer season marked by a record-breaking heatwave, drought, wildfires and smoke has made its mark, yet it appears to some the climate of the last few months might have been helpful.

Upside Cider co-owner Isaac Potash manages the cidery鈥檚 orchard and he said this summer has left many of the apples damaged, cooking the fruit from the inside out, which means he won鈥檛 be able to use them for cider or commercial sale.

鈥�(The heatwave) also made us use a lot of our water that we鈥檙e allowed to use for the season,鈥� he said.

鈥淪o, by the beginning of August, I鈥檇 used actually all the water that I was supposed to be using for the season, but because everything was just so dry and so hot, we couldn鈥檛 turn the water off.鈥�

In the end, Potash said the heatwave鈥檚 effects weren鈥檛 as bad as he first thought they would be. He estimated only about 20 per cent of the apples had been sun-damaged, leaving some room to at least, break even.

But, over the past weekend (Sept. 19), all of Upside Cider鈥檚 apples were ruined following a regional hail storm.

Potash said it was the first time it hailed in that area in the 14 years since he had worked there.

鈥淎ll the apples got wrecked, so we can鈥檛 sell any of them now,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll will have to be used for juice instead.鈥�

Others, however, haven鈥檛 had the same issues that Upside Cider has been dealing with.

Over in East 琉璃神社, Kitsch Wines is in full fruit picking season, its grapes unscathed.

Graham Pierce is Kitsch鈥檚 winemaker and general manager. He said they were lucky the heat wave hit the region earlier in the summer, well before the grapes started to ripen.

鈥淚t was a really interesting year in 2021. Every year is always different. May and June, we were well ahead of the game,鈥� he said.

鈥淥f course, things got maybe a little bit too hot and of course we ran into some smoke in the summer, but for us, I don鈥檛 feel it鈥檚 going to have a really big impact because it (the heat wave) came pretty early in the year.鈥�

The warm summer followed by the start of fall, have been beneficial for the grapes, he added, as it helps to develop the flavours and sugar content. However, the intense heat of the summer months did push back the grape harvest.

鈥淪ometimes when you get the really hot conditions, the vines shut down,鈥� he said.

鈥淚 would say that the concern now for many winemakers is that everything is very ripe and it鈥檚 all going to come in in the next few weeks here, so it鈥檚 going to be a little bit of a compressed vintage.鈥�

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twila.amato@blackpress.ca
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