2024 Harvest Update
We are excited to share that we have now completed our 2024 harvest. It has been a challenging year filled with despair and worry, yet also filled with excitement, innovation, hard work, and pioneering spirit.
Like most BC wineries, our vineyards suffered significant winter damage earlier this year. As a result of the cold snap in January, we were originally anticipating a near 100% loss in our estate vineyard.
With the arrival of the sunshine and warmer weather in spring, we were thrilled to see that most of our vines were still alive. Our estate vineyard fared better than expected in some of our blocks and we were projecting an overall harvest amount between 20-30% of normal. During the summer, it appeared that our signature Cabernet Franc and Riesling were both doing better than we originally anticipated. Conversely, in the blocks that didn’t do as well, including our Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon blocks, where there was little to no fruit, we worked on retraining the vines this year to prepare them for 2025.
While we were anticipating a much smaller than normal harvest, we set out on a unique and innovative way forward. We ventured beyond our borders to the renowned vineyards of Washington, seeking to create a unique expression of our winemaking tradition. Just as the land has shaped generations of people who lived here long before us, this vintage is a testament to resilience, respect for the land, and a spirit of exploration.
We partnered with Sagemoor Estates in Washington State where our team could produce wine from grapes from Washington, but using our protocols and in our style. We chose Washington because it is relatively close, and there are vineyards there that have similar growing conditions as our vineyards in Lillooet. We were able to use the tools and techniques that we use in Lillooet. With this collaborative process, our team made our Washington wines, just with grapes harvested from different vineyards, and pressed and fermented in a different cellar.
Our winemaker Alex Nel stayed in Lillooet to work on the harvest of our estate grown grapes while he also oversaw our assistant winemaker Seth Jex, who looked after the harvest of our Washington grown grapes.
We have now completed our harvest in both Lillooet and Washington, resulting in approximately:
- 50 tons of estate fruit (about 32% of our normal harvest)
- 68 tons of Washinton fruit
- 118 tons of total fruit (combined, it will be about 75% of our normal harvest)
About our estate harvest, our winemaker Alex explained, “A cloudy and windy spring showed signs of a late vintage, but it was the best ripening season I have had here. Very moderate temperatures during peak flavour development allowed for slow and even phenolic ripening. The Grüner Veltliner and Cabernet Franc grapes from our Red Rock Vineyard were outstanding. We are seeing well balanced acidities and aromatic whites, especially on the Grüner Veltilner, while the Cabernet Franc from our Red Rock Vineyard expresses lots of concentration, while being fruit-forward.”
Our Assistant Winemaker Seth spent many weeks in Washington as our onsite visiting winemaker throughout harvest and crush. He was hands-on selecting the vineyards and grapes, tasting and monitoring the fruit, selecting the picking dates, hand picking and pressing the grapes, overseeing the fermentation, and arranging for the transport of the unfinished wines back to Lillooet.
Regarding our Washington harvest, Seth explained, “We are excited to showcase these Washington wines to you. They are expressive, youthful and fresh, vibrant, and perfect to enjoy in the spring and summer next year. We’ll have Washington Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Rosé. I am really pleased with all of these wines, and particularly our Washington Rosé. We made it from Syrah grapes, from a vineyard planted in 1998 in the Wahluke Slope AVA (American Viticulture Area) in Washington. This Syrah Rosé is inspired by South African Syrah Rosés. Both Alex and I have worked with Syrah for Rosé in South Africa, and we can’t wait for you to try this one.”
This week, Seth returned from Washington bringing the last of the unfinished Washington wine with him. From here, Alex and Seth will now work together on all of our Lillooet and Washington wines. The wines will be finished, aged, and bottled at our winery in Lillooet. While bottling is still far off, the wines from grapes grown in Washington will be bottled separately with a distinct label. It will be a really unique way to compare, contrast, and enjoy wines made by our team both from here in Lillooet and from there in Washington.
We have shared a number of reels, videos, and photos on our Facebook and Instagram pages, covering our harvest both from here and there. If you haven’t yet, we invite you to check them out.
In addition to Alex and Seth, we would like to express our deep gratitude to all of our grape growing, harvest, and winemaking teams both here in Lillooet and in Washington. Special thanks to the team from Sagemoor for welcoming Seth and treating him so well this fall.
Despite the challenges of this harvest, we are passionate about what we do, and we remain committed to the Lillooet VQA, our beautiful community, and our BC wine industry. We are resilient, resourceful, and innovative, and our team is committed to ensuring our business is sustainable and that we can continue to produce world-class wines with the quality and passion that you have come to expect from us at Fort Berens.
Thank you for being a part of this journey with us.
Cheers,
Heleen Pannekoek
Co-owner & founder
Fort Berens Estate Winery
cell: 778.209.7024
Information and images courtesy of Fort Berens and Kim Lawton, Dog Leg Marketing.
