Why your grapes are
changing colour right now.
Earlier than ever, on the East Bench above Osoyoos. 9 days earlier than 2025
Right now, in vineyards across the Okanagan, something is happening that most wine drinkers never think about. The grapes are changing colour. Reds are turning from green to purple. It’s called veraison, and it marks the moment a grape stops just growing bigger and starts actually ripening into wine.
This year, that shift happened noticeably early at Moon Curser — veraison began on July 13, nine days earlier than last year’s July 22 start, and roughly two weeks ahead of a typical vintage. Two early years in a row isn’t just a quirk of one warm spring. It’s the kind of pattern winemakers across BC are watching closely.
Veraison is triggered by heat and sugar accumulation in the grape. Winemakers track the exact date closely because it sets the clock for everything that follows — canopy management, irrigation decisions, and eventually the harvest date itself. A short winter and early spring pushed this season ahead across the Okanagan, and timing also depends on the grape — at Moon Curser, the Tempranillo is always the first to turn, the “canary” that tells the team what’s coming.
On the East Bench above Osoyoos, that heat is part of the character of the place — consistent, usable warmth through most of the season, with temperatures climbing to 37–40°C this week. With most of Moon Curser’s grapes being later-ripening reds, the early start may work in the winery’s favour, spacing out white and early-red harvest from the long wait for the late reds still to come.
“The numbers only tell a part of the story. Flavour is something that nature gives us, and it’s our job to make sure we pick at the perfect time to create a wholistic experience of a wine.”
CHRISTIAN SCAGNETTI, WINEMAKER
The wine in your next box wasn’t made on a schedule. It was shaped by an actual season that just happened, in real time, on a real hillside above Osoyoos — one grape colour-change at a time.
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Feature image: Tempranillo, mid-veraison on the East Bench — the first of Moon Curser’s grapes to turn, and always the first sign of what the season’s timeline will look like.