This Okanagan winemaker is hopeful in the wake of the 2024 deep freeze

Severine Pinte is ready to bottle her first Okanagan wines for LaStella and La Vieux Pin since a polar vortex caused widespread damage to vineyards in January, 2024.

Pinte, who is executive winemaker and viticulturalist of the properties owned by Vancouver-based Enotecca Wineries and Resorts, was concerned about the long-term effects of the deep freeze. Frigid temperatures wiped out 95 per cent of the crop and 20 per cent of the grape vines in British Columbia, leading Pinte to worry she might have to return to her native France for work. “The silver lining in that freeze event is how we came together as an industry,” she said.

Pinte, who has been working in the Okanagan since 2010, usually practices organic farming, avoiding synthetic pesticides or herbicides. However, she has temporarily returned to using some conventional, chemical sprays on the vineyards to cut costs and keep her teams in place while the business rebuilds. Vineyards that have been replanted can take four years before they produce quality grapes for winemaking, meaning Pinte expects to see a full crop by 2029.

The Globe spoke with Pinte about the condition of the vineyards and their recovery.

La Vieux Pin is known for the quality of red wines made with syrah, a variety which is sensitive to cold temperatures. When it came to replanting vineyards, did you consider changing to a more winter-hardy grape, such as cabernet franc?

We decided not to get rid of syrah because it’s a superstar, but we moved our plantings 20 kilometres further south, closer to the lake, in Osoyoos, where it can be 3 C warmer in winter, which can make a huge difference in how the vines survive cold temperatures. Before we had syrah planted at Le Vieux Pin winery, which is the coldest of the 10 vineyards we have scattered across the South Okanagan.

Will the flavour of your syrah-based wines change as a result of those new vines?

The new vineyard won’t affect the taste of our wine styles. We were already using syrah from other southern vineyards in the blends. Additionally, we have syrah, which was part of the original blends, from vineyards on the Golden Mile that had better air flow and where the vines survived.

What were the other priorities for getting back on track following the January, 2024, freeze?

We decided it was most important to keep our team, which meant making cuts to vineyard and winery operations to allocate money to pay the staff. We haven’t bought new oak barrels in the last three years and have temporarily changed to more conventional farming methods, but we’re going back to organic viticulture as soon as we are back on our feet.

Why is retaining skilled workers so important?

The Okanagan is quite small. A lot of the trained winemakers and viticulturalists come from outside, some from Brock University out east, others from Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand and California. There’s also a significant financial commitment: it costs a lot of money to train somebody, especially at this time when money is scarce, and then we have to establish trust, which can be difficult.

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the 2025 vintage from British Columbia, what can we expect?

We are bottling most of our white wines and rosés in the first week of March, while our syrah from 2025 won’t be bottled until March 2027. The sauvignon blanc (aged in a mix of oak barrels and stainless-steel tanks) is rich and delicious, while Vivace, the pinot grigio from LaStella, is vibrant and mouthwatering, both are a direct continuation of our established styles.

How is making wine in the Okanagan different from other regions?

We have a unique, little piece of paradise here, but you really have to adapt every year. There’s no recipe. We have to manage the heat, the cold and the short season. Our budbreak can come at the end of April, which might be two months later than in the south of France, and the first frost could come Oct. 15, causing the vines to lose their leaves and the grapes won’t ripen further. Making wine here isn’t a glamourous picture of sitting idle and sipping wine while you watch the grapes grow, saying ‘Life is good!’ Life is good, but it is a lot of work.