Some vintners in Ontario’s popular winemaking area were in cleanup mode on Wednesday, days after major rainfalls swept through the Niagara Region and caused severe flooding.
Parts of Zabek Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake remained under floodwater after it was hit by back-to-back storms, said president and owner James Zabek.
“My dad’s 70 years old, and he has never witnessed the amount of rain that we’ve gotten since he’s been farming,” Zabek said in an interview Wednesday.
‘Water everywhere:’ Flooding impacts homes, farms and vineyards in Niagara after overnight rainstorm
Shock, grief and a city on the edge as St. Catharines, Ont., deals with massive flooding
Zabek said the vineyard’s drainage system — pipes running beneath the vine rows that feed out to roadside ditches — was overwhelmed by the volume of rain. Once the ditches filled up, there was nowhere for the water to go.
“Flooded, absolutely flooded, especially in our low spots. The ditches can’t seem to keep up with the amount of water that we’ve been getting the last few rainfalls,” he said.
Officials say thousands of homes and businesses were inundated when the region was hit by consecutive bouts of extreme rainfall, first on July 27 and 28 and then again on Aug. 2. The storms combined to deliver about a quarter of the region’s typical annual precipitation in less than a week.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, on Wednesday, met with the mayor of St. Catharines and nearby town Lincoln, which had both declared states of emergency. Ford shared in a post on social media Wednesday afternoon that he heard “directly from workers and community members impacted by the recent flooding.”
St. Catharines, Ont., residents describe waking up to flooded home after heavy rain
St. Catharines, Ont., declares state of emergency after massive floods from extreme rainstorms
A spokesperson for Ontario’s Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Response said the province was assessing the floods against its eligibility requirements for its disaster recovery program.
St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe, who has been critical of the response from the province and Ottawa, said he was encouraged by his meeting with Ford. He said he hopes it will lead to a quicker and better disaster response moving forward.
“The biggest frustration is that it seems to take way too long to get the actual boots on the ground,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
Across the region’s vineyards, many owners said there was little way to prepare for the amount of rain that fell, even with a strong drainage system.
Harald Thiel, vigneron and owner at Hidden Bench Estate Winery, said there were three to four feet of water in some parts of his vineyard, but its position on a slope along the Niagara Escarpment allowed most of the water to clear.
“I don’t think you can prepare for the amount of rain that was received in the area,” he said.
“I do think, however, that infrastructure needs to be adapted to the new reality of climate change, and we know we are seeing more and more of these very intense rainstorms, which cause erosion in the vineyards.”
For Malivoire Wine Company, most of the damage was to the winery’s buildings rather than the grapes, thanks to its location on a hillside. The winery was closed Monday as staff cleaned water and mud out of their offices, the shop and the bar.
“The flow of water from around the winery, from the outside, broke a wooden door and hit the outdoor movable bar and actually pushed it out onto the patio,” said Tammy Kruck, the company’s manager of club and direct-to-consumer sales.
Kruck said the team found empty bottles that were carried from their recycling area out across the street to a nearby vineyard. Their barrels were unaffected but most of the damage was done to wine labels, making some of those bottles unsellable.
The floods came ahead of harvest season, meaning the damage should not hurt fall wine production, several vineyard owners said.
“This would be disastrous if it was in harvest,” said Paul Speck, president and co-owner of Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery. Although his winery was largely unaffected, he said he has never seen this level of rain before and was grateful his drainage system was able to handle the excess water.
“So hopefully this doesn’t happen in September or October, or we’d be having a completely different discussion.”
Zabek said his vineyard will need up to three weeks to get caught up to normal operations, barring any more torrential downpours. In the meantime, he says he will be on the lookout for any possible disease to the crop, especially the vines.
He said the excess water raises the risk of mildew. Prolonged flooding can also stress or kill the vines themselves if the soil stays saturated too long, he said.
