development of wine, but the reality is that England had a lasting influence on many modern wine styles. In Roman times, the vineyards of England stretched northward beyond the Scottish border. Over the centuries of seafaring, trading, and prosperity England became a large consumer of wine. When a country was at war with England, new wine producing nations were developed and existing nations at war with England developed crises when their wines were embargoed.


On the technical side, the Champagne industry owes its success to the glassblowers of England who developed thin, strong bottles capable of not exploding under the pressure of refermented wines.


It was England’s cider makers who worked out the sparkling wine process to add a small amount of sugar to a dry cider, stopper the bottles and then produce a sparkling product ... on purpose. As would be expected, the book contains many stories of political intrigue, war, fraud, and deceit. There are biographies of the people who established great chateaux or changed the whole market by introducing a radical new style of wine. There are also great anecdotes of serendipitous discoveries, tributes to those who extended viniculture to the New World, and scientists such as Pasteur, who was essentially the originator of modern wine science.


Several chapters were devoted to the extremes of viticulture. The world’s driest vineyard is in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. It hasn’t rained there in 50 years, but a small corner of it is fed from the Huasco River. What about elevation? This record is presently held by Argentina at Altura Maxima, at 3110 metres above sea level.


We think of B.C. as being extreme with a few wineries at 51 degrees north latitude. Germany is also a contender, but what about Latvia at 57 degrees? Perhaps Stockholm, with vineyards at 59 degrees? No, it’s Finland at 61 degrees on Olkiluoto Island in the Gulf of Bothnia.


And so ends my review. I’m still chuckling.


22


Looking Back By Wayne Wilson


or more than 100 years, fruit processing has been part of the Okanagan Valley's economic landscape. From pickles and jam to juices and dehydrated vegetables, the number of products processed and canned over those decades is impressive, to say the least. The earliest years of production saw a scattering of investment up and down the valley. Small plants opened based largely on individual investment and, more often than not, closed soon after their launch. As the volume and range of produce grown in the valley began to expand, it was clear the market for fresh products was saturated and the need for more processing capacity became obvious. By World War II, the BC Fruit Growers’ Association began to look more seriously at these needs and by the end of that decade had formed BC Fruit Processors to help fill the gap.


F


In the 1950s and 1960s, the region's processing industry grew significantly. It expanded its range of products, improved its transportation linkages, and grew its markets. Perhaps the largest of these operations in the Okanagan Valley was Aylmer with plants in Kelowna, Penticton and Oliver.


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Fall 2015


The Aylmer canneries were a harbinger of things to come, however — as this historic


photograph from


the 1950s shows, it also had plants in several other places across the province. Ultimately, this post World War II era was one of 'corporate consolidation' and 'centralization' across many sectors. The canneries were clearly not immune to this trend. One by one the canneries closed in the Valley and their operations were, for the most part, swallowed by larger enterprises and relocated to BC's lower mainland.


There is much historical work and research to do in the Okanagan region, but in the Kamloops area John Stewart has written a wonderful piece that traces the rise and fall of Interior canneries. In the Okanagan, Sun-Rype Products Ltd. remains the only processing plant of significant size that harkens from those glory days. If you have photos or artefacts of our rich agricultural heritage, please contact the B. C. Orchard Industry Museum at 778-478-0347.


— Wayne Wilson is the former executive-director of the B.C. Orchard Industry Museum and the B.C. Wine Museum.


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