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But she said her winery and Sartor’s are the only ones in the area ravaged by flames.

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A bigger loss overall, she said, is that of winery visitors, said Coletta.

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“When I look out at (Okanagan Lake), I see water bombers perform and helicopters picking up buckets of water. . . but there’s not a single boat,” she said.

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“We’re hoping September will be beautiful and clear and encourage people to come.”

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Recent years have been difficult for wineries in the area, given a severe cold snap that descended on the Okanagan in the winter of 2024 that severely ravaged vineyards, destroying 98 per cent of the wine grapes and 20 per cent of the vines.

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“And now this; it’s been a lot — it’s been a challenging handful of years,” said Sartor.

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Other vineyards in the region not directly impacted by the flames will be grappling with various levels of smoke damage, he added.

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Jak Meyer’s vineyard at Okanagan Falls is one of those.

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Though his Meyer Family Vineyards sits 40 km south of the Bald Range fire, it’s possible his grapes were damaged by its smoke.

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This handout photo taken on August 16, 2026 by the BC Wildlife Service shows the Bald Range wildfire burning near Summerland, in British Columbia, western Canada. The fire, which broke out on August 7, has forced thousands of people to evacuate the area. Photo by HANDOUT /BC Wildfire Service/AFP via Gett

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“If the smoke stopped tomorrow and we had three or four weeks with rain, it might not be too bad but up at Summerland it’d be a different story,” said Meyer who’s been growing grapes for two decades.

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“I’m sure (there’s damage) but it’s just to what extent.”

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What the crisis to his north has definitely meant to his operation is a nearly 90 per cent reduction in the number of visitors to his tasting room.

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But his winery isn’t nearly as dependent on those customers as those closer to the fire, said Meyer.

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And he ponders how many of his counterparts will be seeking provincial government insurance for smoke damage.

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“I’ll be curious to see how many leave all the grapes on the vine to rot, or they won’t pay them,” said Meyer.

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Anyone who loses vines to fire will need three years to recover – a tall order for many, he added.

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“There’ll be some wineries that won’t survive it,” said Meyer.

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Fellow winery owner Coletta, however, said the industry now has the ability to significantly mitigate the impact of smoke.

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And she and other producers said the Bald Range fire shouldn’t affect wine inventories in Alberta liquor stores and restaurants, noting a major storage facility in Summerland containing local wines was untouched.

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Before bottles from the 2026 crop reach store shelves, the fruits of the outstanding 2025 harvest are there to fully enjoy, she noted.

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“Most wineries doing business in Alberta have healthy inventories so there’s no fear of running out of wine and no impact on the quality,” said Coletta.

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If Alberta wine consumers see any impact from the current Okanagan fires, it won’t be for another one or two years, said Evan Eckersley, a manager at Calgary’s Kensington Wine Market.

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He said fire and cold spell disruptions in the Okanagan in recent years have created some uncertainty, but one with a silver lining.

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“For the general Okanagan region, it’s just been a series of hits over the last six or seven years but it’s made people more aware of B.C. wines,” said Eckersley.

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