While a late spring and wet and cool conditions don't spell a bumper year for the B.C. wine industry, some wineries are using the opportunity to produce some innovative choices for the consumer.

The soggy conditions mean pickers in the Okanagan are finally getting to grapes that would have come off weeks ago. Most varietals are two weeks behind schedule -- some as much as a month.

Vineyards have had to thin their crops to maximize the limited sunshine, but that means a smaller harvest.

"We'll probably have about half the harvest we used to have," said Walter Huber of Hainle Vineyards.

That'll make it harder for wineries to turn a profit.

It's also forced winemakers to make some difficult decisions about when to pick. Much of the crop has had to come off the vine without the sugar levels Okanagan winemakers normally expect.

In the sunny Okanagan, there is usually plenty of sugar in the grapes, with the flavours still developing when it's time to pick. But this year it's the reverse.

"It's been a very trying year," said Ingo Grady of the Mission Hill Family Estate Winery.

"But what's in the barn has good flavours so we have some good wines to look forward to."

Cool, wet weather can also bring rot. The optimal grapes in the yards should be green and plump, but cold weather grapes look more like brown raisins. It's from a condition called botrytis, a necrotrophic fungus disease.

But it's not all bad news. The View Winery winemaker Bernhard Schirrmeister looks at it as an opportunity. While the grapes may not look pretty, the juice they retain will be sweeter and more flavourful.

"That's something we call noble rot. And you can do something really special with it, like a desert wine," he said.

Experts agree there will be some bright spots in the troubled 2010 vintage. Consumers should expect lower alcohol but if they pick the right wine it will have plenty of flavour.

"So there will be less quality wine around," Schirrmeister said. "There will be some quality wine made, albeit in smaller quantities."

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat