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Spierhead commits to Pinot Noir

February 4, 2015, 12:44 pm
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Photo: SpierHead Winery

When East Kelowna’s SpierHead Winery released its first Pinot Noir from the 2010, proprietor Bill Knutson priced the wine only $18 a bottle because it was a “juvenile wine.” 

In the vintages since (except for the hail-damaged 2013), the estate’s Gentleman Farmer Vineyard has proven itself as excellent Pinot Noir terroir. A multitude of Pinot Noir clones have been, or will be, planted as the winery is making a big bet on Pinot Noir.

“At SpierHead, we have decided to go all in with the heartbreak grape,” Bill said in a letter that accompanied the recent sample release. “It is already our largest planting and this past spring [2014], we planted a further five acres of Pinot Noir. We will be planting more in 2015 and, as some clones require a two-year lead time for delivery, we have more Pinot Noir coming in 2016.”

In a following email conversation, he elaborated that “approximately nine of our 12 planted acres consist of Pinot Noir. My plan is to establish a vineyard with a broad diversity of clones to enable some experimentation with combinations and possibly single clone wines.”

Bill continues: “In our original four acres of pinot noir we have Dijonclones 115, 777 and 828.  We don’t have much of the 828 and as we think it is our most successful performer, we planted another 4,000 vines of 828 in 2014.  We also added a fourth Dijonclone in 2014, putting in about 3,000 clone 667 vines.” 

In 2015, SpierHead will plant some Mt.Eden clone Pinot Noir, one of the so-called heritage clones grown in California.

A further two acres of Pinot Noir will be planted next year. “I would have done it this year except that I couldn’t get the clones that I wanted,” Bill says. “I have ordered a few thousand each of Pommard and Dijon #943.  Pommard is one of the clones that is widely used in Oregon.  It is usually regarded as bringing a spicy element to the wine.  943 is a relatively new Dijon clone which is proving very hard to get. It is receiving rave reviews, especially in New Zealand.” 

“Our goal,” Bill writes, “is to be one of the wineries mentioned in any conversation concerning the top Pinot Noir producers in B.C.”

The hail damage in 2013 in the Gentleman Farmer Vineyard required SpierHead to source additional Pinot Noir elsewhere in the Okanagan. One source is the Golden Retreat Vineyard in Summerland, already a supplier of Pinot Gris to SpierHead.

Golden Retreat is operated by David Kozuki,a grower whom Bill describes as being “very conscientious.” In fact, the fruit is so good that SpierHead has decided to bottle a limited run of a vineyard-designed Pinot Noir from Golden Retreat.

“From the 2015 harvest, assuming no hail,” Bill says, “we’ll do a vineyard-designated wine from Kozuki’s vineyard and we’ll also do one from our own vineyard.” 

SpierHead’s current releases include its first reserve, called Pinot Noir Cuvée. The initial release from 2013 is a little over 100 cases. “Going forward we plan to produce annually a small quantity of a cuvée, made from our best available barrels,” Bill writes. 

As part of the Pinot Noir focus, the winery - which also produces Riesling, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay – will be dropping Pursuit and Vanguard, the Bordeauxblends it had been making since the 2009 vintage.

“Our last vintage of Vanguard and Pursuit will be 2013, which we’ll bottle in June,” Bill says. “All along we have bought the Bordeaux reds for these wines from Harry McWatters’ Sundial vineyard on Black Sage Road.” (Harry is currently building his own winery on that vineyard, although he continues to sell grapes to other clients.)

Bill points out that SpierHead is nor growing Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon on the Gentleman Farmer Vineyard. “And I don’t think it would make sense to plant those varietals in our area.”

In any event, SpierHead intends to focus on Pinot Noir and “do a good job with it,” Bill says. 

Here are notes on three current releases from SpierHead.

SpierHead Chardonnay 2013 ($22.90 for 270 cases). About 30% of this wine was aged 10 months in French oak; the rest was aged in stainless steel. The oak is very subtle in this fresh and lively wine with its laser-like fruit aromas and flavours. There are citrus aromas and flavours of green apples and honeydew melons. The wine also shows a good spine of minerality. The finish is crisp. 90.

SpierHead Pinot Noir 2013 ($24 for 600 cases). The wine is made with three clones of Pinot Noir – 115 (68% of the blend), 667 and the Pommard clone. The wine was aged 10 months in French oak. The alcohol is a moderate 12.4% but, as is often the case with good Pinot Noir, the silky texture is fuller than the alcohol would indicate. There are aromas of cherry and strawberry, leading to flavours of   cherry and raspberry. 90.


SpierHead Pinot Noir Cuvée 2013 ($32.90 for 100 cases, 24 magnums and six double magnums.) The same three clones are in this wine, with Pommard, at 44%, taking the lead. This seductive wine is a hedonistic beauty. It begins with alluring aromas of raspberry jam with notes of cherry. The wine was aged 10 months in French oak – just enough oak to support a rich bouquet of cherry, strawberry and raspberry flavours. The texture is silky with just enough tannin to take this wine to a peak in four or five years. 93.
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Meadow Vista Honey Wines raises its profile

February 9, 2015, 1:32 pm
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Photo: Meadow Vista's Judie Barta

Until last summer, Meadow Vista Honey Wines, which opened in 2009, was tucked away in a nondescript industrial building in West Kelowna beside Highway 97.

It was hard to make a tasting room in that location appealing. That was not doing the business any good when mead still is a hand sell in British Columbia.

After search for several years, Judie Barta, Meadow Vista’s owner, finally found a silent investor that allowed her to move from what she called “cinder block city” to an attractive cottage on a small farm in East Kelowna last summer. Even the address is appealing: 3975 June Springs Road.

To be sure, there was more traffic on Highway 97, but most of it was just driving by. Visitors may have to work a little harder to find her in East Kelowna (a good GPS will help). When they do, they will find a bright and cheerful tasting room in a garden-like setting, along with such amenities as a bocce court.

The move also enabled her to convert from a commercial to a land-based winery license by virtue of the cultured blackberries and other fruit grown here. She is just releasing her first blackberry mead.

“I have a winery license like every other winery but I don't have the opportunity to be VQA because I am not 100% BC grapes,” she laments. The VQA designation, of course, applies only to grape wines, not fruit wines or mead.

Ironically, Judie and her staff will lead you through a tasting of meads that are surprisingly wine-like, including a bottle-fermented sparkling mead called Joy.  Michael Mosny, the mead maker at Meadow Vista, is actually a winemaker. He also works at Sonoran Estate Winery.

Judie recently hosted tastings in Vancouver’s Legacy Liquor Store, part of the strategy to raise Meadow Vista’s profile and to educate consumers on mead. She has a feeling of déjà vu about that.

“When I first worked for Sumac Ridge in 1993, there were 16 wineries and VQA was just launched,” she recounts. “I can tell you people had no clue what a grape varietal was. I am still in that position of education. I feel more like a teacher than a sales rep.”

Unlike most wines, the meads do not have vintage dates.

“We are not vintage dating anymore because it did not make sense,” Judie says. “Honey being the only non-perishable food on the planet, it won’t change. We are going to a batch program and you can reference each batch if the spices are different.”

Here are notes on Meadow Vista meads.


Meadow Vista Cloud Horse ($22). This is made just with blueberry honey and water. It is a crisp, refreshing mead with the weight of a white wine. The honey gives it a floral, almost spicy aroma and delivers a lingering fruitiness to the dry palate. 88.

Meadow Vista Mabon ($22). This spiced metheglin style honey wine combines coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg with organic honey. The flavours are a blend of spice with fruity notes, such as strawberry. Medium-bodied, the mead is just slightly off-dry. 88. 


Meadow Vista Bliss ($15 for 500 ml, $27 for a litre). This is a carbonated sparkling cherry and honey wine. The cherries give it a vibrant colour and a cherry flavour. The impression of light oak comes from the cherry pits. This festive wine is very well balanced to dance lightly on the palate and finish fresh and dry. 90.

Meadow Vista Rubus ($22). This is a blackberry and honey melomel mead. Juicy and full-bodied, this is a red wine drinker’s mead. Tasting of blackberry, it finishes dry. 89.

Meadow Vista Ostara ($22). This is a floral, aromatic pyment style, with late harvest Pinot Gris wine grapes blended into this delicate honey wine. The wine has an appealing core of honeyed fruit flavours but is so well balanced that the finish is clean and refreshing. This mead is listed in select Liquor Distribution Branch stores. 90. 



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Township 7's Reserve 7 Meritage

February 12, 2015, 1:49 pm
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During the past decade or so, a growing number of British Columbiawineries have added premium-priced flagship wines to their portfolios.

It is all part of the maturing of the industry. Mature vines are producing better grapes. Winemakers have accumulated more experience and training. Wineries have invested in significantly better winemaking equipment. We should expect better wines.

For various reasons, I have begun to explore the back stories on some of these wines. This blog is about Township 7’s premium Bordeaux blend, Reserve 7. The 2012 vintage is the current release.

Reserve 7 was born in 2006 when Mike Raffan, a former restaurateur, bought the winery from its founders, Corey and Gwen Coleman. The winemaker at the time was Brad Cooper and Mike asked him to make a “high performance” wine.

It was their good fortune that 2006 was a strong Okanagan vintage. Brad was able to make good Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc varietals sourced from a contracted grower on Black Sage Road. The varietals were aged individually in barrel until Brad was ready to put together a 200-case blend from the “best” barrels.

That first Reserve 7 was 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc. A label was commissioned from Robb Dunfield, a quadriplegic Vancouverpainter. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the wine, which was released in 2008, went to the Rick Hansen Foundation. 

The winery has made Reserve 7 blends every vintage since and has integrated them into its portfolio with a conventional label. The volume of Reserve 7 has risen to  500 cases a year and likely is capped around that level.

Much of the fruit in the blend is from the six-hectare (15-acre) Blue Terrace Vineyard. Located on Tuc-El-Nuit Road northeastof Oliver, it was planted in 1998 with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. Township 7 began buying Blue Terrace grapes in 2000. Andy Marsel, the owner, subsequently planted, and then sold, a similar sized vineyard nearby in a former gravel pit. Now called Rock Pocket, this also supplies fruit for Township 7. The gravel-rich soils in this area sets it apart from the more sandy soils further south on Black Sage Road.

Township 7 has since contracted additional from vineyards in OkanaganFalls and the SimilkameenValley. It also has Merlot and a modest quantity of Malbec and Petit Verdot growing in the estate vineyard near Penticton.

New owners took over Township 7 last year. They have left Mike in place as general manager and he is maintaining the portfolio.

However, Brad Cooper has moved to Serendipity Winery. Ontario-born Mary McDermott took over as Township 7’s winemaker in 2014. With her background and with the superb quality of the 2014 vintage, there is potential to take Reserve 7 to yet another level. A graduate of BrockUniversitywinemaking program, she worked at three top Ontario wineries: Stratus Vineyards, Cave Spring Cellars and, from 2010 to 2014, at Trius Winery. She brings techniques learned in producing the iconic Trius Grand Red which, currently, sells for double the price of Reserve 7.

Here are notes on two current releases from Township 7.

Township 7 Reserve Chardonnay 2013 ($25.99 for 188 cases). This wine is available only the wine club members at Township 7. This wine was fermented and aged in one-year-old American oak for 12 months. It begins with aromas of tangerines and cloves, leading to layered flavours of mango and citrus with hints of butterscotch. The texture is full, almost creamy, but the finish is crisp. 91.


Township 7 Reserve 7 Meritage 2012 ($35.99 for 488 cases). The blend is 70% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Malbec, 5.5% Cabernet Franc and 2.5% Petit Verdot.  The wine was aged 22 months in French and American oak barrels and the blend was a best barrels selection.  It begins with aromas of black cherry, currants, vanilla and fruitcake spices, leading to bright, vibrant flavours of cherry and boysenberry, with a note of cedar.  The firm tannins require decanting for consumption now; but this has good potential for aging. The winery suggests cellaring a further six to 10 years. 91




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Class of 2014: Roche Wines

February 13, 2015, 1:41 pm
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 Photo: Winemaker Dylan Roche

New in the market, Roche Winery is a tiny artisanal producer that happens to make very good wines.

Roche did its first public tastings last summer, along with other artisanal wineries, at the Garagiste North festival, held on the grounds of Meyer Family Vineyards at Okanagan Falls.

Now, the owners Dylan and Pénélope Roche have been introducing the wines into the market. So far, they have a grand total of 300 cases. These are now available in the leading private wine stores in Vancouveras well as in the B.C. Wine Information Centre in Penticton and the B.C.WineMuseum in Kelowna. They are also on several top restaurant wine lists, including Hawksworth in Vancouver and Bogner’s in Penticton.

These are New World wines with the fingerprints of Franceall over them: the owners are both trained in France.

Dylan was born in Vancouver in 1976, the son of a lawyer and a nurse, and got a degree in urban geography from the University of British Columbia. He had been a shop manager in a a Vancouverbicycle store while in college. With that experience, he went to Burgundy in 2000 as a bike mechanic and cycling guide.

That was where he “suffered a conversion experience,” as he says on the Roche website (www.rterroir.ca). He began exploring wineries in Franceand Italy. By 2003, he was enrolled in enology studies in Beaune.

By dint of hard work, he filled his resume with jobs at various French wineries while also working with Butterfield & Robinson, the Canadian-based cycle tour company.

His winery resume includes:

* Winemaking apprenticeships in Côte d’Or, Chablis and New Zealand over five years.

* Wine educator and program director at Château Lynch-Bages in Pauillac from  March, 2006 to February 2008.

* Assistant winemaker at two estates in Péssac-Léognan.

* Winemaker at Château Bellevue de Tayac in Margaux from 2010 until returning to Canada in 2012 to work in the Okanagan, where he is now the winemaker at Intersection Estate Winery.

Pénélope, his wife and partner in Roche Wines, was born in France, with five generations of winemaking and viticulture behind her in the family estate, Château Les Carmes in Haut-Brion. She also has formal winemaking and experience in Spain, New Zealand and Australia.

While Dylan has been busy at the Intersection winery and vineyard, Pénélope has worked with the vineyards that supplied the grapes for their debut wines here.

The Chardonnay is made with fruit from the Coulombe Vineyard, a half-acre block of Chardonnay south of Oliver. The Pinot Gris is from Kozier Organic Vineyard near Naramata.

Roche Wines has yet to license its own winery. However, they are able to produce the wines under the license of Parallel 49 Vineyards (the license under which Intersection operates).

Perhaps an independent winery is in the cards down the road: Dylan and Pénélope bought an eight-acre block last summer on Upper Bench Road in Penticton. Currently, that includes 3.5 acres of Schönburger (under contract to another winery) and one acre of Zweigelt. Dylan made a rosé from the Zwiegelt. The couple are considering other varietals that may or may not be planted after the Schönburger contract ends in 2017.

Roche Wines will release 180 cases of rosé this summer at $20 a bottle. The couple also have 300 cases of Pinot Noir still in barrel and not yet priced.

Here are notes on the current releases. Not reviewed is a 2012 Unoaked Chardonnay. Dylan made 40 cases and sold it all to Merchant’s Oyster Bar on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive.

Roche Chardonnay 2012 ($28.90 for 85 cases). This wine was fermented in French oak barrels (one was new) and remained on the yeast lees for six months. This is a wine with pure focussed fruit on the nose and palate, with aromas of citrus and a note of brioche. It tastes of lemon and fresh apples, with a good backbone of minerals and with bright acidity. With a few years of age, this will develop Burgundian characters. 90.


Roche Pinot Gris 2013 ($26.90 for 175 cases). This wine was also fermented in barrel – neutral French oak – and remained on the lees for 10 months. It is one of the most complex Pinot Gris wines I have seen in a long time. Think of Alsace. The racy acidity gives the wine a bright, refreshing attack. It has aromas of pear and spice and flavours of apple, melon and citrus. The flavours seem to come in richly-textured layers and the finish is very long. The winemakers give this an aging potential of four to six years, a recommendation that speaks to the wine’s complexity. 92. 
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Okanagan winemaking star Stephanie Stanley heads to New Zealand

February 16, 2015, 2:55 pm
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Photo: Winemaker Stephanie Stanley


One of Andrew Peller Ltd.’s top winemakers, Stephanie Stanley, is leaving the Kelowna winery to begin work in March, 2015, at Wither Hills in New Zealand.

“It is something I have always dreamt of doing,” she says. “When I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, I figured out that winemaking is something where I could incorporate science, which is my skill, and my love for travelling and languages. I thought wine can take me around the world.”

Her departure leaves a hole in the Okanagan winemaking talent pool. She joined Calona Wines in 2003 upon graduating from BrockUniversity’s enology program. An honours graduate, she won the President’s Medal as the Brock’s top graduate that year.

When Andrew Peller acquired Calona in 2005, Howard Soon, the senior winemaker at Calona and Sandhill Wines, gave Stephanie responsibility for making the Peller wines in the Okanagan. A few years ago, she also added the same role for making Wayne Gretzky Okanagan wines. Her wines have won three Lieutenant Governor’s awards of excellence (among other awards).

A native of Kelowna, Stephanie discovered her avocation when she took time off from studying college-level science to work six months in a restaurant in Germany’s Pfalz winegrowing region.

“There were wine festivals every weekend, every other weekend,” she remembers. “Working in the restaurant, I just loved the social aspect of it and just loved the whole industry. It brought people together. It was a good lifestyle. I realized there is some kind of science involved in it and that’s where I figured I could apply my science skills.”

Her future intentions include spending a year making wine in Germany, (she speaks the language). She would also like to gain some experience in Alsace.

“My favourite varieties I like to work on are Syrah, Pinot Noir and Riesling,” she says. “And I love Alsacian Gewürztraminer.”

Stephanie’s first exposure to New Zealand winemaking came in 2010 when she spend two months there during the crush. During that time, she and her husband, Bud, toured a number of wineries, including Wither Hills in Marlborough.

She began keeping an eye out for opportunities to work in New Zealandagain. Late last year, she applied when Wither Hills posted a one-year job to replace a winemaker on maternity leave. Stephanie was the runner-up among the applicants but Wither Hills was sufficiently impressed to give her a four-month contract as an assistant winemaker and shift supervisor.

It gives her a foot in the door, should other opportunities come along.

She and Bud, who is managing editor for several online magazines, are making a fairly definitive break with Kelowna by selling their house. However, current plans will have them back in the Okanagan in August and perhaps another crush before heading off to other wineries abroad.

“I will be winemaker at large for a while, as long as we can make it work,” she says. “Eventually, I would love to come back to the Okanagan. I love what we have done with the industry here and where it is going.”




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Clos du Soleil served at Canada House

February 17, 2015, 2:19 pm
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 Photo: Canada House in London


British Columbia’s Clos du Soleil Winery is one of four Canadian wineries serving their wines at this week’s re-opening of Canada House in London.

The other wineries are Peller Estates and Pilliterri Estate Winery, both headquartered in Ontario, and Vignoble Carone, based in Quebec. The wines will be served both at an afternoon reception and at a black tie dinner.

Spencer Massie, Clos du Soleil’s founding partner, has contributed the winery’s Capella 2013, a barrel-fermented blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.

He jumped at the opportunity to have his wine served because he believes it is “strategically important” for Canadian wines to have a presence in one of the world’s most sophisticated wine markets.

He is currently preparing to select an agent to represent Clos du Soleil wines in Britain. He also expects to participate in a tasting of British Columbia wines that the British Columbia Wine Institute is planning for Londonthis spring.

Clos du Soleil, which is based in the SimilkameenValley, opened in 2008 with about 200 cases of wine. However, the winery is in the midst of major expansion. A 4,000 square-foot winery is under construction, with a new tasting room to open this summer. The winery produced 4,700 cases of wine in the 2014 vintage.

Canada House, the home of the Canadian High Commission in London, has had an enviable high profile location on Trafalgar Squaresince 1923 when Canadabought what had been the Union Club. King George V and Queen Mary presided at the official opening of Canada House in 1925.

That was the first of what is now three openings. After major restoration in the 1990s, Queen Elizabeth presided over reopening Canada House in 1998.

The Canadian government bought an adjacent building in 2012 and, after selling the High Commission’s administrative offices on Grosvenor Square, consolidated all of the Commission’s operations into a revitalized Canada House. Once again, the Queen has presided at the official reopening this month.
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A Summerhill Pyramid Winery wine ramble

February 22, 2015, 3:31 pm
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Photo: Summerhill's Eric von Krosigk and Ezra Cipes



Summerhill Pyramid Winery may have an identity crisis.

“We have so many vineyards and so many wines that it is hard for us to just drive one message on one wine,” Summerhill president Ezra Cipes acknowledged during a recent conversation.

During that meeting, we were discussing one of the winery’s latest releases, the Summerhill Vineyard Riesling 2013. One of several Rieslings in Summerhill’s portfolio, it is a wine of excellent quality. It is made with grapes from vines planted in 1978 – the same year that the vines producing Tantalus Vineyards’s Old Vine Riesling.

In contrast with Summerhill, Tantalus is focused on three varietals – Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. At Summerhill, on the other hand, winemaker Eric von Krosigk just does not pass up opportunities to make yet another wine to be sold by Ezra, who seems to share his enthusiasm.

Summerhill was launched in 1991 by Ezra’s father, Steven, primarily as a sparkling wine producer. Its identity as a maker of best-selling Cipes Brut and other sparklers clearly has overshadowed Summerhill’s table wines and Icewines.

Ezra’s strategy now is to elevate Cipes into a brand standing almost separate from Summerhill, except for the fine print on the back label. This might give Summerhill’s table wines better visibility.

“I don’t think you can be known for everything,” Ezra says. “If you are going to be known for sparkling wines, it is hard to be known as well for aromatic wines and red wines and Icewines.”

The winery’s portfolio is divided almost equally among those four groups of wines. Its biggest selling red wine, about 1,000 cases a year, is Summerhill Baco Noir.

The winery adds to its glorious confusion with a proliferation of speciality and single vineyard labels. These include several premium reds released in the Robert Bateman Artist’s Series (a portion of the proceeds from these wines goes to the Bateman Foundation). These are barrel-aged reds with a structure that makes them wines for long-term cellaring.

Another example is the Syrah and the Sangiovese released under the Spadefoot Toad Vineyard designation (both sold out at about $50 a bottle).

“We picked up a grower, Ron Firman, starting in 2010,” Ezra says. “He has Spadefoot Toad Vineyard [near Oliver]. He is one of these super-passionate growers. He has two acres or something like that. He tends it like a garden. And he breeds spadefoot toads for pest control. He makes very concentrated, intense wines.”

Recently, Summerhill released 82 cases of a 2009 single vineyard Zweigelt grown in the Eidse Brothers vineyard, not far away from the Summerhill winery in East Kelowna. The object here was to craft a unique wine from a varietal little known in the Okanagan. This wine was actually aged 42 months in neutral oak. It is being sold for $30 a bottle. Since that is scarcely enough to generate a profit, this is another wine that may have been a labour of love for the winery.

Summerhill’s interest in red winemaking is not trivial. It has about 900 barrels in its cellar.  The winery, after doing winemaking trials with four small oak fermenters, has added nine 10,000-litre casks, both for fermenting and storage.

“It will definitely change the style and direction of our red wine program,” Ezra says. “There will be less oxygen infiltration. The ratio of wood to wine is quite a bit less, so it will be a more fruit-driven fresher style.”

Here are notes on an eclectic cross-section of Summerhill wines.

Cipes Brut NV ($26.95). This is the winery’s flagship sparkling wine (about 5,000 cases a year) with a cuvée of Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc. It is crisp and tangy with flavours of lemon and lime emerging from the lively bubbles. 91.

Cipes Rosé NV ($26.95). The cuvée is Pinot Noir and the juice was left on the skins long enough to produce a vibrant cranberry colour and to extract flavours of raspberry, strawberry and red currant. The wine has good weight and a long finish. 91.

Cipes Blanc de Noirs 2008 ($34.90). One of the winery’s offerings to compete with Champagne, this is Pinot Noir without skin contact and with extended aging on the lees before being disgorged. It is a delicious wine with a creamy texture but a crisp finish. The flavours are complex, with hints of nuts and brioche as well as citrus and apple. 92.

Cipes Ariel 1998 ($88). The price reflects the extended bottle aging of this wine. The flavours are rich, with hints of nuts, brioche and spice, along with tastes of dried fruits. The texture is creamy and the finish is dry. The cuvée is Pinot Noir (59%), Chardonnay (40%) and Pinot Meunier (1%). The winery made 500 cases of this. About half of that still is resting on the lees, to be disgorged as sales require. 92.

Summerhill Organic Gewürztraminer 2013 ($19.95). This is a wine with herbs and spice aromas and flavours of grapefruit and grapefruit rind. Balanced to finish dry, the wine is rich on the palate. 88.

Summerhill Ehrenfelser 2013 ($19.95). This wine, with 32 grams of sugar per litre, is a juicy off-dry interpretation of the varietal. The flavours are lush with tropical fruit including ripe pineapple and peach. For my palate, I would prefer a drier wine. Having said that, this is one of Summerhill’s more popular wines. As Pope Francis might say, who am I to judge? 87

Summerhill Estate Vineyard Riesling 2013 ($30). While there is also some residual sugar here, the racy acidity gives this wine a crisp and tangy finish. It begins with honeyed citrus aromas, leading to intense flavours of lemon around a spine of minerality. A touch of petrol has begun to emerge in this complex wine. Don’t hesitate to cellar this for two or three years. 90-92.

Summerhill Organic Riesling 2013 ($19.95 but sold out). This is Summerhill’s Moselstyle Riesling – light and lively, with refreshing flavours of lemon and lime. The bracing acidity nicely balances the residual sugar. 90/

Summerhill Grasslands Organic Cabernet Franc 2010 ($45 for 214 cases). This is one of the reds with a Robert Bateman label (painting of a Swift fox). The grapes were from a vineyard in OkanaganFalls. The wine was aged 32 months in American and French oak. The wine is bright and brambly, with aromas of blackberry and red currant and flavours of sour cherries and black currant. The wine still has plenty of grip and needs to be decanted for drinking now if you don’t have the patience to cellar it. 87-89.

Summerhill Grasslands Organic Merlot 2010 ($45 for 335 cases). The grapes are from vineyards at Kaleden and OkanaganFalls. The wine has been aged 31 months in French and American oak. It begins with aromas of blackberry, blueberry and black currant jam. There is a core of sweet fruit – flavours of cassis, plum and cherry. The texture is elegantly polished. 90.

Summerhill Grasslands Organic Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah 2012 ($50 for 450 cases).  This wine is 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Syrah, aged 16 months in French and American oak. It begins with aromas of mint and black currant. On the palate, there are flavours of black currant, coffee, tobacco and graphite. The tannins are firm but ripe. The wine is drinking well now but also is age worthy. 90.

Summerhill Pinot Noir 2011 ($26.95). The wine has a lively ruby hue. It begins with aromas that are smoky mingled with spice and cherries, leading to flavours of cherry and strawberry on a layer of earthy or “forest floor” notes. Even though the wine was aged 18 months in barrels, the texture still is firm. 88.

Summerhill Syrah 2010 ($28.95). The label says this is made with transitional grapes. That means grapes from a vineyard on its way to being certified organic. Dark in colour, the wine begins with the classic aroma of black pepper. On the palate, there are bright but also earthy flavours of plum and black cherry with a brisk shake of black pepper on the finish. Twenty months aging in French and American oak barrels have given this wine a polished texture. 89.



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Fifteen Canadian wineries are going to ProWein this year

February 24, 2015, 3:25 pm
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Photo: German-bound Okanagan vintner JAK Meyer

Meyer Family Vineyards and Burrowing Owl Estate Winery are the two British Columbia wineries that will join a 13-winery Ontario contingent this year at the massive ProWein wine trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany.

A group of Ontariowineries, along with several from Quebec and Nova Scotia, were at the first ProWein Canadian pavilion last year. Most were then represented by agents.

At this year’s show, which runs three days in mid-March, the 15 Canadian wineries are there in their own right, in a major Canadian pavilion.

This represents a serious effort by the Canadian wine industry to establish its profiles and its wines in overseas markets.

“You have some obligation to go to these events to raise the profile of B.C. wines,” says JAK Meyer, the proprietor of Meyer Family. “Ultimately, I’d like to find further export markets.”

ProWein started in 1994 and now is one of Europe’s leading wine trade shows. This year, there are 4,850 exhibitors from 47 countries. The show is expected to draw 49,000 trade visitors and 1,000 journalists.

“Our industry is excited to be back for ProWein 2015 where our wines will be shown alongside the best from the world,” says Magdalena Kaiser, the public relations director for Wine Country Ontario.

JAK Meyer sees this as a chance of “getting our wines in front of the right people.” He is taking three Pinot Noirs and two Chardonnays. One of those Chardonnays will also be poured at the “Discover the Wines of Canada” seminars lead by two leading British wine writers.

“The more our wines are out there, the more they will be talked about,” JAK says. “It’s important for us [Canada] to be known for more than Icewine.”

His winery is among a growing number of Canadian producers moving into export markets. “We are in six countries,” he says. “Volume-wise, it is just a drop in the bucket but we are getting exposure.”

These are the Ontario winery going to ProWein this year.

Colio Estate Wines, Lake Erie North Shore, Ontario
Coyote’s Run Estate Winery, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Creekside Estate Winery, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Diamond Estates, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Flat Rock Cellars, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Henry of Pelham Family Estate, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Hidden Bench Vineyards & Winery, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Malivoire Wine Company, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
PeleeIslandWinery, Lake Erie North Shore, Ontario
Pillitteri Estates Winery, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
PondView Estate Winery, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Vineland Estates Winery, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario


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Fiano and friends

February 27, 2015, 10:55 am
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Photo: Serafino's Maria Maglieri

An Australian wine tasting is the last place where one would expect to taste white wines made with Fiano and Vermentino, two Italian varietals.

Yet there were examples of both at the Vancouver International Wine Festival this year, where Australian wine was the theme and Shiraz (of course) was the featured grape.

The explanation is simple. Along with much of the new world, Australia over the years has attracted immigrants from Italy. The Italians can’t help themselves: whenever they settle in a salubrious climate, they grow grapes and make wine.

The 2013 Bellisimo Fiano on the festival’s tasting room floor is produced by Serafino Wines, a McLaren Valle winery run by the Maglieri. Maria Maglieri, the chief executive, related that her grandfather Giovanni migrated to Australiain 1958. He and his son, Serafino (now called Steve), who came a few years later, began developing a McLaren Vale vineyard in planted grapes in 1968.

“They were turned down by Canada,” Maria told me as I tasted her wines.

Canada’s loss was Australia’s gain. Maglieri Wines ultimately became a very successful wine business, largely because the family decided to copy the style of Italy’s sweet red wine, Lambrusco. The wine became one of the top sellers in Australia. In 1999 the Maglieri family was clever enough to cash out, selling the business to Beringer Blass, one of the wine conglomerates then gobbling up other producers at top of market prices.

The sale included the Maglieri name. However, the family had retained prime vineyards and soon were back in business as Serafino Wines.

Serafino’s portfolio includes the varietals for which McLaren Vale is well known: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache and Chardonnay. Several were on sale in the BC Liquor store at the festival and, hopefully, will subsequently be listed in the BCLDB or in private wine stores.

The winery has added an extensive range of Italian varietals, including Lagrein, Nebbiolo, Primitivo, Sangiovese, Vermentino, Pinot Grigio, Moscato and Fiano.

Italy, of course, is replete with indigenous varieties seldom grown elsewhere. Never having heard of Fiano, I turned to Wine Grapes, the fat and definitive volume released a few years ago by Jancis Robinson and colleagues.

“Fiano is an old variety from Campania in southern Italy whose presence near Foggia was mentioned as early as 1240 in a register of purchases by Emperor Frederick II,” the book says. “The name Fiano is said to derive from a place named in Appia … where the grape supposedly has its origin.”

Fiano was widely grown until phylloxera arrived in Southern Italy in the early 20th Century and decimated the plantings. The variety was revived in the 1970s by renowned Taurasi winemaker Antonio Mastroberardino. The Italian vine census in 2000 counted just under 2,000 acres.

“Fiano has more recently found favour in Australia with growers looking for varieties that withstand the heat,” the Robinson book says. “There now are at least 10 producers who claim to have the variety planted, including Jeffrey Grosset in the ClareValley.”

Serafino planted its Fiano in 2011. The 2013 vintage poured at the festival may have been the debut wine. It is a crisply refreshing white, tasting of honeydew melons and apples.

It fires my interest in tasting other examples. Currently, the BCLDB lists two Fiano wines from Italy: Acante Fiano at $14.99 and Miopasso Fiano at $16.99.







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Hardy's Wines at Vancouver International Wine Festival

March 2, 2015, 10:49 am
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Photo: Bill Hardy, brand ambassador for Thomas Hardy & Sons

On its website, the Australian wine producer Thomas Hardy & Sons says that it is rated as “Most Powerful Australian Wine Brand” globally.

That speaks volumes for the ability of the Hardy’s brand to rise about the various crises the winery has come through since the founder, Thomas Hardy, planted grapes in 1854. That includes an entanglement with the conglomerate madness that swept through the Australian wine industry a decade ago.

Bruce Tyrrell, the proprietor of  Tyrrell’s Wines, another leading Australian producer, gives some of the credit to Bill Hardy, a veteran with 42 years in the business. He is now the brand ambassador for Hardy’s.

Both were among the Australian producers at this year’s Vancouver International Wine Festival. Bruce told me that Bill Hardy, besides being one of the nicest individuals in the Australian industry, logs countless miles each year, selling the Hardy’s brand to the wine trade and to consumers.

Bill is the fifth generation Hardy behind the family brand. And there is a sixth generation emerging.

The original Thomas Hardy was 20 when he emigrated from Britain in 1850. He tried to make his fortune as a gold miner and, when that did not work out, he became a butcher. He was so successful that, a few years later, he bought 46 acres for his first vineyard. He has sometimes been called the father of winegrowing in South Australia.

“He made his first wine in 1857 and exported two hogsheads to England in 1859, one of the first exports of wine from South Australia,” according to the Hardy’s entry on Wikipedia. “By 1863 his vineyards covered 35 acres (14 ha) of Grenache, Mataro, Muscat, Roussillon, Shiraz and Zante grapes. He also purchased grapes from other vignerons in the Adelaide area. By 1879 his vintage had reached 27,000 gallons (100,000 litres).”

(Zante is a seedless grapes often transformed into currants.)

Hardy continued making wine until 1890, turning the job over to a nephew so that he could concentrate on the business of what had become one of Australia’s leading wineries. The company was sound enough to survive the destruction of its original winery by fire in 1904.

His son, Robert, took over running the company in 1910, two years before Thomas Hardy died at the age of 82.

A nephew, Thomas Mayfield Hardy, took over the wine company in 1928, only to become part of one of the greatest tragedies in the Australian wine history. He died in an aircraft crash in 1938 that also took the lives of two other leading Australian winery owners - Hugo Gramp of Orlando and Sydney Hill Smith of Yalumba wineries.

His widow, Eileen Hardy, became legendary as the matriarch of the family, raising three Hardy sons. The winery honours her by labelling some of its best wines with the Eileen Hardy label.

One of those sons was Sir James Hardy, who took over in 1980 when an older brother, Thomas Walter Hardy, died of cancer. While he served as chair of the company, he was perhaps better known as a great yachtsman and an America’s Cup contender.

The winery’s expanded in both domestic and overseas market from the 1970s through the 1990s.

That success attracted the attention of Constellation Brands, the American company that now is the world’s largest wine company. In 2001, Constellation took over Hardy’s for A$1.85 billion.

Apart from the astronomical price, there was logic behind the deal. Hardy’s had very strong distribution in Britain while Constellation’s brands were weak there. Because the reverse was true in the United States, the synergy of the merger seemed obvious.

“We kept our end of the bargain,” Bill Hardy says. Constellation got better penetration in Britainbut the Hardy’s brands did not get the lift they expected in the United States.

Constellation’s timing was terrible. It had waded into the Australian wine industry that, as a result of vineyard expansions, was swamping the world with wine, a lot of it called YellowTail®. By 2011 Constellation gave up trying to make money with Australian wine.

It sold 80% of Hardy’s for A$290 million to a private equity company in Australia. The current owner of Hardy is called Accolade Wines, a focussed Australian company that has put together a portfolio of premium brands. The legendary Grant Burge winery has also been acquired by Accolade and Grant Burge himself is now a brand ambassador as well.

Remarkably, the integrity of the Hardy’s brand has not suffered. “There is one of the things that our owners have never fiddled around with,” Bill says. “They have never dictated to production.”

The apparent strength of the Hardy’s brand likely is due to the good value its wines offer. The brand is well represented in British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch. The listings include three $10 wines in the Hardy’s Varietal Range; four in the Hardy’s Stamp Series Range priced from $11 to $13 a bottle and $20 for a 1.5 litre Riesling Gewürztraminer; as well as a Nottage Hill Chardonnay at $12 and Nottage Hill Shiraz at $14.

At the wine festival, Bill Hardy was pouring some of Hardy’s premium wines, including two recent releases that bear his name. He is clearly proud of that honour. One member of each generation of the family has a wine named for a leading individual. Hopefully, some of these wines will also make it into the British Columbiamarket.

William Hardy Chardonnay 2013 ($16). This wine leans toward Chablis in style. It is crisp and refreshing with notes of citrus and apple. 90.

Eileen Hardy Chardonnay 2010 (N/A). This is an exceptional Chardonnay made with grapes from two cool climate vineyards – one in Tasmaniaand one in the YarraValley. Burgundian in style, this barrel-fermented wine has toasty notes in the nose and flavours of tangerine over subtle new oak. In Australia, where the Eileen Hardy Chardonnay wines have a long list of gold medals and best of show awards, this sell for about $65. 93.

William Hardy Barossa Shiraz 2012 ($16). This is a big juicy wine with aromas of black cherry and mulberry that are echoed on the generous palate. 90.

Hardy’s Tintara McLaren Vale Shiraz 2012 ($30). This wine is named for the McLaren Vale winery that Thomas Hardy bought in 1876. The wine is rich in texture, with vanilla and black cherry aromas. On the palate, there are flavours of black cherry, dark chocolate and coffee. There is a long and satisfying finish. 92.

Hardy’s HRB/D636 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 ($35). HRB stands for Heritage Reserve Bin. This wine is 90% Coonawarra grapes and 10% MargaretRivergrapes. It is a full-bodied but elegant Cabernet Sauvignon with black currant aromas and flavours of black currant with a hint of tobacco and cedar. 91.




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Baillie-Grohman Winery makes fast start

March 3, 2015, 3:37 pm
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Photo: Baillie-Grohman's Bob Johnson

Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery in Creston has made a fast start since opening in 2010.

“In 2013 we produced 4,200 cases and in 2014 6,200 cases,” says Bob Johnson, who owns the winery with his wife, Petra Flaa.  “Our long term plan was to produce 4,000 to 6,000 depending on the season and the sales, so we are mature from the production point of view.”

The vineyard, which they began planting in 2006, has now grown to 17.5 acres, on the way to 23.5 acres. Half of that is dedicated to Pinot Noir, the signature variety for this winery. This spring the winery is releasing its first Reserve Pinot Noir.

Bob and Petraare former Calgarians who decided on a lifestyle change a decade ago. She had previously been a technology company manager who transformed herself into a good vineyard manager. Bob was a reservoir engineer with Sproule & Associates, an oil industry consulting firm. He retired from that company in 2013 to accelerate Baillie-Grohman’s wine marketing.

A New Zealand winemaking connection has been crucial to quality of the Baillie-Grohman wines. When the winery first advertised for a winemaker, no experienced Canadians applied.

“We had some very junior applications but we weren’t willing to bet the farm on someone who had a little bit of education and no experience,” Petra says. Like the neighbouring winery, Skimmerhorn, Baillie-Grohman recruited an experienced  New Zealand winemaker to come to the northern hemisphere during what is the off-season for southern hemisphere winemaking.

Since the first vintage at Baillie-Grohman in 2009, the wines have been made by Dan Barker (right), the owner and winemaker of the Moana Park Winery in HawkesBay. Among other kudos on his resume, he was New Zealand’s Young Winemaker of the Year in 2003.

Dan’s presence also inspired Wes Johnson, the proprietor’s son, to take up winemaking. Last fall, he completed his Bachelor of Science in Oenology in Napier, N.Z., where he also apprenticed with MoanaPark. He has now joined Baillie-Grohman as assistant winemaker. 

In addition to Pinot Noir, the Baillie-Grohman vineyard grows Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Schönburger and Kerner, varieties that will mature in this relatively cool (compared to the Okanagan) climate.

The winery also buys Okanagan grapes to produce the big reds that cannot be grown in Creston. Bob has arranged to buy Merlot and Cabernet Franc from a grower in Osoyoos.

Here are notes on the current releases.

Baillie-Grohman Chardonnay 2012 ($25 for 169 cases). There are Chardonnay lovers who lament that boldly oaked Chardonnay seems out of fashion. Well, this is a wine for you. Barrel-fermented and aged in French oak (25% new), this wine has a good interplay of fruit and oak flavours. It has aromas of citrus and oak, leading to buttery flavours of baked apple and nectarine. 88.

Baillie-Grohman Récolte Rouge 2013 ($17 for 235 cases). The blend is not disclosed but the flavour suggests that Pinot Noir is the backbone for this juicy quaffer. It recalls Beaujolais with aromas and flavours of Byng cherries and with soft, supple tannins and a medium body. On the finish, there is a hint of spice and mocha chocolate. 88.

Baillie-Grohman Merlot 2012 ($22.50 for 653 cases). Because the Creston region is too cool for Merlot, the winery sources these grapes from vineyards near Osoyoos and in the SimilkameenValley. This is a dark wine with aroma of black currants and spice, leading to flavours of black cherry, liquorice, chocolate and coffee. The long ripe tannins give the wine a chewy, generous texture. 89.

Baillie-Grohman Cabernet Franc 2012 ($27 for 250 cases).  The grapes were sourced from an Osoyoos vineyard growing exclusively for Baillie-Grohman. The wine is delicious, beginning with aromas of blackberries and raspberries. The bramble flavours are lively, with notes of black cherry, blackberry, ripe raspberry and red liquorice. 90.

 Baillie-Grohman Pinot Noir 2012 ($25). The wine begins with aromas of ripe raspberry and cherry which are echoed in the flavours. Medium-bodied and juicy in texture, the wine is bright and vibrant. I would suggest cellaring this for a year. 88-90.

Baillie-Grohman Pinot Noir Reserve 2012 ($45 for 98 cases). This is the winery’s first reserve Pinot Noir, made by selecting the best barrels from the 40 barrels of Pinot Noir made in the 2012 vintage. Three clones went into this wine – 115, 667 and 777. The wine was aged in French oak (30% new). It has also had almost 18 months of bottle age before its official release in April. Even so, this remains a vibrant and youthful wine with dramatic aromas and flavours of black cherry and raspberry. I would suggest cellaring this until 2017. 91.


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Inniskillin Dark Horse Meritage has a history

March 7, 2015, 4:01 pm
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 Photo: Winemaker Sandor Mayer

One of the oldest and most consistent Meritage blends is the one that Inniskillin Okanagan has been producing since 1995 from its Dark Horse Vineyard.

It would be surprising to find older vintages in collector cellars. The consumers who collected Okanagan wines in the 1990s were hardly numerous. Okanagan wines were still being discovered in those days.

The winery’s current release is from the 2012 vintage. If you have not been collecting this wine, it might be time to consider it. The price still is affordable and the wine, in my view, is built to age at least to 2022.

This is the second last vintage that was made by Sandor Mayer, the veteran winemaker who returned to his native Hungary last summer.

The 9.3 hectare (23-acre) Dark Horse vineyard was first planted with hybrid varieties in the 1970s for a winery called Vinitera, which opened in 1979. The winery failed twice before it was taken over in 1987 by Alan Tyabji, who promptly uprooted the hybrids in the 1988 grape pull-out and then hired Sandor to replant with vinifera varieties.

Born in Hungary in 1958, Sandor had grown up on a farm with a modest vineyard. That led him to study horticulture and ultimately earn a degree in enology and viticulture from a leading Hungarian university. He emigrated to the Okanagan in 1988 (he had relatives here). The timing could have been better: there were few wine industry jobs because two-thirds of the vineyards had just been pulled out.

Reviving the Dark Horse Vineyard was one of the few jobs available. Sandor arrived in 1989 to find he first had to clean up a tangle of dead vines, trellis posts and wire. He accelerated the work by setting fire to the dead vines. The blaze was only prevented from incinerating nearby hillsides by the arrival of the Oliver fire department.

Sandor feared he would be fired but he was kept and replanted the vineyard. He made his first vintage there in 1992 and spent almost all of his Canadian winemaking career at Inniskillin Okanagan, as the winery has been known since 1996.

When Sandor returned to his native Hungary last year, he was succeeded by Derek Kontkanen, a Brock University graduate who had spent most of his career making white wines at Jackson-Triggs, a sister winery to Inniskillin Okanagan. He is also an authority on Icewine (his university thesis was on that topic). Inniskillin Okanagan’s Icewine is as renowned as the reds from Dark Horse Vineyard.

Several factors make the Dark Horse Vineyard special. The soils are complex and laden with volcanic minerals. The vineyard is nestled slightly in a bowl, with sun-bathed slopes facing south and southeast. In the early years, Sandor discovered the vineyard was too hot for a few of the varieties planted there, notably Gewürztraminer. But the heat units here are ideal for Bordeauxred varietals now dominating the vineyard.

The wines invariably have ripe flavours of dark fruit, with an earthy structure and firm tannins ideal for aging. The technical notes indicate a shift in style, with more robust alcohol levels since 2002 that suggest riper, fuller flavours.The earlier vintages had alcohol levels around 12.5%. Since 2002, the alcohol has been around 14%, which is what one would expect from this sun-bathed terroir.

“The lower alcohol level in early vintages was due to above average crop and a vineyard that was still young,” Sandor explained in a recent email from Hungary.

Here is a note on the current release.

Inniskillin Okanagan Dark Horse Vineyard Meritage 2012 ($34.99 for 932 cases). This is 60% Merlot 60%, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc 10%. The three varietals are aged separately in French and American oak for 12 months before being blended. The wine begins with aromas of cherry, cassis and tobacco. There are flavours of black currant, blueberry, espresso and chocolate on the palate. At this stage, the wine has a firm texture that calls for decanting or, better still, the patience to let it develop in bottle for two of three more years. 90.







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Kettle Valley releases a Pinot trio

March 12, 2015, 10:59 am
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Photo: Kettle Valley's Tim Watts (r) and Bob Ferguson

The house style at Kettle Valley Winery has always been distinctive. Bob Ferguson and Tim Watts, the winemaker owners, make wines that are full of flavour and long-lived.

It flows from the way they grow their grapes, usually with low tonnages that concentrate flavours and textures. Then when they bring the fruit in, they set out to capture all the flavour that nature gave them.

One example is the winery’s gloriously eccentric Pinot Gris.  By coincidence, nearby Nichol Vineyard is the only other Okanagan winery that handles Pinot Gris quite like this.

Pinot Gris is a white wine grape that, at maturity, develops a pink hue to the skins. Most wineries chose to crush the grapes and press them quickly so as not to extract colour. A lot of excellent Pinot Gris wines are made this way.

At KettleValley, the grapes are crushed and then left to soak for two days on the skins before being pressed. That extracts a lot of colour. Crucially, it also extracts a lot of aroma and flavour. The result is a bold Pinot Gris that pairs admirably with food.

The winery has just released that wine, along with two of its Pinot Noirs.

The reserve Pinot Noir, with grapes from four vineyards in the central Okanagan, is the classic bold and ripe KettleValleystyle. The more floral Hayman John’s Block Pinot Noir, which is made from a single vineyard and a single clone.

“The Hayman Pinot Noir is Clone 13, commonly referred to as the “WashingtonState” clone, due to its popularity in WashingtonState in the mid-1980s,” Bob explained in an email.  “It is a thick skinned, late ripening clone.  Due to its tendency to late ripening, it is not so popular any more and much of the original plantings in Washington State have been pulled out and re-planted with either clone 72 (French clone 667) which is somewhat similar, or to clone 105 which is earlier ripening andthinner skinned.”

Clearly, Bob and Tim have learned to work with the clone, preferred to have older vines than to replant and wait for years for the concentration of flavour that older vines give.

I could not decide which of these Pinot Noirs I liked better because I enjoyed both. Here are my notes.

KettleValley Pinot Gris 2013 ($24). The wine begins with an appealing bronze pink hue. This wine has aromas and flavours of strawberries, with a touch of white pepper. A portion of the wine also was fermented in barrel, adding texture and complexity. The finish is dry and lingering. 91.

KettleValley Pinot Noir Reserve 2012 ($38 for 215 cases). This reserve is a selection of the best barrels of Pinot Noir made with grapes from four different vineyards. The wine, which was aged 20 months in French oak, begins with aromas of ripe plums, black cherries and vanilla. This is echoed by the ripe, even slightly porty, fruit flavours along with savoury hints of truffles. The tannins are elegant and silky, with a lingering finish.  The powerful wine is appealing now but also should cellar very well at least until 2022, developing further Burgundian complexity. 92.


KettleValley Hayman “John’s Block” Pinot Noir 2012 ($38 for 96 cases). This is a single vineyard wine from KettleValley’s Hayman Vineyard. It has been renamed John’s Block in memory of the legendary wine lover John Levine, who was KettleValley’s first customer and who died in 2012. This wine also has spent 20 months in French oak. However, it is a prettier, lighter and more feminine wine that the Reserve. It begins with aromas of raspberry and strawberry that are echoed on the palate. The wine has a graceful weight, with a silky texture and a seductive finish. 92.
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Upper Bench impresses BC Wine Appreciation Society

March 13, 2015, 1:45 pm
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 Photo: Upper Bench's Gavin and Shana Miller

Upper Bench Winery & Creamery has become a must-visit Penticton area winery since Shana and Gavin Miller took it over late in 2011.

Initially, the prime attraction was probably Shana’s cheese. She had learned the craft of making cheese at the superb Poplar Grove Cheese Company. The Upper Bench cheeses are equally superb.

If the wine took a little longer to impress, it is just because Gavin had a lot of work to do to turn around the vineyard. The wines, which include outstanding estate-grown Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, have now taken their place among other quality Okanagan wines.

Gavin and Shana recently showed their wines to the B.C. Wine Appreciation Society, to general acclaim.

In the Society’s newsletter, Russell Ball wrote: “With Upper Bench only four years young, there is plenty to look forward to from Gavin and Shana. They recently acquired a Naramata vineyard containing Cabernet Franc – a key red missing from their Pentictonacreage. About 300 cases of a new 2013 Merlot-Cabernet Franc blend will be released under the title of ‘Yard Wine’.

“The name is an homage to wine they used to make for themselves from their own home’s micro-vineyard of little more than 100 vines. As the Estate Vineyard recently reached twenty years of age, we can expect even greater complexity and evolution under Gavin’s watchful eye, with more specialization amongst Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon in particular. And thanks to Shana, there will always be plenty of delicious cheese with which to pair it all!”

The Upper Bench vineyard was actually planted in 1998 by Klaus Stadler, a former brewmaster from Germany. Three years later, he opened Benchland Winery. When the venture did not succeed, he sold it in 2004 to a local orchardist called Keith Holman. The winery was renamed Stonehill, becoming one of seven wineries owned by Keith.

All seven slipped into bankruptcy in 2010. In the court-supervised auction, Gavin, backed by businessman Wayne Nystrom, bought the winery.

By then, it was a bit of a fixer-upper. In 2012, the new owners converted one end of the building into a creamery. Gavin cleaned up the wines that he inherited. He has now overhauled both the production facilities and the vineyard.

Among other varieties, Klaus planted two acres Zweigelt, the leading Austrian red. In the 2012 vintage, Gavin made a delicious ripe and juicy Zweigelt (see below).

Unless you are Austrian, however, you are probably not buying much Zweigelt. Recognizing that, Gavin grafted half of those plants to Cabernet Sauvignon, even through it is a late ripening variety. The winery’s 2012 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was made with grapes cropped at just 3.1 tons at acre and picked on November 4.

Gavin believes he can pull off acceptable Cabernet Sauvignon most years with careful attention to the viticulture. “It is the heartbreak grape of the Okanagan, not Pinot Noir. When done properly and cropped correctly, it can be stunning,” he asserts. “But Merlot is what grows best on our site.”

Here are notes on the current wines.

The three wines marked with * were reviewed in a blog post here last year. The reviews are reproduced because the wines were tasted again at the recent B.C. Wine Appreciation.

Upper Bench Pinot Blanc 2013 ($19). The mature grapes used for this wine give it a mineral backbone, along with the variety’s classic apple aromas and flavours. The finish is crisp and dry. 88.

Upper Bench Riesling 2013 ($22 for 404 cases). This is a well made Riesling, beginning with honey and citrus aromas that lead to intense marmalade flavours. The balance of acidity and residual sugar is exquisite, with the sweetness lifting the aromas and flavours while the acidity gives the wine a crisp, refreshing finish. The wine is drinking well now but will also age superbly. 91.

Upper Bench Chardonnay 2013 ($25 for 396 cases). Half of the wine was barrel-fermented in new French oak. However, the oak is well integrated, subtly supporting the aromas and flavours of tangerine, mango, peach and apple. The wine was not allowed to go through malo-lactic fermentation. As a result, the finish is fresh and tangy. There is a hint of cloves on the finish. 89.

* Upper Bench Zweigelt 2012 ($25 for 180 cases). The vines were cropped 3.27 tons an acre. The wine begins with aromas of plum, blackberry and vanilla. On the palate, there are flavours of black cherry, black currant, vanilla and liquorice. (The winery’s notes also speak of Turkish Delight, pomegranate and orange peel.) A hint of dark chocolate emerges on the finish of this richly-flavoured wine. 90.

* Upper Bench Pinot Noir 2012 ($28 for 331 cases). The vines were cropped 3.4 tons an acre. This is a robust, earthy Pinot Noir with aromas of black cherry and spice. On the palate, there are notes of raspberry with chocolate and cherry on the finish. The tannins are smooth, if muscular, leading me to think this will benefit from three or four years of further age. 89-90.

* Upper Bench Merlot 2012 ($30 for 440 cases). The vines were cropped at 3.63 tons an acre. The wine is a tour de force of aroma and flavour, with a fine concentrated texture. Dark in colour, it begins with aromas of black cherry, mulberry, and black currant. On the palate, there are bold flavours of black cherry, spice, vanilla and chocolate. The alcohol of 14.3% indicates that very ripe grapes were used (the grapes were picked in early November 2012.) 92.

Upper Bench Estate Merlot 2012 ($35 for 154 cases). By cropping the estate Merlot vines at just 3.4 tons and acre, Gavin achieved a full-bodied and concentrated wine, turbocharged by aging 20 months in French oak (30% new). The wine begins with aromas of black cherry, plum and vanilla. On the palate, there are flavours of blueberries, black currants and chocolates. The texture is generous but firm enough to allow the wine to age gracefully for 10 years. 92.


Upper Bench Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 ($35 for 188 cases). This wine was aged 20 months in French oak (40% new). There is a hint of oak in the aroma, along with aromas of mint and black currant. On the palate, there are flavours of black currants, cola and dark chocolate. The long ripe tannins make this wine approachable now but it should also age gracefully for 10 years. 90.
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Eau Vivre Winery highlights Similkameen fruit

March 17, 2015, 12:30 pm
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Photo: Eau Vivre Winery

Eau Vivre Winery has put the spotlight on SimilkameenValleygrapes with its current releases.

Of course, Eau Vivre, which opened in 2009, is based on a vineyard near Cawston. The one-hectare estate vineyard, planted primarily to Gewürztraminer,  only supports a portion of the winery’s production, which reached 3,000 cases in 2014.

However, there has been a significant expansion of vineyards in the Similkameen, enabling Eau Vivre to purchase grapes from its neighbours.

The 2014 B.C. Wine Grape Acreage Report, compiled by Lynn Bremmer at Mount Kobau Wine Services, reported 657.6 acres (266.1 hectares) of vineyard in the Similkameen. That has tripled from her 2006 census, when just 335.4 acres were under vine in the valley.

With just 15 wineries in the Similkameen, most of those vineyards sell fruit to Okanagan wineries. There is, in fact, a long history of that, and for good reason. The quality of Similkameen fruit is very good.

Just ask J-M Bouchard, the winemaker at Road 13 Vineyards near Oliver. In recent vintages he has begun buying grapes from Blind Creek Vineyard, a large and relatively new Similkameen vineyard. J-M just raves about the quality of the grapes.

“If there is a vineyard which is going to stand out in five, 10 years in B.C., that will be it,” he told me during a tasting last fall.

There are 45 vineyards in the Similkameen and Blind Creek is not the only powerhouse. The recently released reds from Vanessa Vineyards – soon getting its own winery license – included a knockout Syrah and an impressive Meritage.

Dale Wright and Jeri Estin, the proprietors at Eau Vivre, have benefited from the increasing number of suppliers in the valley. There is, however, competition for the grapes. While Dale was able to get all the Pinot Noir he needed in 2013 from the Similkameen, he has had to return to Okanagan sources for that variety. He began buying Okanagan Pinot Noir in 2008.

“All the other grapes are strictly from the SimilkameenValley,” he adds quickly.

Here are notes on the current releases.

Eau Vivre Sauvignon Blanc 2013 ($17 for 311 cases). Grapes from two Keremeos vineyards went into this wine. Whole clusters were pressed to ensure the purest of juice. The juice was fermented at a cool temperature two more than two weeks and then spent two months on light lees, stirred every two months. The result is an elegant Sancerre style white with aromas of lemon, lime and herbs. On the palette, there are herbal flavours along with notes of guava and green apple. The finish is crisp and, with a moderate alcohol of 12.2%, the wine is refreshing. 89.

Eau Vivre Gewürztraminer 2013 ($17 for 210 cases). The wine begins with aromas of spice and grapefruit, leading to flavours of herbs, orange zest and lychee. There is good weight on the palate, with an excellent balance between the acidity and the residual sugar, creating a finish that seems dry. 88.

Eau Vivre Riesling 2013 ($19 for 303 cases, $450 for 23 19.5 litre kegs). But for the specifications provided by the winery, one might not have guessed that there is 15.6 grams of residual sugar here. The bright acidity – 10.1 grams – provides such an exquisite balance that the finish of the wine seems crisply dry. The wine, with just 11.3% alcohol, begins with honeyed aromas of petrol and citrus, leading to flavours of lime, lemon and green apple. 90.

Eau Vivre Pinot Noir 2013 ($21.90 for 600 cases). The winery, having won a Lieutenant Governor’s Award with an earlier vintage, has made Pinot Noir one of its flagship reds. This vintage is bold and juicy, with concentrated aromas and flavours resulting from cold-soaking the grapes four days before fermentation and then punching down the cap in the open-top fermenters during 16 days of maceration. The wine has aromas of vanilla and black cherry and this is echoed on the palate. The wine was aged 10 months in French oak; 21% of the barrels were new and contributed aromas of toast and bacon fat. The texture is silky. The wine is simply delicious. 90.

Eau Vivre Cabernet Franc 2012 ($22 for 205 cases). This wine begins with aromas of raspberry and blackberry. On the palate, there are flavours of blackberry, black cherry and mocha. The tannins are ripe but the texture still is firm enough to support cellaring this up to five years. There is a hint of cedar on the finish. 89.


Eau Vivre Buddhafull 2010 ($26). Don’t be put off by the pun that serves as this blend’s name. The wine is serious. It is a blend of 52% Cabernet Franc, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Malbec and 6% Syrah. The wine has had sixteen months aging in barrels (mostly French). It begins with aromas of black cherries, red berries and vanilla, leading to flavours cherry, black currant, plum and mocha, with a hint of spice and cedar on the finish. The tannins are ripe, but firm enough to allow the wine to develop further in bottle over the next two or three years. 91. 
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Steller's Jay Brut: a wine for all seasons

March 16, 2015, 4:10 pm
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A few years ago, Constellation Brands decided to elevate Steller’s Jay Brut, the former Sumac Ridge flagship, into a standalone brand.

The rationale is that top sparkling wines come from sparkling wine houses. Now, if only Constellation would build a luxury Champagne cellar in the Okanagan!

Having indulged in some improbable daydreaming, I will agree that Steller’s Jay is one of the iconic wines of the valley.

Steller’s Jay Brut emerged from sparkling wine trials begun in 1985 by Sumac Ridge founder Harry McWatters and his winemaking team. That vintage was not released. It was said that Harry drank it all. He is a great lover of sparkling wine, and has quipped that is what he drinks while deciding what wine to have for dinner.

The first commercial Steller’s Jay Brut was a blend of 1987 (85%) and 1985 (15%) wines. The cuvée was 70% Pinot Blanc, 15% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Noir. The wine, which was named in honour of British Columbia’s official bird, was released in July, 1989 after just two years on the lees. Most subsequent vintages have benefited from three years en tirage.

The cuvée has always included Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Pinot Blanc, while not a traditional sparkling wine varietal, contributes subtle fruitiness to the wine. The proportion was reduced to about 40% of the cuvée as more Chardonnay and Pinot Noir became available. The wine is balanced to have a crisp and fairly dry finish. A typical blend has 10-12 grams of residual sugar and seven to nine grams of acidity per litre.

Consumers think that Champagne-style wines, perhaps because they are perceived to be expensive, are limited to celebratory consumption. In fact, a wine like Steller’s Jay is for all seasons and for a wide variety of foods.

I chose to assess the 2009 with lightly-spiced Thai food. The combination was effective. Why not have it more often than New Year’s, Valentine’s Day and your birthday? It costs no more than other good tables.


Steller’s Jay Brut 2009 ($25). The wine begins with toasty and lightly citrus aromas, leading to fruity flavours with hints of nuts. The wine is creamy on the palate, with a lively mousse, but it finishes crisply. 91.
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Averill Creek hosts Pinot Noir vertical

March 22, 2015, 2:46 pm
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 Photo: Averill Creek proprietor Andy Johnston


Recently, Averill Creek Vineyards proprietor Andy Johnston hosted a rare vertical tasting of every Pinot Noir made at his CowichanValley winery between 2005 and 2012.

All of those who attended had tasted some of Andy’s Pinot Noirs but none had tasted them all. It is unlikely that anyone not living on Vancouver Island would have been able to collect such a vertical. It is hard to find Vancouver Islandwines anywhere else.

That is unfortunate. These are impressive wines from a terroir that, arguably, suits Pinot Noir.

“I think it is fantastic that we can make these wines in the CowichanValley,” Andy says. “I feel they have more elegance and complexity than most Okanagan Pinots. The style is very different from the Okanagan.” Andy’s views have mellowed: he once argued that the Okanagan is too hot for Pinot Noir. He now admits admiration for several Okanagan Pinot Noir producers.

Before he became a grape grower, Andy was a doctor. Born in Wales in 1947, he came to Canada in 1973 and practised medicine in Alberta for about 30 years. In the 1990s, concluding that “there are only so many patient visits in me,” he decided to switch careers. He prepared by working vintages over several years in Italy, Australia, Franceand New Zealand.

While doing that, he acquired a property north of Duncan, on the fairly steep southward slope of MountPrevost. He began planting vines in 2002, devoting a third of the 12-hectare (30-acre) vineyard to four Pinot Noir clones. He began making wine at Averill Creek in 2005. A New Zealandwinemaker helped him in that vintage. Since 2008, his winemaker has been Daniel Dragert, a Vancouver Island native with a winemaking degree from LincolnUniversityin New Zealand.

“Daniel is very much on my wave length – or I am on his wave length – in terms of the style of the wine we want to make,” Andy says. “He’s a very natural winemaker. He just tastes the grapes, he tastes the wine and he knows what he wants to do with it. We discuss it but he is spot on every time. I don’t have to worry about it.”

What he needs to worry about is the variable climate of Vancouver Island. This shows in the dramatic production swings from vintage to vintage.


Vintage
Cases produced
2005
  460
2006
  680
2007
  350
2008
  660
2009
1,220
2009 Reserve
  220
2010
  950
2011
  470
2012
  689




“You have got to go with what the Good Lord gives you each year,” Andy explains. “You cannot make a formulaic wine in the CowichanValley because there is so much variation in the years.”

He offers an example of the 2013 vintage.

“We had a major disaster because on September 14, we had a huge rain storm,” he recounts. “The Pinot was at that very delicate stage where it was about ready to be picked. A tremendous amount of fruit was knocked off the vines. We lost six or seven tons in one night. We ended up picking after that. It didn’t rain for much of October, so what we got eventually was lower in quantity but really high in quality.”

Th3 2013 vintage is a few years away from release, as is the 2014, a vintage that promises to be as bounteous and as high in quality as 2009.

While the climate is variable, Averill Creek’s Pinot Noirs still show a remarkable consistency in style from year to year.

“I love the development of these wines from 2012 back to 2005,” Andy said at the end of the tasting. “These are all Averill Creek Pinot Noirs. The identity is there. I am really pleased with that.”

The Averill Creek Pinot Noir currently in the market is the 2010, modestly priced at $26 a bottle. Look for the 2011 later this year. The winery also still has 2009 Reserve available at $70.


Here are some notes on the wines. I scored them all 90 or higher, with 95 for the 2009 Reserve.

2005 Pinot Noir:This wine is at its peak, but what a peak! It is an elegant, feminine wine with strawberries and raspberries in both the aroma and palate.

2006 Pinot Noir: A tasting group favourite, this is a savoury wine with aromas of black berries and leather that are echoed on the silky palate.

2007 Pinot Noir:While oak is rarely obvious in Averill Creek’s Pinot Noirs, the appealing toasty notes in the aroma and palate seem to suggest there was a toasted barrel in the mix this vintage. It also accentuates the quite Burgundian “forest floor” flavours in the wine.

2008 Pinot Noir: This is a fragrant wine with aromas of dried cherries and violets; there is strawberry and raspberry on the palate, with an earthy finish.

2009 Pinot Noir: This full-textured wine appeals with ripe flavours of cherry and plum.

2009 Pinot Noir Reserve: There is more of everything here ... more power, more ripe flavours. The wine was made from grapes picked a few weeks later than the regular Pinot Noir. The winery then cherry-picked the best barrels to make a very impressive wine. So far, it is Averill Creek’s only reserve Pinot Noir, although there likely will be a reserve from 2014.

2010 Pinot Noir: This wine has an intriguing note of white pepper on the nose and on the palate, along with bright flavours of cherry and raspberry.

2011 Pinot Noir: This was a difficult, cool vintage but Andy pulled of a good wine by being brutally disciplined with crop load. He had to drop so much fruit through the season to ripen the grapes that Averill Creek’s vines yielded just ¾ of a ton per acre. At that production, Andy may well be losing money on every bottle of this vibrant, spicy Pinot Noir.


2012 Pinot Noir:Consumers will not see this wine until 2016 – but Andy is sending it to competitions this year to see “what the world thinks.” It is a terrific wine – aromas of spice and cherry that repeat on the palate. This is a wine with lots of finesse and ability to age.
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Vancouver Island vintners come to Vancouver

March 26, 2015, 12:27 pm
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 Photo: Roger Dosman of Alderlea Vineyards

At a recent Vancouver tasting of Vancouver Island wines, I observed the “two ships passing in the night” problem that holds back sales of island wines.

At one winery table, two guests kept asking where they could find the wines they had just tasted. The vintner kept repeating where the wines are available in Victoria and in the CowichanValley.

Hello! We were in downtown Vancouver. In fact, we were a block from a Liberty wine store that likely had a limited selection of the wines being tasted, assuming the Liberty buyer had been lined up to support the tasting.

Of course, most of the island wineries are small and can sell most of their production right on the island. However, several formerly small producers have recently come into the hands of ambitious new owners. Volumes of wine are growing above the quantities that can be consumed locally. Some aggressive selling is in order.

This tasting was organized by Richard Massey, an agent who represents several island producers. Hats off to Richard for herding cats! There are interesting wines across the water, especially from the warm 2013 and 2014 vintages.

As usually, time ran out before I completed a round of the room. There are no notes here for Averill Creek nor 40 Knots, both subjects of recent blogs. Blue Grouse Vineyards is planning a major re-opening at the end of May and I expect to blog on that winery then. I also missed the Unsworth Vineyards table but heard very positive comments from other tasters.

Here are some of the other wineries and products of interest.

Alderlea Vineyards. Roger Dosman, a seasoned winegrower, opened this winery in 1998 and has always made wine just from his picture-perfect 10-acre vineyard.

Alderlea Bacchus 2013($14) is spicy and aromatic, with notes of grapefruit and peach on the palate. The wine is crisp and refreshing, with a dry finish. 90.

Alderlea Pinot Gris 2013 ($15.80). Partially barrel-fermented, this wine delivers layered aromas and flavours of apples, pears and citrus. The texture is generous while the finish is crisp and refreshing. 90.

Alderlea Pinot Noir 2011 ($19.30). This lovely silky wine has aromas and flavours of strawberry and raspberry with a touch of spice on the finish. 90.

Alderlea Clarinet 2011 and Alderlea Clarinet 2012 ($15.80). This is Roger’s Maréchal Foch. He calls it Clarinet because, as he once said, “it is too good to be called Foch.” It was instructive to taste the two vintages, the cool 2011 and the ripe 2012. I preferred the ripe flavours of the 2012, showing plums, black cherry and blackberry with a touch of coffee and pepper. 90.

Cherry Point Estate Wineryopened in 1994 and has been owned since 2009 by Xavier (right) and Maria Bonilla. He is a Colombian-born agricultural economist who, with his trademark black beret, looks like a French or Spanish vigneron. Some of his inspiration comes from the wines of Rioja.

Cherry Point Gewürztraminer 2013 ($27.90) has aromas and flavours of spice, grapefruit and lime, with a dry finish. 88.

Cherry Point Ortega 2013 ($27.90). This fresh, dry white has a flavour palate that includes melon, apple, guava and grapefruit. 88.

Cherry Point Pinot Gris 2012 ($24). The pleasing texture of this wine comes from some moderate aging in neutral barrels. There are flavours of pear and apples with a hint of spice and nuts on the finish. 90.

Cherry Point Lágrimas Negras 2012 (N.V.). This is one of the winery’s Spanish-influenced wines. Dark in colour, it is a blend of Agria and Castel grapes. It has smoky cherry aromas and gamey flavours of dark red fruits. 88-90.

Cherry Point Bête Noir 2011 Gran Riserva (N.A.). This wine is also built with Agria and Castel and is also influenced by Spanish wines. The volatility recalls old Vega Sicilia. The wine has flavours of back cherry and dark chocolate. 87.

Cherry Point Pinot Noir Reserve 2011($27.70). Aged 10 months in barrel, this wine has aromas and flavours of cherry and raspberry with a hint of oak. The texture is firm. 88.

Cherry Point Cowichan Blackberry ($24 for 375 ml). Cherry Point was the first Vancouver Island winery to make the port-style blackberry wine that has become a signature for the island. This is a rich, ripe wine that mirrors the flavours of sun-bathed blackberry. It is sweet but well-balanced. 88.

De Vine Vineyards opened in 2010 on the SaanichPeninsula. One of its claims to fame is that it was the first winery in British Columbia to produce Grüner Veltliner.

Winemaker Ken Winchester (left) presented a tank sample of Ortega 2014 that I chose not to rate in its unfinished form. The Pinot Gris 2014 tank sample was much more promising.

There were two surprises. De Vine Zinfandel 2012 ($24)made with Okanagan grapes, is a ripe and boldly oaked red, with brambly aromas and flavours. This is drinking well now with plenty of upside if cellared. 88-90.

The other surprise was a Calvados-like apple spirit. De Vine also has a whisky and a gin in the works. Whatever name is given to the Calvados, it is a generous, soul-warming spirit.

Garry Oaks Winery, which opened in 2003, is the oldest of the three SaltSpringIsland wineries. Marcel Mercier is another good winegrower and Elaine Kozak, his wife, turns the grapes into very good wine.

Garry Oaks Pinot Gris 2013 ($23). This full-bodied wine recalls Alsace, with flavours of apples, pears and melons. The wine has both weight and length, with a crisp, refreshing finish. 90.

Garry Oaks Pinot Noir Zweigelt 2013 (Not yet released). Elaine made this unusual blend just before bottling when she concluded it is better than either of the components (it is 60% Pinot Noir). Blending anything with Pinot Noir is chancy but this wine works, with appealing aromas and flavours of cherry and blackberry, leading to a spicy finish. 90.

Garry Oaks Pinot Noir 2012 ($24). This elegant wine begins with lovely aromas of cherry and strawberry; these are echoed in the flavours. The texture is seductively silky. The finish lingers and there is a touch of well-integrated oak. 90.

Garry Oaks Zweigelt 2012 ($24). This wine is firm and lean with aromas and flavours of plum and blackberry with an earthy mineral backbone. 88.

Mistaken Identity Vineyards opened on SaltSpringIslandin 2009. It has been for sale for about a year but continues to burnish the assets by releasing good wines.

Mistaken Identity Bianco 2013 ($16.99) is a blend of six white varieties grown in the estate vineyard. The wine is crisp and refreshing, with aromas and flavours of pineapple, apple and melon and with a touch of residual sugar to flesh out the palate. 90.

 Mistaken Identity Pinot Noir Rosé 2013($16.99). I am surprised this tasty rosé was not all consumed last summer by visitors to Salt Spring. It is bursting with strawberries, raspberries and red cherries with a touch of sweetness well-balanced with bright acidity. 88.

Mistaken Identity Rosso 2013 ($22.99). This is a blend of Zweigelt, LeonMillot, Maréchal Foch and Cabernet Foch grapes. A dry red, it offers flavours of plum and blackberry with notes of coffee and dark chocolate. 88.

Mistaken Identity Debut 2010 ($22.90). This is 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, presumably from Okanagan fruit since neither of these varieties ripen on Vancouver Island. Several other island producers also release wines made from Okanagan fruit in order to offer the full range that consumers expect. This is a delicious red, with aromas and flavours of black currant, black cherry and vanilla with hints of dark chocolate and coffee. It is boldly oaked. 89.

Rocky Creek Winery, owned by Mark and Linda Holford, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. The winery opened initially in the ground floor of a residence in Ladysmith before moving in 2008 to a farm in the CowichanValley. They came to the tasting with three wines from the stellar 2014 vintage – perhaps the best ever vintage since grape growing began on the island in the 1980s.

Rocky Creek Siegerrebe 2014 ($20). This is a classic expression of a variety sometimes called Gewürztraminer on steroids. It has bold spicy and floral aromas and the flavours are a fruit salad in a bowl. 88.

Rocky Creek Pinot Gris 2014 ($18.50). The winemaker left the juice on the skins for 18 hours, extracting flavour, aroma and a hint of salmon pink colour. It begins with aromas of rhubarb and citrus that are echoed on the full-flavoured palate. This is a refreshing white, nicely balanced to finish crisply. 90.

Rocky Creek Robin’s Rosé 2014 ($18). This is a Pinot Noir rosé (also 18 hours of skin contact) with aromas and flavours of strawberry and cherry. It is finished crisply dry, recalling rosés of Provence. 90.

Rocky Creek Pinot Noir 2013 ($22). This wine has aromas of cherry and cranberry, with flavours of cherry and plum and with a Burgundian earthiness on the finish. 88.


Tod Creek Craft Cider is a cidery that opened last year in Victoria. It was one of three cideries at the Vancouvertasting. Time ran out before I could  taste the products from Merridale Cidery and Sea Cider. Both of these have been in the market for some time and are excellent.

TodCreek Tod Cider ($11.30 for a four-can pack). This blend of cider and dessert apples is refreshing, with a crisp and dry finish. 88.

TodCreek Bamfield Bound Cider ($6.10 for 500 ml). Cidermaker Chris Schmidt uses a dash of maple syrup to finish this cider. It is a full-bodied cider with crisp apple flavours and with a slightly tart finish. 90.

TodCreek Mala-Hop Cider ($6.10 for 500 ml). This is an intriguing hopped cider. If you like the slightly bitter and smoky taste of hops (I do), you will like this well-made craft cider. 89.

Venturi-Schulze Vineyards was opened by 1993 by Giordano Venturi and Marilyn Schulze (now with daughter Michelle). They have pioneered techniques for growing wines and they always make interesting, and occasionally eccentric, wines. Not to mention their balsamic vinegar, an exceptional product.

Venturi-Schulze Brut  Naturel 2010 ($32; $18.50 for a half bottle). The cuvée for this dry bottled-fermented sparkling wine is Pinot Auxerrois and Pinot Gris. No dosage or sulphites have been added. The wine begins with bready aromas, is creamy on the palate, has tangy citrus flavours and a crisp finish. 90.

Venturi-Schulze Sassi 2012 ($26). This blend of Pinot Gris and Ortega has a bouquet of aromas and flavours – pear, apple, citrus and melon with a touch of spice from the French oak-aged portion of the blend. 90.

Venturi-Schulze Primavera 2012 ($20). This light, off-dry wine is a blend of Schönburger and Ortega. It is crisp and fresh, with notes of citrus and spice. 90.

Venturi-Schulze Terracotta 2011 ($28). This is a deliciously eccentric white. Aged 30% in French oak, the wine has a golden hue. It has honeyed aromas and flavours of apricot and nuts, with a spicy finish recalling cumin. This dry wine is 100% Siegerrebe. It is a wine to savour, perhaps with a good cigar. 90.

Venturi-Schulze Pinot Noir 2011 ($45). Even though 2011 was a difficult vintage, the winery made a superb silky Pinot Noir with aromas and flavours of cherry and raspberry. The wine was aged in two and three-year-old French oak barrels. 90.

Venturi-Schulze Pinot Noir Reserve 2009 ($54.96). The 2009 vintage was hot. Consequently, this is a big wine with ripe flavours of cherry and plum. The wine, aged in two-year-old Nevers barrels, is silky on the palate, with a long and elegant finish. 93.

Venturi-SchulzeBrandenburg No. 3 2010 ($35.50 for 375 ml). This is another eccentric wine that is incredibly delicious. This amber-hued wine bursts with aromas and flavours of cassis and caramel. With just 7.7% alcohol, it is a dessert wine that is easy to drink on its own because it is not overly sweet; and also pairs well with both savoury dishes and custard deserts. 90.

Zanatta Winery, which was licensed in 1990, is the oldest winery on Vancouver Island. The winery’s 30-acre vineyard grows 40 different varieties, including British Columbia’s only commercial planting of Cayuga, a New York hybrid.

Zanatta Glenora Fantasia Brut NV ($28.50). This is a traditional sparkling wine from the Cayuga grapes. It is aged at least five years on the lees. The wine begins with aromas of lees and green apples, leading to a fruity palate and a crisp finish. 88.

Zanatta Brut TradizionaleNV($28.95). The cuvée is Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, in the tradition of Champagne. Time on the lees has given the wine a toasty aroma and rich nutty flavours. 88.

Zanatta Pinot Grigio 2013 ($17.95). This is a full-bodied dry white with flavours of apple and pear. 88.

Zanatta Damasco NV($16.50). This is perhaps the winery’s most popular white – a 2014 blend that includes Muscat, Ortega and Madeleine Sylvaner. The wine begins with spicy and floral aromas. On the palate, it is fresh and juicy, with hints of citrus and apple. 90.


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BC Tree Fruits hits a home run with a new cider

March 30, 2015, 9:38 am
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BC Tree Fruits, which represents 80% of the Okanagan’s apple growers, is launching its Broken Ladder brand apple cider in April.

How good is this cider? Broken Ladder hits it out of the park.

This crisply dry and lightly sparking cider with 5.5% alcohol is just bursting with the aromas and flavours of fresh apples. The pristine and focussed flavours explode on the palate, recalling the experience of taking a ripe apple from a tree and biting into it. The finish is very long. If I were scoring this like a wine, it would be 90 points plus.

It is offered in 473 ml cans in a four-pack. And it will be widely available in the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB), as a prelude to a cross-Canada distribution.

Michael Daley, the former Vincor and Constellation Brands executive who is the cider project manager for BCTF, says that Broken Ladder enters market that is showing strong growth.

“Cider in the past year experienced double digit growth in British Columbia,” Michael says. “The growth is coming on the craft or premium side of the market, as opposed to the traditional big brands with are the sweeter style cider. Cider grew in the United States last year by 74% and over 34% the year before. Cider is taking off in the United States, very much like the craft beer industry has taken off. That’s why I think the timing is ideal for BC Tree Fruits to be involved in the cider market.”

Figures from the LDB support this. Cider sales in the LDB in 2014 totalled $72.6 million, up from $63.3 million the year before. Those sales have been climbing for some time. In 2010, the LBD sold $48.9 million worth of cider.

“This is a great opportunity to find a value-added opportunity for Okanagan apples,” Michael says. Growers struggle continually to compete in the fresh market, notably with apples from WashingtonState. There, the apple production is something like 30 times the size of the Okanagan’s production. Washington’s surpluses can, and often do, overwhelm the Okanagan, depressing grower returns.

In addition to releasing the cider through retail channels, BCTF is also establishing its own tasting room in Kelowna (at 880 Vaughan Avenue).

The irony is that the tree fruit industry has done this before. In the 1950s, at the request of apple growers,  a Summerland Research Station scientist, John Bowen, worked with F. A. Atkinson, the station’s director, to develop cider from the Okanagan's abundant sweet eating apples.

Traditional cider in Europeis made from tart cider apples, whose flavour is an acquired taste for some. Bowen pressed the juice from Red Delicious and the more acidic Jonathan apples in a seventy-five per cent/twenty-five per cent blend. This juice was sweetened and then fermented with wine yeast, with fermentation stopped before the cider was fully dry. It was then carbonated -- Bowen called it "a half-baked champagne process" -- and bottled.

The first commercial quantities were bottled at a brewery in Princeton; the inventory and the process were acquired by Growers Wine Co., which scored a long-lasting success with the cider.

As a result of mergers over the years, the Growers brand is now owned by Constellation Brands. The portfolio of ciders under the Growers brand has grown to include flavoured ciders, fruit ciders and ciders made with apple concentrate.

BCTF went back to basics, enlisting the research station’s help in creating Broken Ladder. The cider uses six apple varieties: Ambrosia, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, McIntosh, Braeburn and Golden Delicious.

BCTF also recruited winemaker Bertus Albertyn (left) to make the cider. Born and trained in South Africa, he is the co-owner and winemaker at Maverick Estate Winery. He also was Burrowing Owl’s winemaker for four years.

“The Broken Ladder cider is almost more along the lines of an apple wine from Germany,” Bertus says. “It is not your traditional cider. I really like it.”

There is logic to using an experienced winemaker. “We really wanted to have a cider that was well-balanced, just like you balance a white wine,” Michael says. “It has the right acidity and the right fruitiness and the mouthfeel.”

Ciders are quite competitively priced. Okanagan Premium Ciders, made by Mark Anthony Brands, offer six-packs of 355 ml cans at $9.99. Growers, Lone Tree Cider and Duke’s Cider (the latter from Kelowna’s Tree Brewing Company) sell six-packs for $10.99 while Red Rock Cider is $11.95 for a six-pack. At the high end is Bulmer’s Strongbow from Britain, at $14.95 for a six-pack.

“Our first product is in a can,” Michael says of Broken Ladder. “It is 473 ml. There will be four cans in a four-pack, selling for $11.49. It is more expensive than some of the commercial ones but it is still a great price point.”

 BCTF stress that Broken Ladder is “an authentic hard cider made 100% … from our own fresh crushed apples.”

Michael believes this will appeal to the millennials who are driving the cider market. “They really search out things that are authentic,” he says. “That is why we felt it was important that we come up with a product that met those needs. It costs a little more money, not to add water. Adding water and adding flavourings is way less expensive but it is not what we want to be doing.”

BCTF has additional products under development, including a pear cider in a can and sparkling cider in a 750 ml Champagne bottle.










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Siren’s Call sounds at the farmers market

April 1, 2015, 12:22 pm
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Photo: BC Wine Studio's Mark Simpson

Access to farmers’ markets for British Columbia wineries was one of the better changes in the recent overhaul of the province’s liquor regulations.

Wineries began participating in those markets last fall, offering tastings and selling product. From the reports I have heard, this is generating valuable exposure and sales.

That is not to say it is always operating well. Farmers’ markets in Nanaimo and James Bay on Vancouver Island are not allowing wineries to participate. It seems that the other market participants worry that wine sales will be done at the expense of the sales of other produce. That is an arguable proposition.

Some markets also try segregating the wineries in an area separate from the other producers. Wineries would prefer to mix in with other producers, with visibility to all shoppers. They don’t want to be pigeon-holed into tasting rooms, if only because not many people are up to serious tastings early in the morning when the markets are busy.

Having said that, the access to farm markets is valuable breakthrough that is appreciated by wineries. It is important to position wine as a farm product – and likely one that contributes farm more to the economy that some of the other products in the markets.

Mark Simpson’s BC Wine Studio, which makes wine under the Siren’s Call brand (among other labels), is one of those wineries.

BC Wine Studio’s production facility is on Oliver Ranch Road, southof OkanaganFalls. While there are plans for a wine shop, it is not open yet.

Because Mark lives in Vancouver, he began showing his wines last year at the Vancouver Farmer’s Market. Its Hastings Park Farmers Market is run every Sunday at HastingsPark(the Pacific National Exhibition grounds). When the market re-opened for the season in March, Mark was there.

“I am pleased to announce that BC Wine Studio has have been invited to return to the Vancouver Farmer's Markets this spring and summer,” Mark announced in a recent email. “I had a great time last summer, met some great people and had really yummy food bought from my fellow vendors. My favourite food was the great vegetables from the PembertonValley.”

Here are notes on some of the wines you might find at Mark’s table.

Siren’s Call Viognier 2012 ($20). This is a ripe and luscious white with aromas of tropical fruits and with flavours of mango, apricot and ripe peach. The alcohol is 14.4% but the fruit flavours and texture are so lush that the alcohol is in balance. 89.

Siren’s Call Harmonious 2011 ($29). This is a blend of 39% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc, 14% Malbec, 8% Petit Verdot and 4% Syrah. This is a medium-bodied wine with bright aromas of cherry and vanilla leading to spicy black cherry flavours. The silky tannins make this wine appealing and approachable. 89.

Siren’s Call Petit Verdot 2011 ($27). This wine is almost back in hue, which is characteristic of Petit Verdot. There is a dramatic aroma of plum, black cherry, chocolate and cedar, echoed in spicy flavours of black cherry, mulberry and plum. The wine is full on the palate and the finish lingers. 91.

Siren’s Call Malbec 2012 ($27). The grapes for this vintage come from Manmohan Gill’s vineyard near Osoyoos. I note that to observe that Gill will be opening his own winery, called Bordertown Vineyards, this spring. As this wine proves, he is a good grower and he sold his grapes to a good winemaker in 2012. This wine begins with a lovely aroma of plums and cherries, leading to spicy red fruit flavours including cherry and black currant. With decanting, the firm texture becomes rich and generous. 90.

Siren’s Call Pinot Noir 2012 ($22). This is a delicious wine with a full and silky texture. It begins with aromas of spicy cherry. This is echoed on the palate, along with a Burgundian earthiness on the finish. 90.


Siren’s Call Syrah 2012 ($25). This big and bold red begins with aromas of black cherry, oak and delicatessen spices. On the palate, there is more black cherry and plum with classic notes of white and black pepper. 90.
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