BC Pinot Noir

My Ode to Pinot Noir

Brent Gushowaty — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 15:31:24 GMT

In June of 2025, I submitted an entry to the Jancis Robinson wine writing competition, an annual event that she began in 2012. The topic for 2025 was to write an ode to a grape variety.

I enjoy, appreciate and celebrate great wine regardless of the variety involved but as you might suspect, for me there was only one choice. So, I really let it all out.

The long listed essays were published on the Jancis Robinson web site throughout the Summer and I was pleased that mine was amongst them. The big prizes went to others but my article now resides on her web site under the Free For All section.

So here’s what I really think, feel and imagine.

Pinot Noir is a Timeless, Mysterious Poet

The art critic Walter Pater said “all art constantly aspires to the condition of music”. It might be said that all wine aspires to the condition of pinot noir.

Pinot noir passes through the world of wine like a quiet, respected but unknowable poet. Poets are sensitive, and vulnerable but also prodigiously observant of events, feelings, relationships, hardships and beauty as they move through life. Then they take these experiences, and by their nature, employ creativity’s oracular process, to conjure from their experiences a poem that can be experienced, shared, and understood by others. They may speak quietly but profoundly.

Its thin-skinned nature makes it easily distracted or assailable by disease, mildew or weather events. In addition, its particularity means that to begin with, it requires the right soil, slope, weather, pruning, clone, maintenance and more, yet, surprisingly it’s at its most creative living climatically at the edge.

It needs its sunshine but eschews hot easy climates unless balanced by cooling wind or fog. Without those factors, it will not produce filigreed, focused, layered fruits and aromatics. It will produce cordial. In fact, it prefers cooler, even harsher climates parenthesized by warm days and cool nights. But in the right places the grape can rise above variety to express something, primal, ancient and entrancing.

Pinot noir has numerous talents, many of them inexplicable but the greatest one evident is its thin skin. Thin skins open the window to the intricacies of fruit aromas and flavours pulled up from the soil through the roots without the shroud of astringent tannins usually present in other red grapes. Its structure is based on acid, not tannins. Colette said “the grapevine makes the savour of the earth intelligible to man” and pinot noir is the best testament to that.

Even with these background elements in place its fine-tempered fussiness continues with those who coax and shepherd it from grapes to wine. The right green manicure in the vineyard, gentle treatment in the harvest as well as care, patience, respect and skill in the vinification need to be right for that vineyard, those grapes and that vintage. Pinot noir seems to notice everything and remember everything that happened in the year of its creation. The grape can give articulate testament to the character of site and soil it grows in. But if for some reason an item is lacking, the imprint will be on the resulting wine and instead of speaking eloquently, it may simply mumble some faint praise of the land or winemaker. Silence is its censure.

Pinot noir has no origin story. It is an ancient variety whose starting point is unknown but its influence is timeless. It lives on, coded into the nature of its endless progeny to continue to make enthralling wines for us now. It has been known via a whirl of exotic aliases and disguises including: Black Pinot, Pinot Noirien, Pinot St. George, Blauer Burgunder, Pinot de Pernand, Négrette, Beba, Franc Pineau, Noirien, Salvagnin, Morillon, Auvernat, Plant Doré, Spätburgunder, Pinot Nero, Nagyburgundi and many more.

Pinot noir is a mighty progenitor, having at least a thousand known clones and has begat clonal cousins such as pinot meunier, pinot blanc, and pinot gris. In fact, it’s “genetically fluid”, so close to being a white grape that commonly enough, pinot blanc or pinot gris grapes make guest appearances in pinot noir grape clusters. This aspect of pinot noir also means that it flexes easily to produce other wine styles including sparkling, white, and rosé.

Pinot noir’s intrigue includes numerous “suitcase clone” stories of it being kidnapped from Grand Cru Burgundy vineyards and smuggled to far flung vineyards and it is pinot noir alone, that binds disparate wine drinkers (including me) together who have had the ”epiphany bottle”, the magical one that leaves you chasing the pinot noir unicorn forever after.

Adding to the mystery, there are just a handful of magical terroirs scattered around the world where it thrives and is capable of great eloquence.

Trying to convey the attributes of great pinot noir is difficult and often leads to an embarrassing gush of fawning praise but as I am fully enraptured of it - here goes.

First there is the startling disconnect between the sometimes very light, sometimes rosé lightness seen in the glass compared to a nose that holds such elaborated, complex and overlapping aromas. When you compare it to the intense phalanx of a syrah, merlot or cabernet, you can’t help but ask “where is that coming from’? When pinot noir is moved to say something poetic, the flavours can be silky, ethereal, velvety, lacy, delicate, distinctive, woodsy, gamey, herbal, mineral and involve all manner of red and black fruits. Descriptors such as “focused”, “precise”, “aerial”, ”soprano”, ”cross currents”, ”plush”, ”spectral”, ”echoing finish” and hundreds of others spring to mind. It’s makes it exceedingly difficult not to anthropomorphize it but at times you feel like you are encountering a personality. Its waves of flavours have been described as ironic and its flavour utterances can seem mystical. No other grape provokes such complex thoughts and emotions as pinot noir.

It lives amongst us an old poet, speaking in tongues.

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Pinot Noir Lover's Preview – Vancouver International Wine Festival 2026

Brent Gushowaty — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 19:18:00 GMT

The 2026 Vancouver International Wine Festival runs this year from March 7 to March 14. If pinot noir holds a special interest for you, this year’s festival offers a unique opportunity to compare and contrast pinot noirs from several countries including: Australia, Chile, Italy, New Zealand, Uruguay, the United States as well as pinot noir based red Burgundy from the featured country France. And then you can compare them to pinot noirs grown here in British Columbia, from thirteen different wineries. So overall, it’s a great chance to taste a wide variety of pinot noir terroirs and styles.

Exploring B.C. Pinot Noir GI and Sub-GI Regions

What are GIs and Sub-GIs?

B.C.’s new appellation system is based on what are called Geographical Indications or GIs that were created using a combination of criteria specific to each region. The most important elements were a shared watershed area and/or elevation zones that encompassed both existing and potential growing areas. There are now nine GIs throughout the province as well as twelve of what are known as sub-geographical indications known as sub-GIs. Sub-GIs demonstrate unique climates, soil types and the resulting wine styles.

Of the 24 red pinot noir wines available at the festival this year, B.C. is providing more than half of them drawn from wineries located in 3 GIs as well as 5 Sub GIs.

Using This As Your Guide to Pinot Noir at the Festival

Sometimes the organization of booths in the main tasting room at the festival can seem a little confusing but it is really pretty straight forward. The booths are numbered (from 1 to 114 this year) in alphabetical order by country.

All the red pinot noir wines available at the festival this year are listed below organized by booth number so if you are looking at this on your mobile phone you can scroll down as you move in order from booth to booth.

Keep in mind that most wines can be purchased at the festival store

Pinot Noir Wines By Booth Number

Australia

Booth 12 INLAND TRADING CO | AUSTRALIA

By Farr RP pinot 2022

Australia is not as well known for their pinot noirs but its cooler regions can produce world class wines. Wine By Farr Wines is a family-owned and operated winery that has been producing world-class wines since 1994. The winery is located in the heart of the Moorabool Valley, in the cool southern climate near Geelong, Victoria. Their RP Pinot Noir (the winemaker’s mother’s initials) is Farr’s top single vineyard pinot noir made from a high density planting of Pinot Noir. I recently tasted one of their more entry level pinot noirs and it was a stunner. So this is not to be missed.

Canada

Booth 14 8TH GENERATION VINEYARD | SUMMERLAND LAKEFRONT SUB-GI | OKANAGAN VALLEY B. C.

The acclaim that 8th Generation Vineyard has received over the years for its white wines, principally their rieslings, may begin to explain why their silky, elegantly balanced pinot noir is so often overlooked and underappreciated. A husband and wife team, Bernd Schales is an 8th generation winemaker and Stefanie Schales a 10th generation winegrower. They quickly established a reputation for quality and consistency. They have won numerous medals at Canadian wine competitions for their pinot noirs.

The vineyard areas in Summerland Lakefront are strongly moderated by the lake and are situated in benches that hug Lake Okanagan. This area's wide variety of soils is due to the varying historical seasonal outflows from Trout Creek.

Due perhaps to the vineyard's unique placement in the Trout Creek delta the wines are quite distinct with typically fuller, savoury fruit, more complex, textured tannins and a hint of minerality in the finish.

Pinot Noir 2023

This is a 100% Pinot Noir from the estate vineyard in the Summerland Lakefront Sub-GI. This wine will be demonstrating what is a second pinot noir era for the winery. Following the 2018 harvest, they removed their established, tightly clustered Pinot Noir vines and replanted in 2019 with a German clone characterized by varied berry sizes, promoting looser clusters and improved airflow. 8th Generation pinot noir Current Vintage & Availability

Booth 24 DA SILVA VINEYARDS | NARAMATA BENCH SUB-GI | OKANAGAN VALLEY B. C.

Though the winery was created in 2006, the Da Silvas are long time growers, having originally moved to the Okanagan in 1955. They currently draw from 11 different vineyards for their wines. To underscore the importance of provenance, the names of the growers, the exact latitude and longitude of the source vineyards as well as the vinification are detailed on every bottle.

Pinot Noir 2022

This pinot noir was sourced from the Blenheim Hill Vineyard and the Lazy Dog Vineyard in the Naramata and Penticton West benches.

Da Silva Pinot Noir – Current Vintage & Availability

Booth 25 EX NIHILO | LAKE COUNTRY SUB-GI | OKANAGAN VALLEY B. C.

The experience of dreaming about and creating their vineyard out of ten acres as well as a Frederick Hart sculpture, prompted Jeff and Decoa Harder to name their winery Ex Nihilo, which means “out of nothing”. Their first pinot noir vintage was in 2010.

Pinot Noir 2022

The 2022 Pinot Noir was crafted using grapes from two vineyards in the Okanagan Valley. A small portion came from a well-established vineyard in West Kelowna, while the majority was harvested from the home vineyard at Ex Nihilo.

Ex Nihilo Pinot Noir – Current Vintage & Availability

Booth 26 FORT BERENS ESTATE WINERY | LILLOOET GI B. C.

The Lillooet GI is set well apart from other British Columbia GI areas and is roughly defined as all lands below 1,000 meters in elevation along a stretch of the Fraser River from about 25 km north of Lillooet to just south of Lytton. It also includes a smaller section along the Thompson river before it joins the Fraser River at Lytton.

The winery is located directly across the Fraser River from the community of Lillooet, located 325 kilometers North of Vancouver just above 50°N in latitude. Despite being located at the intersection of deep gorges in the lee of the Coast Mountains, Lillooet experiences a warm-summer humid continental climate, has a long growing season and is often the “hot spot” in British Columbia Summer weather reports.

2024 Pinot Noir

2024 saw a catastrophic freezing event that hit B.C.’s interior winegrowing regions very hard. In some cases, entire vineyards froze and had to be replanted. The fruit for this wine was from the winery’s Dry Creek Vineyard where fortunately, enough fruiting buds survived the 2024 freeze to produce 30% of the normal crop.

Fort Berens Pinot Noir – Current Vintage & Availability

Booth 27 GRAY MONK ESTATE WINERY | LAKE COUNTRY SUB-GI | OKANAGAN VALLEY B. C.

Gray Monk is one of the five original estate wineries that pioneered the modern B.C. wine industry and is also one of the very few wineries in the country where four generations of the family have been involved.

The winery opened in 1982 near Okanagan Centre, a neighbourhood and formal ward within Lake Country, on the East shore of Okanagan Lake, just North of Kelowna above the 50th parallel. Originally, Gray Monk focused exclusively on white grape varieties but in the early 2000s they added red grape varieties to the mix. The grapes for their pinot noirs are sourced from throughout the Okanagan Valley.

The winery was sold to Andrew Peller Limited in September of 2017.

Pinot Noir 2023

Gray Monk Pinot Noir – Current Vintage & Availability Currently available in B.C. Liquor Stores.

Booth 30 JOIEFARM WINERY | NARAMATA BENCH SUB-GI |OKANAGAN VALLEY B. C.

Founded in 2002, JoieFarm was originally a cooking school and gastronomic guesthouse. Their first vintage was in 2003, when they became only the fourth winery to grow from the Naramata Bench. The tasting room opened its doors in 2015.

The En Famille series highlights small-lot wines, crafted from select vineyard sites of significance. They exemplify the cool-climate lake moderated desert terroir of the Okanagan Valley. Contributing vineyards can include Chapman Road Vineyard, Okanagan Falls • Albrecht Vineyard, Naramata Bench • Smethurst Vineyard, Naramata Bench • Con Vida Vineyard, Skaha Bluffs

En Famille Pinot Noir 2022

Joie Pinot Noir – Current Vintage & Availability

Booth 31 LAKEBOAT VINEYARD & WINERY | SKAHA BENCH SUB-GI | OKANAGAN VALLEY, B.C.

An up-and-coming region, the Skaha Bench sub-GI is situated south of Penticton, on the east side of Skaha Lake. Located in Kaleden, Lakeboat Vineyard & Winery opened its tasting room doors to the public in 2022 . The wines are made exclusively from Kaleden-grown grapes.

Pinot Noir 2022

Lakeboat Pinot Noir – Current Vintage & Availability

Booth 34 MORAINE ESTATE WINERY | NARAMATA BENCH SUB-GI | OKANAGAN VALLEY B. C.

Moraine is a family-owned winery and vineyard overlooking Okanagan Lake, located just minutes from the city of Penticton. The winery owners here are the husband-wife team of Oleg and Svetlana Aristarkhov. They relocated from Alberta, where they had lived for 15 years, bought a vacation home and planted a small vineyard. When a nearby winery ironically called Zero Balance went into receivership they purchased the property and it’s small existing vineyard. Since Moraine made their first vintage of pinot noir in 2012, the wines have always been in good hands.

Moraine Pinot Noir 2023

Moraine Pinot Noir – Current Vintage & Availability

Booth 39 QUAILS’ GATE WINERY | WEST KELOWNA | OKANAGAN VALLEY, B.C.

With their first pinot noir being released in 1989, Quails’ Gate Winery has a serious claim on being the first pinot noir producer of the modern (vinifera) era in British Columbia. Their original vineyard was purchased in 1956. Both their regular pinot noir and their Stewart Family Reserve have been made now for over twenty-five vintages. They have also produced limited releases of pinot noirs based on Dijon clones and the 828 clone as well as a Richard’s Block pinot noir to honour the winery’s founder.

Stewart Family Reserve Pinot Noir 2022

This Stewart Family Reserve wine has won numerous medals in Canadian and international competitions over the last 15 years. It’s a mixture of blocks and clones grown at Quails’ Gate’s West Kelowna estate on the Mount Boucherie Bench.

Stewart Family Reserve Pinot Noir – Current Vintage & Availability Currently available in B.C. Liquor Stores.

Booth 40 SAGE HAYWARD VINEYARDS | GULF ISLANDS GI | B.C.

Sage Hayward Vineyards is located on Saturna in the Southern Gulf Islands, between Vancouver and Vancouver Island. The first vines were planted here in 1995 but the vineyard and winery\\ then under a different name and ownership, languished until the Sage Hayward family acquired it in August of 2020. They inherited a vineyard that had been left fallow for nearly a decade. It’s now a family-run vineyard, winery, and bistro.

Pinot Noir 2023

This 100% estate Pinot Noir, grown on the estate property in their Falcon Ridge and Raven Hill vineyards.

Sage Hayward Pinot Noir – Current Vintage & Availability

Booth 41 STONEBOAT VINEYARDS | OKANAGAN VALLEY | B.C.

Pinot noir does not generally show its best in the South Okanagan Valley, usually defined as the section South of Okanagan Falls. The intense heat and relatively high number of growing degree days are a better fit for grape varieties like cabernet sauvignon and syrah. Pinot noir, preferring a cooler climate, mostly becomes denser, less expressive and cheerless in such an area versus its usual more spritely self.

The Stoneboat Vineyards reserve pinot noir is one of the few exceptions in the region. The winery is located on the East side of the Valley in the Black Sage Bench area of the South Okanagan, sometimes called a ‘pocket desert’ because of the abundant sunshine and low rainfall. Initially founded by the Martiniuk family and opened in 2007, the Stoneboat home vineyard sits on an exceptional terroir called the Black Sage Gravelbar. The deeper soils there contain rounded stones frosted with a coating of calcium and other minerals, known as carbonate skins. During a visit, Pedro Parra, an international terroir consultant, confirmed that some of the world’s great wines are grown upon similar rocks. Stoneboat Vineyards’ pinot noirs show flavours of black tea, dried cherry, baking spice and are often given lift and interest by a current of minerality from that limestone presence.

Stoneboat Pinot Noir Reserve 2023

Booth 43 TIGHTROPE WINERY | NARAMATA BENCH SUB-GI | B.C.

Graham and Lyndsay O’Rourke are a formidable viticultural & winemaking team. Their first vintage was 2012. The winery has a particular focus on sustainability. Graham is one of the founding Directors with Sustainable Winegrowing BC (SWBC). Their pinot noirs have won medals at both the Wine Align National Wine Awards as well as the Great Northwest Invitational Wine Competition.

Pinot Noir 2023 Home Vineyard

The grapes for this wine was sourced from their Fleet Road & Marmot estate vineyards.

Booth 45 UNSWORTH VINEYARDS | COWICHAN VALLEY SUB-GI | B.C.

The Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island is the second most important pinot noir wine area in B.C. After the Okanagan. Though not as well known, it is one of the province’s significant pinot noir growing areas. Nestled between the central range of island mountains and the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland, it has proved to be an ideal spot for cultivation of the vine.

This very cool climate region has since the early nineties produced some outstanding pinot noirs from a clutch of producers located there.

Founded by Tim and Colleen Turyk, Unsworth is a relative newcomer to the Cowichan Valley, having released its first pinot noir in 2012. In June 2020 Unsworth Vineyards was sold to Barbara Banke and Julia Jackson of Jackson Family Wines.

Pinot Noir Cowichan Valley 2023

Chile

The long narrow shape of Chile combined with a wide range of altitudes, enables tremendous diversity in terms of climates and terroirs. Though better known for its cabernet sauvignon, carmenere, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, pinot noir is becoming more widely grown and with great results.

Booth 49 LABERINTO WINES | MAULE VALLEY | CHILE

Laberinto is a small independent producer in the Maule region of southeast of Chile in the foothills of the Andes Mountains and on the shores of Lake Colbún. The first vineyards were planted in 1993.

Pinot Noir Cenizas 2024

The fruit originates from a three hectare, single vineyard block of volcanic soils planted in 1998 at an elevation of 550 meters. It is farmed organically and biodynamically.

Booth 50 VIÑA SAN PEDRO | LEYDA VALLEY | CHILE

Viña Leyda was a pioneer of Leyda Valley DO, near the cooling influence of the Pacific Ocean and the Humboldt Current, planting the first vineyards in this sub-region of San Antonio in 1998.

Leyda Reserve Pinot Noir

Viña Leyda’s vineyards, and the region of Leyda in general, is characterized by its strong maritime influence with sea fogs in the morning and cooling afternoon breezes. Currently available in B.C. Liquor Stores.

Booth 51 VIÑA UNDURRAGA | VARIOUS, CHILE

One of the largest and oldest wineries in Chile, it was founded in 1885 by Francisco Undurraga. Viña Undurraga is certified as sustainable according to the Sustainability Code from Wines of Chile.

Pinot Noir Sibaris pinot noir 2024

Sibaris Pinot Noir Gran Reserva 2024

From the Leyda Valley, made with 100% Pinot Noir made from select grapes grown in their estate vineyards. Currently available in B.C. Liquor Stores.

Undurraga Terroir Hunter Leyda Valley Pinot Noir 2023

The grapes were sourced from a selected 2.97-hectare plot in the Leyda appellation, the well-known southern sub-region of San Antonio, 14 kilometres from the Pacific Ocean.

France

Booth 72 DOMAINE FOURREY | BOURGOGNE, FRANCE

Domaine Fourrey is part of a long family history rooted in the heart of the Chablis vineyards, in Milly, just a few kilometers from Chablis. Domaine Fourrey has existed for four generations and the estate has 25 hectares of vineyards. The vines are spread across a wide variety of climats, in the Chablis, Petit Chablis and Chablis Grand Cru appellations, as well as including a Bourgogne Pinot Noir.

Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2023

The grapes for this wine come from a small 20 year old vineyard of 0.72 hectares.

Booth 78 DOMAINE LAROCHE | BOURGOGNE / LANGUEDOC ROUSSILLON, FRANCE

Michel Laroche discovered the Mas la Chevalière vineyards near Béziers in 1995 after a long quest to find the perfect Languedoc site for cultivating chardonnay and pinot noir. The pinot noir thrives in the Northern Gard, in the Cévennes foothills.

Pinot Noir Mas la Chevalier 2023

Booth 79 MAISON LOUIS JADOT | BEAUJOLAIS / BOURGOGNE, FRANCE

Maison Louis Jadot is a winery founded by Louis Henry Denis Jadot in 1859. It is one of Burgundy’s largest producers, controls 270 hectares of vineyards in Burgundy including Beaujolais Crus and produces only (AOC) wines.

Bourgogne Pinot Noir Couvent des Jacobins 2022

Currently available in B.C. Liquor Stores.

Italy

Booth 91 ITALO CESCON ARTIGIANO DEL VINO | FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA / VENETO, ITALY

Italo Cescon was established on 1957, near Treviso.

Pinot Noir 2024

New Zealand

Booth 99 VILLA MARIA | MARLBOROUGH, NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand’s overall maritime climate is very friendly to pinot noir. The combination of latitude range, numerous river valleys and varied distances from the Pacific Ocean makes for expressive, detailed pinot noirs with considerable regional variation.

Villa Maria Estate Founded in 1961 Villa Maria Estate is one of New Zealand’s larger wine companies.

The Awatere Valley vineyards sit on a variety of hills and terraces in a braided river system that opens to the Pacific Ocean’s Cook Strait which runs between the North and South Islands. Similarly to other favoured pinot noir regions, the climatic influences are a combination of continental and maritime.

Taylor’s Pass Pinot Noir 2020

The Taylors Pass Vineyard sits on the northern bank of the Awatere River, running East to West through the Awatere Valley and out to the Clifford Bay in the Pacific Ocean.

Uruguay

Booth 108 LOS CERROS DE SAN JUAN | CANELONES / COLONIA, URUGUAY

Los Cerros de San Juan is the oldest winery in Uruguay. Originally from Germany, the Lahusen family acquired four ranches located between the San Juan and Plata rivers around 1854 and planted vineyards east of the tiny hamlet of Los Cerros de San Juan with imported European rootstock. With 45 hectares of vines, it produces a range of wines that are almost all varietally labeled.

Pinot Noir Lahusen 2023

United States

Booth 109 JACKSON FAMILY WINES | VARIOUS, CALIFORNIA LA CREMA

La Crema Winery was founded in 1979 by the Jackson family with the goal of creating wines from the best cool climate regions of California and Oregon. The winery specializes in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir varieties.

La Crema Monterey Pinot Noir 2023

Enjoy the show!

British Columbia’s Naramata Bench Sub-GI

Brent Gushowaty — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 19:55:28 GMT

Varied Geography

Overview B.C.’s wine regions are divided into nine Geographical Indications, that function like appellations in other wine countries. These GIs are determined by analyzing factors such as soils, climate conditions, landforms, bodies of water, and geographical boundaries. One of these, the Okanagan Valley GI is further broken down into sub-Geographical Indications (sub-GIs). Established in 2019, the Naramata Bench Sub-GI stretches over an area of 3650 hectares and is located on the eastern shore of the southern tail of Lake Okanagan.

Geographical Boundaries Its boundary begins in the very southeast corner of the lake, takes a paring off the northeast corner of the city of Penticton, by running along Penticton Creek and continues inland for two kilometers before heading northward. With Okanagan Lake providing the western border, the eastern boundary line runs north, paralleling the shoreline, forming an arable margin whose width varies between one and three kilometers, ending about twenty twenty-five kilometers north at Sebastian Farms vineyards next to Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park.

The sub-GI has three dimensions, since the eastern boundary follows the contour of the valley wall at an elevation of between 650 and 700 meters. The highest vineyards in the sub-GI are at 685 meters. At this upper elevation range, grape production is less viable. Growing Degree Days decrease at a rate of approximately 100 per year for every 100m rise in elevation. So, with a span of about 300 m between the lowest and highest portions of the sub-GI, the annual GDD range goes from 1400 at lake level down to 1100 at its higher reaches. The yearly frost-free days vary from 195 at the lowest elevation to 160 at the highest.

Two Soil Landscapes Within the Naramata sub-GI there are two distinct soil landscapes called Glaciolacustrine and Mixed Sediments that adjoin each other along the whole north/south length of the sub-GI, creating two parallel bands. They step progressively back and up from Lake Okanagan, with overlapping boundaries and altitude variations.

Glaciolacustrine Soil Landscape The bulk of the Naramata sub-GI vineyards are in the Glaciolacustrine soil landscape, with most located south of Naramata village. In general, the soils in the glaciolacustrine landscape are termed Penticton soil loam. It features a topsoil with rich organic matter as well as pockets of clay and gravel. The soil here is well drained but also has a relatively high water-holding capacity. The underlying parent materials are alkaline and contain calcium carbonate.

Mixed Sediments Soil Landscape This second landscape features very different underlying geological origins that distinguish it from its glaciolacustrine partner. It sits at a higher elevation in part, on rocky, gneiss outcrops. The underlying bedrock determines its landforms and the more variable soil texture in this landscape is coarser with a generally greater degree of stoniness.

Climate Sitting in the middle of the sub-GI, Naramata Village is located at a cooler climate 49.59° N latitude, like the city of Reims in Champagne. Yet, at its lower elevations, with proximity to the moderating warmth of Lake Okanagan, the area has a growing season of around 195 days, a mean annual temperature of 9.5 °C and racks up 1400 annual growing degree days. Naramata Bench is an optimal area for growing wine grapes and can have more frost-free days than more southerly vineyards in the Okanagan Valley such as Oliver and Osoyoos. However, the cooler nights help retain acidity and freshness in the wines.

Vineyard Topped Headlands

Exceptional Range of Vineyard Growing Conditions Added to the factors of latitude, altitude and proximity to water is the unusual and at times, fantastical topography of the Naramata Bench tablelands. The once-were-lake-bottom fine silt, sandy and clay sediments composing the area were vulnerable to erosion from melting glacier streams as the ice retreated thousands of years ago. Even today, these sedimented soils can become saturated and create landslides or slope failures. The remarkable result is that ranged along the northern portion of Naramata Bench, you can see gentle, undulating slopes sharply dissected by cliff-like gullies and escarpments, where water has cut through the erosive soil. In places the resulting landforms, are isolated, flat-topped headlands occasionally crowned with a carpet of vines. These tall promontories often have near vertical walls where the underlying sedimentary layers can be seen. The overall result is an irregular jumble of vineyards subject to a wide variety of geographic influences.

The varied landscape position and topography of Naramata sub-GI vineyards contribute to a diversity of mesoclimates that affect the nature and style of the resulting wines. Variable airflow patterns through the area’s gullies and escarpments creates a range of daytime temperatures and nighttime cold air drainage that can strongly affect both the number of growing degree days and the annual frost-free period for a particular vineyard.

An Undulating Landscape

Viticulture Over 50 types of grapes are grown in the Naramata Bench sub-GI and include later ripening varieties such as cabernet sauvignon that demonstrate versatility of the geography, making it an interesting playground for winemakers. Merlot, pinot gris, chardonnay and riesling are the most widely planted with pinot noir representing around 10% of plantings.

A Pinot Noir Hidden Gem Pinot noir is very much at home in the Naramata Bench. Of the forty-five or so wineries within its boundaries, 75% of them make a pinot noir. Numerous wineries outside the sub-GI source Naramata Bench vineyards for their pinot noir wines. The quality of the pinot noirs here is very good and often exceptional. Naramata Bench wineries won seventeen medals including Platinum at the recent 2025 National Wine Awards of Canada.

B. C. pinot noirs from the Okanagan Valley and other B.C. sub-Gis fly under the radar globally because the wineries are boutique sized with case production for individual wines often under 400 cases, leaving little to export. Nevertheless, pinot noirs from the Naramata Bench and other British Columbia sub-Gis compare well in terms of quality and variety with those from better known pinot producing areas such as New Zealand, Oregon and France. The world just hasn’t found out yet.

Summerland Valleys Sub-GI

Brent Gushowaty — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 22:04:01 GMT

Summerland Valleys Sub-GI

Welcome to the latest edition. I have added a new audio feature, so you can now choose to listen to the entire newsletter read by me, by just clicking above. I welcome your comments.

Overview

The community of Summerland sits next to Highway 97 on the Eastern side of Lake Okanagan, directly across from the town of Naramata and its adjacent necklace of wineries. It sits in the crater of an exploded volcano that sent enormous lava chunks South and West, including what is now Giant’s Head Mountain. In the several thousand years since, glaciers ran over the lava chunks and volcanic domes in the area, scouring and sculpting them into the rounded summits now arrayed around Summerland. When the glaciers retreated, sediment from glacial meltwater buried the terrain below the 500 m elevation about ten thousand years ago, leaving most of the valley bottom filled with gravel, sand and mixed sediments.

BC’s G.I. & Sub-GI System

Established in 2018, under the regulation of the British Columbia Wine Authority, an appellation system was created that divided its wine regions into ten ‘Geographical Indications’ (GIs), and also delineated unique growing areas within the GIs, as “sub-GIs”. Sub-GIs can be noted on wine labels and indicate that a minimum of 95% of the grapes in the wine were grown from the specified region. British Columbia now features 21 Geographical Indications consisting of 10 GIs and 12 sub-GIs.

Summerland is slightly unusual in that three contiguous sub-GIs, Summerland Lakefront, Summerland Bench and Summerland Valleys, were created, and several more were also initially sought. This was due to the complex geology and resulting soil types in the area as well as proximity to the lake’s moderating influence, altitude variation, narrow shielded valleys, microclimates and other factors. Variations in soils were also very instrumental in the sub-GI process. These variations included soil type, structure, texture (sandy or coarse), and geological origin.

Summerland’s location in the Central Okanagan, North of Okanagan Falls, South of Kelowna and Lake Country and proximal to Lake Okanagan puts it well in pinot noir’s comfort zone. High quality pinot noir is currently being made in all three sub-GIs.

The three sub-GIs step progressively back and up from Lake Okanagan, with overlapping East/West boundaries and distinct altitude variations.

Summerland Valleys sub-GI This sub-GI is a long finger of about 1,350 hectares that begins West of the town of Summerland and runs North, paralleling Lake Okanagan. It includes parts of Prairie Valley as well as Garnet Valley. Of the approximately 55 hectares under vine, either planted or in production, roughly two-thirds are located in the Garnet Valley and one-third in Prairie Valley. Elevations range from 500 to 700 meters, and it has some of the highest vineyards in the Okanagan. Other factors in this region include slope angle and the presence of bedrock outcrops.

Complex Soils As in most of the Okanagan Valley, the surface geology of the GI is very complex. In Summerland Valleys, the most important forces forming the geology and soils of the area proceed from the glacial period that occurred approximately 10,000 years ago. The glaciers sculpted existing landforms and their eventual melting, laid down a variety of alluvial deposits. These, along with wind-blown fine sands, glacial till, silt deposits and decomposed organic materials created the parent materials for an array of often stratified soil types which can occur in close proximity within the sub-GI.

Climate This sub-GI has fewer growing degree days and a shorter frost-free period than the other Summerland sub-GIs. Altitude and airflow contribute to make this a very cool climate area. The Garnet Valley area in particular stands out in the three Summerland sub-GIs due to higher elevations, cooler climates and its isolation from the influence of Lake Okanagan.

There is some slight variation in climate between the two valleys with the Eastern side of Prairie Valley being more open to the warming airflow influence of Lake Okanagan. The cool climate factors, particularly in Garnet Valley, allow for sparkling wine production as well as providing the potential to produce ice wine on the sub-GI’s lower slopes. But recent trends to generally warmer winters and shoulder seasons may eventually contribute to a wider range of viticultural possibilities.

Overall, the variations in elevation, air drainage, slope position, and slope direction set up an array of site conditions best suited to growing white wine grapes along with cool climate loving pinot noir—the most planted variety. Given pinot noir’s versatility, winemakers can choose to make sparkling, rosé, white, or red wine from it depending on the ripeness of the vintage.

TWO VALLEYS This sub-GI includes Prairie valley and Garnet Valley. Both valleys begin at the Western edge of the town of Summerland.

Prairie Valley The Southern portion, the roughly triangular Prairie Valley, shares a boundary with the Summerland Benches sub-GI to the East of it. Prairie Valley is a mainly agricultural area containing both vineyards and orchards. Vineyards cover a relatively small area of about 20 hectares, and vineyard expansion is limited to some degree due to the peaty nature of the soils which include decomposed organic matter. This tends to make the soils less free-draining, and, therefore, somewhat less suited for vineyards than other parts of the sub-GI.

Garnet Valley – Even Cooler Climate The long, narrow Garnet Valley begins where a ridge rises in the agriculturally green Northwest corner of Summerland, then forks out and stretches North, running parallel to Lake Okanagan, but separated by a mountain ridge that continues North towards Peachland. The two valleys are linked by land along the base of Cartwright Mountain. Garnet Valley extends from the lower slopes of Conkle Mountain in the South to just South of the Garnet Lake dam in the North.

In places, this agricultural valley can be steeply tilted, undulating, or forested and grows narrower at the Northern end. The steepness of the hillsides, slope direction, elevation range, and the shade provided by the embracing mountain ridges makes the Garnet Valley a hospitable, varied, and interesting terrain for pinot noir and is already the source of some very interesting wines that show great promise.

The climate in this part of the Summerland Valleys is distinctly cooler than the vineyard area of the Summerland Bench sub-GI despite them being only five kilometers apart and a similar two-kilometer distance from Lake Okanagan.

The upper reach of Garnet Valley has about 200 fewer growing degree days than Summerland Bench (approx. 1100 vs. 1300) and the frost-free period is 40 days shorter (e.g., in 2019, it was 154 days vs. 197). The climatic difference between Garnet Valley and Summerland Bench is actually similar to the difference between Summerland Bench and the Southernmost reach of the Okanagan Valley in Osoyoos.

The much cooler temperatures are largely the result of elevation difference and landscape position, with the latter related not only to the mountain ridge isolating the valley from the warming influence of the lake but also to the valley floor, which is subject to cool nighttime air flows that depress daily mean temperatures and shorten the frost-free period.

The unique Garnet Valley climate exists in what is already a cool climate area and clearly affects grape ripening potential but many of the world’s most interesting wines come from similar climates.

The advantage of the cool growing season and diurnal range in the valley is that the wines retain natural, vibrant acidity and fruit aromatics. This also makes the sub-GI well suited to viticulture for sparkling wine production. Vineyard sites on frost-prone lower slopes and the valley floor can also be used to produce ice wine.

There are currently just four wineries in the Summerland Valleys sub-GI, two in Prairie Valley (Pamplemousse Jus and SummerGate Winery) and two in Garnet Valley (Garnet Valley Ranch and Solvero Wines).

The two most noteworthy pinot noir-producing wineries, are those located in the Garnet Valley.

Solvero Wines

It was in the Garnet Valley that the Sartor family, Andrea and Bob Sartor and their son Matt, dreamed that vineyards could flourish. Fittingly, the initial conversation was over a glass of pinot noir. In 2014, they acquired thirty acres of land 20 minutes North of Summerland that was a steep, forested mountainside. It took two years to clear the land and prepare it for planting. The 2019 pinot noir is their inaugural vintage.

The success of the initial wines also rests with their experienced and talented winemaker, Alison Moyes. Her winemaking resume in the Okanagan Valley includes five vintages at Stoneboat Vineyards and six vintages at Liquidity Wines. Having tasted the wines from both during her stints there, I found it notable how consistently she was able to express very different pinot noir terroirs through a range of vintages at each property.

From 2019 to 2022, Solvero’s pinot noirs were sourced from two estate vineyards, a ten acre parcel adjacent to the winery at an elevation between 600 and 650 meters and a four acre parcel along Happy Valley Road in the nearby Summerland Bench sub-GI at an elevation of approximately 500 meters.

A third estate pinot noir vineyard of four acres planted in 2023, is also located near the winery but near the Garnet Valley bottom.

Additionally, beginning with the 2023 vintage, Solvero will be sourcing fruit from the Kozuki Family vineyard located in the Summerland Lakefront sub-GI. This vineyard, planted in 2008 was previously called the Golden Retreat vineyard and was bottled as a single vineyard pinot noir utilizing clones 667, Pommard, 115, and 777, by Spearhead Winery. Solvero will be releasing their first pinot noir reserve wine from the 2023 vintage based exclusively on Kozuki Family vineyard fruit.

Notes on the Wines

Solvero Pinot Noir 2019

Dark cherry, licorice, molasses, cookie spices, and some winning strawberry notes in the finish, fingerprint this wine. The fruit amplitude holds well into the long finish. A complementary acidity contributes to balance a remarkably restrained 12.2%. Cropped at 1 ton to the acre, the wine spent 12 months in barrel, (25% new). The clones involved were 115, 667, 777, Swan, 828, Pommard, and 943. C+ to B- ~ 89 points

Solvero Pinot Noir 2020

Initially, very shy and light with elusive notes of raspberry, red plum, chokecherry and violets, ending with a light yet flavourful wave that emanates gently for a long while. What stands out here is the lightness of body combined with the airy clarity of a very persistent, berry tinged finish. As it opened up, the fruit flavours of dark raspberry and mulberry grew in intensity along with smooth, ripe tannins.

The wine is sourced from two vineyards, their Garnet Valley estate vineyard as well as an estate vineyard along Happy Valley in the Summerland Bench sub-GI. The lightness and transparency here might reflect young estate vineyard vines (planted 2016) as well as the very cool climate, the hand of the winemaker and the exceptional altitude there of 600 to 650 meters. B- ~ 90 points

Solvero Pinot Noir 2022

Starts with herbal notes including ripe cherry, baking spice, lilac, bramble, dried leaves and tobacco. This follows through on the flavours showing autumn leaves, mulberry and leaf smoke. Overall very savoury flavours, quite long and balanced with an airy finish that holds steady and lingers. B- ~ 90 points

Garnet Valley Ranch

This winery is a project of Haywire Winery (formerly Okanagan Crush Pad) and is located toward the Northern end of Garnet Valley, though it is still just about a 15 -minute drive from downtown Summerland. The first blocks were planted in 2014, and there are currently 18 hectares under vine, all certified organic, with a variety of grapes including pinot noir.

The individual block sites were selected and designed by the Chilean terroir consultant Pedro Parra. The vineyard blocks are located between 600 and 680 metres above sea level, making this one of the highest elevated vineyard sites in the Okanagan Valley. Their first pinot noir was released in 2017.

Garnet Valley Ranch Pinot Noir 2022

The nose presents underlying notes of mulberry, pomegranate, dried twigs, raspberry and cloves. Understated, savoury fruit overall with a touch of tannic grip at first. There's purity of fruit essence here a piney, herbal mix, joined later by some vanilla and dried leaves. It's light but immediate and elemental, opening to a mid-palate and a drifting, balanced finish, of real elegance and transparency. B ~ 91 points

To find out more about British Columbia pinot noir or to subscribe to the newsletter, go to BCpinotnoir.com

Currently Drinking...

Brent Gushowaty — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 23:57:16 GMT

This is the first in a new series of articles called Currently Drinking that reviews and profiles more recent vintages of pinot noirs and other select wines from British Columbia. The first installment reviews three wonderful wines from one of the benchmark wineries for pinot noir in the province - Spearhead Winery.

Spearhead Winery (originally called Spierhead Winery) was established in 2008, a collaboration amongst three friends, Brian Sprout, William Knutson and Bruce Hirtle.

They began with purchased grapes and Bordeaux varieties but over the next few years, settled around an aim to create a range of distinctive pinot noirs.

The first few vintages (2008 and 2009) were made at Marichel Winery by its winemaker Richard Roskell during which time SpearHead built its own winery and planted its own vines. The estate winery opened in 2010.

The initial seven acre home vineyard planted mostly to pinot noir was originally known as the Gentleman Farmer Vineyard, in reference to the fact that none of its owners (a photographer, a lawyer and a businessman) had agricultural backgrounds. It later became the Saddle Block Vineyard.

In 2012 Spearhead hired Bill Pierson as their winemaker. Pierson had had winemaking experience at two other B.C. wineries with pinot noir in their lineup - Fort Berens and CedarCreek.

The tilt to pinot noir was further encouraged when the winery won a gold medal at a Canadian national award competition in 2012 for their inaugural 2010 vintage pinot noir from the Gentleman Farmer Vineyard. More pinot noir plantings were undertaken in 2014 and 2015, not only to increase volume but to diversify pinot noir clonal selection. The original plantings were of clones 115, 777 and 828. In 2014 more clone 828 was added as well as some clone 667. In 2015 the California heritage clone Mt. Eden was introduced.

Grant Stanley took over as winemaker 2017. Born in Vancouver, he trained at prominent wineries in New Zealand and Oregon, two epicenters of fine, New World, pinot noir. He subsequently had winemaking stints in B.C. at Quails’ Gate winery and 50th Parallel Estate.

His passion for pinot noir has raised Spearhead’s pinot noirs to an unprecedented level. At the 2025 National Wine Awards of Canada, Spearhead won 2 Platinums, 1 Gold, 4 Silvers, and 2 Bronzes for their pinot noirs. In 2024 they also dominated the pinot noir category and were judged Winery of the Year and Best Performing Small Winery.

Grant Stanley

Spearhead Braided Hill Pinot Noir 2022

In The Glass

On the nose an expressive balance of ripe and savoury fruit that includes mulberry, beetroot and raspberry. The agreeable mingle of fresh and savoury carries through with plush loganberry, mulberry and black raspberry, precisely ballasted by beetroot, blackberry skin tinged tannins and some pomegranate molasses. The acidity is firm and the finish long and slow. B- ~ 90

In The Winery & Vineyard

Sourced entirely from vines planted in 2020 located in the East Kelowna Sub-GI, the clones here are Dijon 777 and 115. It spent 13 months in 100% new oak. This vineyard demonstrated remarkable resilience during the recent cold event, thanks to its gently rolling slopes and protective tree lines that shielded it from frost pockets and harsh winds.

Current Vintage & Availability

Spearhead Pommard Clone Pinot Noir 2022

In the Glass

Begins with a floating medley of blueberry, lilac, marionberry, raspberry and red plum. Pinot noir’s magic ability of not requiring over ripeness and/or big alcohol to achieve vivid complexity and intensity is much in evidence here. Balanced, focused fruit along with entwining, savoury embellishments of rose petal, tea and autumn leaves then deltas out to an echoing finish of raspberry and red plum skin. Stunning and haunting at the same time. B to B+ ~ 93

In The Winery & Vineyard

After a wild fermentation, the wine was stored in 25% new oak for 13 months. The 100% Pommard clone grapes were sourced from Summerland on the West side of Okanagan Lake.

Current Vintage & Availability

Spearhead Saddle Block Pinot Noir 2022

In the Glass

Named for its contours, this is Spearhead’s original pinot noir planting. Sadly, the Saddle Block vineyard vines, dating from 2008, were devastated by killer frosts in 2023, and had to be completely replanted.

This last 2022 vintage under the hand of Grant Stanley again shows the superb quality and consistency of pinot noir from this terroir. It initially displays entrancing aromas of pomegranate, beetroot, red earth, strawberries and raspberries. A precise, silky, complex fuse of savoury berry fruits, red currant jam, strawberry and pomegranate molasses are allied with earthiness, baking spices, a buoyant acidity and supple, moderating tannins. The long emanating ending shows Saddle Block’s typical dusty pomegranate finish. B+ ~ 94

In The Winery & Vineyard

From the East Kelowna Slopes sub-GI, the clones here are 115, 828, 777, and 667. After completing a wild fermentation, it was aged 13 months in French oak barrels (25% new).

Current Vintage & Availability

All Wines Samples for Review

A Tour of New World Pinot Noir At VIWF 2025

Brent Gushowaty — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 23:19:40 GMT

The 2025 Vancouver International Wine Festival was a remarkable opportunity to sample a gallery of pinot noirs from the New World section of the pinot noir spectrum. Pinot noir's flavour range and responsiveness to terroir were clearly on display.

The United States was the featured country at VIWF 2025. This was planned nearly a year before and while U.S. wines have now been temporarily pulled from the shelves of B.C. government stores, the festival happened just before the tariff turbulence began. In fairness to the American wineries, who were at the show, notes on their wines are included in this pinot noir overview.

It was an excellent opportunity to compare examples of pinots from various locations and styles up and down the West Coast, including Vancouver Island, California, Oregon and British Columbia, as well as quality pinot noirs from Australia, Chile, and New Zealand. Highlighted are some of the more noteworthy wines, wineries, and terroirs.

Cooler Climate Pinot Noirs

Cooler climate wine regions are generally those in the poleward temperate zones of the world, more northerly in the Northern hemisphere and more southerly in the Southern hemisphere, roughly between 30°– 50° latitude North or South. This background aspect of latitude, plays an important role in a wine’s ultimate flavour expression. Cooler climate situations can take different forms, some like Burgundy, Oregon or New Zealand are generally cooler, others like the Okanagan Valley in B.C. are hot in the day but cool off significantly at night, maintaining acidity and keeping the wines in better balance. Climate can also be a function of elevation.

British Columbia /Okanagan Valley GI

The Okanagan Valley stretches over 250 kilometers, North/South across sub-regions, each with distinct soil and climate conditions suited to growing a range of varietals. The Okanagan is known for getting more sunlight hours than almost any other wine region in Canada but its cool nights also give the wines a balancing crisp acidity.

Quails’ Gate Winery With their first pinot noir released in 1989, Quails' Gate Winery is the first pinot noir producer of the modern (vinifera) era in British Columbia. They also have the oldest pinot noir vineyard in B.C., a ¼ acre plot planted in 1975. Situated on the slopes of Mount Boucherie, their original vineyard was purchased in 1956. Their regular pinot noir and Stewart Family Reserve pinot noir have now been made for over thirty-five vintages.

They have also produced various limited releases of pinot noirs based on Dijon clones and a Richard's Block pinot noir to honour the winery's founder. The senior winemaker is Jeff Del Nin. The West Kelowna part of the Okanagan region is warmer and more arid than Napa Valley, with nearly two hours more sunlight per day during peak growing season. Daytime temperatures reach 104ºF (40ºC), but the cool nights allow the grapes to maintain their natural acidity – a signature trait in B.C. wine. The estate vineyards are certified by Sustainable Winegrowing BC.

Quails’ Gate Pinot Noir 2022

This estate pinot noir shows tightly knit tannins with subdued but supple notes of dark cherry and autumn leaves. The grapes are a mixture of clones sourced from certified sustainable vineyards. The component vineyard blocks were fermented separately and sat on the skins for 10-14 days It was matured in new and old French oak barrels for ten months. 88 points

Stoneboat Vineyards Pinot noir does not generally show its very best in the South Okanagan Valley, usually defined as the section South of Okanagan Falls. The intense heat and relatively high number of growing degree days are a good fit for grape varieties needing intensification, like cabernet sauvignon and syrah. Pinot noir, preferring a cooler climate, mostly becomes denser, less expressive and cheerless versus its usual balanced self.

The Stoneboat Vineyards reserve pinot noir is one of the few exceptions in the region. The winery is located on the East side of the Valley in the Black Sage Bench area of the South Okanagan, sometimes called a 'pocket desert' because of the abundant sunshine and low rainfall. Initially founded by the Martiniuk family and opened in 2007, the Stoneboat home vineyard sits on an exceptional terroir called the Black Sage Gravelbar that lies between Black Sage Road and the cooling Okanagan River. The deeper soils there contain rounded stones frosted with a coating of calcium and other minerals, known as carbonate skins. During a visit, Pedro Parra, an international terroir consultant, confirmed that some of the world's great wines are grown upon similar rocks. Stoneboat Vineyards' pinot noirs show flavours of black tea, dried cherry and baking spice. They are also often enlivened by a current of minerality from the presence of limestone, giving them extra lift and interest.

Stoneboat Pinot Noir Reserve 2022

Dusty mulberry and raspberry, along with a seam of savoury minerality conjures some Italian pinot neros. The finish is lengthy and involves blackberry, baking spices, black tea, and dried cherry. Aged in oak for 18 months, 33% new, it was sourced from the Orchard Grove, Hester Creek, and Gold Hill vineyards. 91 points

British Columbia/Vancouver Island/Cowichan Valley Sub-GI

The 350 square kilometer Cowichan Valley Sub-GI surrounds the city of Duncan and sits not far from the Salish Sea in the Southeast corner of Vancouver Island, one degree south of the Canada/US border. The climate is classified as maritime Mediterranean. It sits in the shadow of the Vancouver Island Range, one of the protective necklaces of mountains running along the island's center. The vineyards range in elevation up to about 250 meters. Though a decidedly cool climate, the average temperature in the Cowichan Valley is one of the highest in Canada. It has a long frost-free growing season, and the rain that does fall is mainly in Winter. The Cowichan Valley was the first region outside the Okanagan Valley to be recognized as a sub-GI in June 2020.

Unsworth Vineyards Tim Turyk had retired from a long career in the fishing industry and was vacationing near the Cowichan Valley in 2009. He made an offer on a piece of land he had spied. Unsworth Vineyard and his let’s-build-a-family-winery retirement project began with his son Chris as overall manager. The winemaking at Unsworth has been ably helmed since 2015 by cool climate specialist Dan Wright, who worked vintages in the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario, Orange in Australia, Marlborough, New Zealand, and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Since it began, the winery’s reputation has grown via a range of impressive wines, including whites, sparkling, rosés and reds.

Unsworth Vineyards Pinot Noir 2022

This wine is very light bodied, lower alcohol, perfumed with raspberry and strawberry. The graceful texture is almost weightless, but still very persuasive with lighter red berry, Cowichan Valley’s signature forest floor, and frictionless tannins. Very reminiscent of the ephemeral pinot noirs from Ribbon Ridge in Oregon, this has that pinot noir magic. The wine was fermented in stainless before 15 months of aging in (15% new) French oak. The clones here are 115, 667, 777, and 828. 90 Points

Chile

The Casablanca Valley, located in the more Northern part of Chile, 100 kilometers North-West of, Santiago, benefits from its relative proximity both to the equator and to the cooling influence of the Humboldt Current, that flows up the West coast of Chile from the Antarctic. The East-West-oriented valley is roughly 30 km long and sits 26 kilometers from the Pacific. The ocean’s influence brings cool morning wind, fog and cloud cover to the region.

Emiliana Winery The Emiliana winery was founded at the end of the 1990s by Rafael and José Guilisasti who over time converted a conventional Chilean winery into a 100% organic and biodynamic winery. Emiliana Organic Vineyards showed their Signos De Origen Pinot Noir 2023 from the “El Rincón” vineyard in the foothills of the Coastal Range. It is produced according to the organic and biodynamic principles and all their vineyards are certified organic.

Emiliana Organic Signos De Origen Pinot Noir 2023

Aromas of autumn leaves and strawberry, raspberry, and herbal notes are prominent. On the palate, tart cherries accompany good intensity and balance. It goes quickly to the mid palate, then fades slowly. The ending is long, balanced, and linear. Made entirely from organic fruit in transition to biodynamic, the source is the El Rincón vineyard in the foothills of the Coastal Range, and it was aged in a combination of French oak and egg-shaped concrete vats. The clones involved are 777 and 110R. 2400 Cases produced. 90 Points

Oregon/Willamette Valley AVA

Oregon's wine region, primarily the Willamette Valley, is renowned for its cool-climate wines, especially Pinot Noir. The region's unique geography and climate, characterized by warm summers, cool evenings, and mild winters, create ideal conditions for growing elegant and complex pinot noir grapes. The Willamette Valley is the largest American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Oregon, containing the majority of the state's wineries.

The Willamette Valley AVA stretches from the Columbia River in the north to just south of Eugene in the south, and from the Oregon Coast Range in the west to the Cascade Mountains in the east. The Willamette Valley AVA is further divided into smaller, designated AVAs, like the Chehalem Mountains, Ribbon Ridge, and Eola-Amity Hills, each with its own distinct characteristics.

The Coast Range mountains protect it from Pacific storms, while the Cascade Range shields it from the dry eastern Oregon climate. The valley's hillsides feature a mix of volcanic, loess, and sedimentary soils, which contribute to the unique character of the wines.

Citation Vineyards It's always interesting to taste a winery's newly released wines to see what they've been up to and where they might be going, but it's practically unheard of to taste a wine that has been bottle aged for over a decade before it is released. However, that's part of the approach taken by Howard Rossbach of Citation Wines in the tiny, recently created (2022) Mt. Pisgah sub-AVA in the Northern Willamette Valley. Well known as the home of the Freedom Hill Vineyard, it sits in a rain shadow and benefits from the influence of the Van Duzer winds.

Citation brought three pinot noirs VIWF, their 2018 Centerstone sourced entirely from their Erratic Oaks home vineyard, fermented in stainless steel tanks and briefly oak aged, a 2015 from selected blocks in the same vineyard and the recently released 2006. This last wine is made from hand selected lots, both owned and purchased, throughout the state, aged in French oak barrels for fifteen months and then aged a further fifteen years (yes, years) in bottle in their cellars until it’s flavours are fully developed and judged ready for release. The result was well worth the wait.

Citation demonstrates a different take on terroir for some of its wines by combining hand selected sites across Oregon for some of its wines. It’s a gathering of players versus soloists.

2018 Centerstone Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

This is vinified all stainless steel. The palate is smooth and simple, cherries, with some charcoal-like tannins, lovely and balanced 89 Points

2015 Citation Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

Cropped at only 2 1/2 tons per acre. Pleasant appealing baking space, cherry, raspberry . Complex berry fruit with medium plus intensity and medium bodied well textured tannins and excellent balancing acidity. 93 points

2006 Citation Oregon Pinot Noir

Citation Oregon is created by sourcing from the very best sites throughout Oregon to attain the highest quality possible. The wine was later gently pressed to French oak barrels to age for the next fifteen months. Careful selection of the best barrels produced a small quantity of remarkable Pinot Noir.

Much going here in a wine left to develop fully before being released. It’s medium bodied and intense, full of cherries, baking spices and complex berry fruits with contributing textured tannins. The voluptuous weave of tertiary flavours includes plum, wood, caramel, leather and game. Very concentrated voluptuous. It spent 15 months in barrel and then 15 years in bottle. 94 points

Oregon/Willamette Valley/Ribbon Ridge AVA

Ribbon Ridge AVA, is located on a loaf shaped, island-like ridge set apart from the surrounding Chehalem Valley. The AVA is defined as the area on the ridge that is approximately 70 meters in elevation or above. Established in 2005 Ribbon Ridge is the smallest AVA in Oregon containing 500 planted acres.

The climate is continental enough that the growing degree days here average around 2450. But Ribbon Ridge’s location and altitude, also place it amongst a balance of other climatic influences that include cooler air reaching inland through the Van Duzer Corridor and the shelter of nearby hills.

The consistency of its soils and segregated geography make for a concurrence of flavours in Ribbon Ridge pinot noirs that make them especially elegant, focused, floral and delicate.

Adelsheim Vineyards Adelseim Vineyards is only of the very early pinot noir pioneers of the Willamette Valley. David and Ginny Adelsheim purchased their first 19 acres just outside Newberg, Oregon in 1971. Launched in 1978, they were the first-ever winery in the Chehalem Mountains. Their wines were fundamental in establishing the are as a top pinot noir producing area.

Adelsheim Ribbon Springs Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021

The vineyard sits at 120 to 200m elevation in the Ribbon Ridge AVA, a loaf shaped, island-like ridge set apart from the surrounding Chehalem Valley in Oregon. During winemaking, most clusters were destemmed. It was aged in French oak barrels, 36% new, for 10 months prior to bottling.

Pinot noir’s enticing contradictions on show here. Typical of the Ribbon Ridge AVA, it’s very light bodied yet seems to have a thin wire of flavour running through that emanates raspberry, strawberry, touches of baking spice, hibiscus, cedar and some floralness. The texture is smooth and airy with an elegant, soft and dangling finish. The clone involved is Pommard. The exceptional lightness and elegance reminded me of the Unsworth 2022 pinot noir that was also at 2025 VIWF. 92 Points

Oregon/Willamette Valley/Eola-Amity Hills AVA

The Eola-Amity Hills AVA is a large AVA nested in the Willamette Valley AVA, that reaches from the city of Amity, an hour Southwest of Portland down to the community of Eola located six kilometers West of Salem. A rumpled, patchwork carpet of hills approximately 24 km long by 10 km wide. Most of the region’s vineyard sites exist at elevations between 250 to 700 feet (75-215 m). It sits directly in the path of the consistent, cooling Pacific Ocean winds that travel to the Willamette Valley via the Van Duzer Corridor - an East/West opening in the mountains of the Oregon Coast Range. This maritime influence on what otherwise would be a warmer continental climate, helps retain natural acidity in the area’s pinot noir wines.

Erath Vineyards Originally known as Knudsen Erath it was founded in part by Dick Erath in 1968 when he planted a 49 acre plot in the Chehalem Mountains. The winery is another of the very first wineries to produce quality pinot noir in the Willamette Valley.

Erath Willakia Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019

Intriguing, rounded, complex red berry and mulberry fruit, intense but supple, along with some earthiness and forest floor. Soft tension leads to a longish juicy berry finish. Very polished. The wine spent 15 months, in 100% French oak, 25% of which was new. 91 points

Lingua Franca In 2012, Master Sommelier Larry Stone acquired a site in the Eola-Amity Hills, partnering with David Honig and Dominique Lafon from Burgundy to craft pinot noir wines. Pinot noir in the 66 acre site is planted exclusively to Dijon and heritage clones.

Lingua Franca AVNI Pinot Noir 2022

Long, even, very expressive, unmolested, elegant cherry and berry fruit along with touches of floral. The floating texture and layered, precise fruit speaks of very attentive winemaking. The finish is long and echoing. Superb pinot noir. 92 Points

New Zealand/Awatere Valley

Though New Zealand’s modern era of pinot noir first began in the late seventies, and it’s production is only a fraction of that of sauvignon blanc, it has established itself as one of the world’s premium pinot noir areas.

The Awatere Valley is one of the three sub-regions of the larger Marlborough wine district, located on the seaward side of Marlborough, running parallel to the East coast of the South Island.

Villa Maria Estate Founded in 1961 Villa Maria Estate is one of New Zealand's larger wine companies. Their vineyards are located throughout New Zealand, with production bases in Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough and Auckland.

The Taylors Pass Vineyard sits on the northern bank of the Awatere River, running East to West through the Awatere Valley and out to the Clifford Bay in the Pacific Ocean. The vineyard is warm and sheltered from the colder southerly breezes that flow down through the valley from the mountains.

Villa Maria PN Taylor's Pass Pinot Noir 2020

Big fruit flavours of strawberries and fresh black cherries/cherry pits mingled with sweet baking spices. Well balanced, very smooth textured with touches of wood and some light tannic friction. The pinot clones involved here are mostly clone 5 along with some Dijon clone 667. Vinified partially whole cluster it was fermented with native yeast and spent 14 months in 30% new French oak barriques. 89 points

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Warmer Climate Pinot Noirs

Wind, Fog or Proximity to Water

Pinot noir also thrives in warmer climates but reaches its heights when the heat is ameliorated by some cooling influence. This can be wind, fog, altitude, proximity to water or some combination of these factors. It’s fascinating to see how the particularities of such cooler regions provides elements for a diverse range of excellent pinot noirs.

California

Bogle Family Vineyards The Bogle family history goes back over six generations of farming and 50 years of winegrowing. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Clarksburg, California. The first 20 acres of vines were planted in 1968 and now Bogle Vineyards farms over 1,500 acres of wine grapes in the Clarksburg AVA and other select California winegrowing regions including pinot noir from the cool Monterey and Russian River Valley AVAs.

The book itself is always more important than the cover but Bogle takes reducing it’s packaging carbon footprint to another level. At the 2025 Vancouver International Wine Festival, Bogle showcased a bold step to evolve sustainability in the wine business by introducing, what they say is the first of its kind shatterproof, recyclable aluminum wine bottle that is 80% lighter than glass. Their pinot noir from this new line called Elemental, is drawn from selected sites from across California. The bottle has eye popping graphic design and the wine is certified sustainable, vegan friendly, gluten-free and was one of the better pinot noirs in the show.

Bogle Elemental Pinot Noir 2022

The wine is delightful. Sourced from a variety of cooler area California vineyards, it’s heftier but still supple and delivers smooth, textured flavours of red berry fruit, vanilla oak, baking spices and some earthiness. It’s well balanced overall and there’s length in the finish. It was aged in new and neutral French and American oak 89 Points

California/Arroyo Secco AVA

The Arroyo Seco American Viticultural Area (AVA) is located in the upper end of the Salinas Valley in Monterey County. It adjoins the larger and better known Santa Lucia Highlands. The opening of the valley sits opposite a deep ocean feature known as the “blue grand canyon” that typically contains especially cold currents of water. The result is a unique ocean presence that provides fog and cooling winds far up the valley. Added to this are shady canyons and a North/South orientation and the result is that though the AVA is arid and resides in a warm latitude, Arroyo Seco’s pinot noirs are medium bodied, balanced, supple and precise a with good intensity of flavour.

ASV Wines Beginning as grape growers Monterey County’s Arroyo Seco wine region in the early 1970’s, ASV Wines was created in 1982 and now farms over 1,500 acres of wine grape vineyards.

Fogscape Arroyo Secco Pinot Noir 2021

On the nose fine high notes of cherry and raspberry. This follows through on the palate with smooth raspberry cherry strawberry fruit flavours plus a seam of minerality with fine grained tannins. Very Elegant. 91 points

California/Anderson Valley AVA

Anderson Valley lies in Mendocino County just North of Sonoma County. The county extends for about 120 kilometers along the coast and reaches 60 kilometers inland. It parallels the Pacific for about 30 kilometers. If you are traveling on the coast road, access from either North or South involves driving through a heavily wooded mountain pass, so the area is relatively isolated, so it is much less well known. The valley sides are relatively steep and though mountains separate it from the ocean, fog rolls in dependably from the North most mornings via a network of East/West valleys in a graduated way, and this fills much of Anderson valley for a portion of the day, creating a fog line part way up the valley sides. The cooling and shading effect of the fog is such that pinot gris, riesling and pinot noir are grown very successfully below the fog line and fully ripened zinfandel thrives above it. The stacked factors of fog and altitude along with East and West facing slopes creates an advantageous matrix of terroirs for pinot noir.

Though there is a wide range of possible styles, Anderson Valley pinots tend to be on the lighter, balanced, supple side, but informed by altitude and slope to add some riper intensity. Fruit profiles can range from red to blue to lighter black fruits. Alcohol levels tend to be restrained and the effects of fog and shadow keep the acidity buoyant. The resulting pinot noirs showing focused fruit, full ripeness and supportive acidity are akin in some ways to those of Oregon and British Columbia.

Ferrari - Carano Vineyards and Winery Don and Rhonda Carano, owners of the Eldorado, hotel casino in Reno, founded Ferrari-Carano in 1981. The first wines were released in 1987. The winery has earned the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) certification.

Ferrari - Carano Pinot Noir Anderson Valley 2019

Medium bodied ripe cherry, plums and cedar along with savoury elements of herbs, barrel derived notes and a touch of tar. Straight forward, lively, smooth, fruit leads the way to a prolonged and polished finish. 90 Points

California/Carneros AVA

Los Carneros AVA drapes across parts of Sonoma county as well as the low hills that flank Southern Napa Valley. AKA "Carneros", both names are legally acceptable and appear interchangeably on wine labels.

Similarly to other California regions known for producing well noted and elaborated pinot noir, a cooler climate influenced by proximity to the ocean, wind, fog or all three, has made Los Caneros an area where the grape can produce distinctive wines. In this case, it’s the nearby presence of Pablo Bay just North of San Francisco that is the source of marine fog and breezes that favorably moderate the California sun and heat. Cooler than Napa but warmer than the Sonoma Coast, the wines have intensity and richness but retain a balanced profile.

Frank Family Vineyards Frank Family Vineyards was founded in 1992 by former Disney Studios President, Rich Frank. Today, Frank Family has grown to encompass more than 380 acres of vineyards in Napa and other AVAs

Frank Family Carneros Pinot Noir 2021

Full ripened Carneros fruit here showing dark cherry, baked strawberry and slightly exotic dashes of cinnamon, pomegranate, herbs and graphitic tannins. The texture is silky and full. All is underpinned by a well balanced, able acidity that keeps all its elements in play. The wine is a blend of several vineyards, and spent nine months in one-third new French oak. 90 points

California/Russian River AVA

The Russian River Valley is situated in the Northern portion of Sonoma County, much farther from Pablo Bay than Carneros but much closer (16 kilometer) from the open ocean. A wide corridor from the valley to the ocean called the Petaluma Gap, pulls in morning fog that parks in Russian River in the day to cool the vineyards and provide a place where pinot noir can thrive. The fog makes for a huge diurnal temperature range of 20 °C that helps the vines retain acidity, makes for a long slow ripening period and ultimately provides balance in the wines. The interplay of wind, fog, hills, soils, elevation and sun in Russian River is such that six distinct “neighbourhoods” were identified that show consistent combinations of flavour characteristics from vintage to vintage.

Rodney Strong Vineyards Rodney Strong Vineyards is a family-owned winery based in Healdsburg, California and focuses solely on Sonoma County grape growing and wines. It was founded in 1959 by wine pioneer Rodney Strong.

Rodney Strong Russian River Pinot Noir 2020

Russian River pinot noirs contain some of the most intense, varied flavours and aromas for the grape in California yet they also retain balance, suppleness and complexity. Lots of darker plum and ripe blackberry notes initially. Good intensity, coupled with textured tannins, some minerality, barrel notes and drifts of charcoal. A proficient, balanced mix of elements that works well. 90 points

Australia/South Gippsland

Australia doesn’t usually spring to mind when it comes to top quality pinot noir. The Australian climate that is mainly hot and dry is not pinot noir’s natural home. Indeed, pinot noir only accounts for about three percent of Australia’s wine output. However, here again, pinot noir finds a way. In the more temperate South of the continent, there are favourable areas such as the Mornington Peninsula and Tasmania where pinot noir is capable of producing top quality wines.

One of these blessed locations is South Gippsland a subregion of the Gippsland wine region in Victoria State, that includes the Southernmost area of the Australian mainland. Directly North of Tasmania, separated by the Bass Strait, the region experiences large variance in daily temperature throughout the year, from near freezing in the winter months to 35 degrees Celsius in the Summer. In the growing season, high humidity, and cool, late afternoon, air flows provide a combination of continental and maritime climatic conditions that make parts of it a very favorable region for pinot noir. The region's rolling hills and valleys along with variations in its mineral rich soils creates a landscape with a set of relatively diffuse pinot noir terroirs.

Bass Phillip Wines Despite being located less than twenty kilometers from the sea, Bass Phillip’s vineyards are protected by hills to the Northeast and Northwest, South Gippsland has very few vineyards and Bass Phillip’s vines are the only organic vines in the region. The vineyards have been organic since 1993 and biodynamic since 2002. No irrigation, pesticides and fertilizers are used. Their top tier pinot noirs are very highly regarded. Its Reserve Pinot Noir typically fetches prices similar to grand cru Burgundy.

Bass Phillip PN Bass Phillip Estate Pinot 2021

This is the third tier pinot noir from renowned Bass Phillip. Deeply aromatic aromas of spicy plum and black cherry are matched with notes of graphite from the powdery tannins. The intensity here is medium and it uncoils layers and layers of elegant flavours in a very persistent finish. 93 points

Moraine Pinot Noirs Current Vintage & Availability

Moraine Winery Pinot Noirs -Three Recent Vintages

Brent Gushowaty — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 18:35:28 GMT

Moraine is a family-owned winery and vineyard in the Naramata Bench Sub- GI overlooking Okanagan Lake, located just minutes from the city of Penticton. The winery owners here are the husband and wife team of Oleg and Svetlana Aristarkhov. They relocated from Alberta, where they had lived for 15 years, bought a vacation home and planted a small vineyard. When a nearby winery ironically called Zero Balance went into receivership they purchased the property and it’s small existing vineyard.

Since Moraine made their first vintage of pinot noir in 2012, the wines have always been in good hands. A series of prominent Okanagan winemakers have been involved over the years. Michael Bartier was the original consulting winemaker followed by Jacqueline Kemp. In the Summer of 2018, Dwight Sick, previously at Stag’s Hollow Winery took over.

The current winemaker Amber Pratt has headed up the winemaking since 2019. Amber worked vintages at Road 13 and Black Hills in the Okanagan. In her first winemaker role at C.C. Jentsch Cellars in 2013, she received awards for wines made with syrah, malbec and Bordeaux blends varietals including the Regional Trophy for Best Red Wine in North America at Decanter Asia in 2015.

Moraine’s vineyards are named after their two daughters, Sophia and Anastasia. A third vineyard is named after their grand-daughter Lily. The four acre vineyard called Sophia was planted by the owners Svetlana and Oleg in 2010.

The Wines:

Moraine Estate Winery Sophia Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022

In The Glass

Interesting notes of cherries, sweet baking spices, dusty red earth, caramel and strawberry on the nose with a touch of pomegranate. Earthy delights of tart, mildly intense strawberry and pomegranate with a dusty/savoury finish, moderate alcohol and an enjoyable, persistent finish. C+ ~ 88

In The Winery & Vineyard

Made with 100% pinot noir grapes from the winery's Sophia estate vineyard, it was spontaneously fermented in small 1-ton vats and kept in 40% new oak barrels for eight months. Alcohol 12.8% | Acidity 5.7 g/L | RS 1.9 g/L | PH 3.7 | 767 cases produced.

In The Glass

Begins with lovely nuances of bramble fruit, distinct blackberry juice and skin along with herbal and baking spice notes. All this is confirmed on the flavours, with savoury, continuous, riper blackberry along with some earthiness, mixed sweeter spices and some barrel notes. Well balanced and in some of its bearing, reminds me slightly of Cowichan Valley pinots. Showing well. C+ to B- ~ 89

In The Winery & Vineyard

Made with 100% pinot noir grapes 100% destemmed whole berry from the winery's Sophia estate vineyard. It was spontaneously fermented in small 1 ton vats and matured in oak barrels for ten months.

Alcohol 13.0% | Acidity 5.7 g/L | PH 3.74 |

Moraine Estate Winery Reserve Pinot Noir 2020

In The Glass

Begins with some good, darker red fruit intensity with a touch of plum. Flavours of pomegranate, slightly austere earthy fruit with some baking spice barrel notes and and some slight tannic friction. The linear, cherry fruit intensity really shines through here and maintains steadily through a long balanced finish. C+ to B- ~ 89

In The Winery & Vineyard

From the estate Sophia vineyard this is 100% pinot noir from clone 777 and is vinified 75% destemmed whole berry and 25% whole cluster. The grapes went though an extended cold soak and were wild fermented. It overwintered with some exposure to French oak and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. It won a gold medal at the 2023 Wine Align National Wine Awards.

Alcohol 13.5% | Acidity 7.1 g/L | RS 2.6 g/L | PH 3.68 | 181 cases produced.

This is the second time that Moraine has released a reserve pinot noir, the other was in 2018 (see review here).

All Wines Samples for Review

Summerland Bench Sub-GI

Brent Gushowaty — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 21:54:49 GMT

Overview of the Summerland Area

When the glaciers retreated, sediment from glacial meltwater buried the terrain below the 500 m elevation about ten thousand years ago, leaving most of the valley bottom filled with gravel.

In 2019, the Bottleneck Drive Association, a collection of wineries, cideries, distilleries, and breweries in the Summerland area, led the application to delineate several new sub-GIs. Sub-GI is used in the wine industry to denote a smaller, distinct region within a larger geographical indication or GI (Okanagan Valley). Three contiguous sub-GIs, Summerland Lakefront, Summerland Bench and Summerland Valleys, were granted.

Summerland's location in the Central Okanagan, north of Okanagan Falls, south of Kelowna and Lake Country and proximal to Lake Okanagan Lake puts it well in pinot noir's comfort zone. Quality pinot noir is currently being made in all three sub-GIs.

This is the second of three articles on the pinot noir wines and wineries in the Summerland sub-GIs.

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Summerland Bench Sub-GI

Most of the Summerland Bench sub-GI lies sandwiched between the other two sub-GIs, East of the Southern portion of Summerland Valleys and West of Summerland Lakefront. Most vineyards are in the East and South of Giant's Head Mountain area. The total area of the Summerland Bench sub-GI is 1800 hectares, though much of it is non-arable or urbanized land. The southern edge of the sub-GI is the escarpment overlooking the Trout Creek Canyon.

Trout Creek Escarpment in the Summerland Bench Sub-GI

The Summerland Bench sub-GI landscape is marked by undulations and terraces formed in the geological past when large volumes of glaciofluvial flows (glacial meltwater) carved out canyons and deposited gravels to create the varied terrain that surrounds Giant's Head Mountain. These forces produced an array of sediments that form the parent materials for the soil types utilized in viticulture today. The sub-GI receives 1334 growing degree days on average per year. This will vary according to elevation. However, the average makes the sub-GI cooler than the South Okanagan, where growing degree days (defined as temperature being over 10 Celsius) can be closer to 1500. On the other hand, it is a warmer sub-region than the vineyard areas in Kelowna and farther north in Lake Country and beyond.

Vineyards
At 1800 hectares, the Summerland Bench is the largest of the Summerland sub-GIs. Still, several volcanic bedrock masses, including the centrally located Giant's Head mountain and the Summerland townsite area, occupy a large percentage of this area. This leaves only about 800 hectares of arable land, with few wineries and vineyards in the central part of the district. Five hundred hectares of agricultural land are located south of Giant's Head Mountain at 430 to 600m elevations. The other 300 hectares of more level land lies north of downtown Summerland at about 500m elevation. Vineyards cover only a relatively tiny portion of this agricultural land, about 70 hectares.

The vineyards experience a range of climatic conditions determined by elevation, aspect, and topography. Most of the soils are coarse-textured and well-drained. Overall, the slopes in the vineyard sites are gentle and lie several hundred meters higher than one to three kilometres back from Okanagan Lake.

The situation, climate and aspects of the Summerland Bench sub-GI suit pinot noir very well. Two-thirds of the red varieties planted here are pinot noir. Two of the eight wineries that produce pinot noir in Summerland Bench are on the northern tip, very close to the other Summerland sub-GIs. However, pinot noir's sweet spot is close to the Southern boundary, with six wineries occupying a plateau whose edge describes the steep valley and outwash delta of Trout Creek. Three of these wineries hug the boundary with Summerland Lakefront, highlighting the importance of soil type variation in delineating the three Summerland sub-GIs.

The wineries making pinot noir located in Summerland Bench sub-GI include Sumac Ridge Estate Winery, Back Door Winery, Dirty Laundry Vineyard, Lightning Rock Winery, Giant Head Winery, Lunessence Winery & Vineyard, Thornhaven Estates Winery, and Silkscarf Winery. Two of the more noteworthy pinot noir-producing wineries are Giant Head Winery and Lightning Rock Winery.

Giant Head Winery

For those who become enraptured with pinot noir, an "epiphany bottle" is often the beginning of the love story, a great bottle that captivates, entrances, and leads on. In the case of John Glavina and Jinny Lee, the owners of Giant Head winery, a Gevrey-Chambertin Le Clos St. Jacques tasted on holiday to France in 1998, set in motion the wish to have their own vineyard. Subsequent tours of Willamette Valley wineries over the years deepened their appreciation of pinot noir.

In 2004, they purchased an apple orchard on a bench in the skirts of 500-meter-tall Giant's Head Mountain, a prominent feature of Summerland's complex geography. In 2006, they planted four acres of their own-rooted vines, including pinot noir.

John, with a degree in computer science and a technical background, focuses on winemaking, while Jinny, an electrical engineer by training, farms and manages the vineyard. Their first commercial vintage was in 2014, and their winery opened in 2015.

Their primary focus is to make wines from their estate vineyards. Over the years, they have released three different pinot noirs, including a Reserve and a Select. However, in 2016 and 2017, they had access to pinot noir grapes from the celebrated Canyonview Vineyard, which they released under their Canyonview label.

Lighting Rock Winery

Lightning Rock Winery began with the passion and expertise of winemaker Jordan Kubek and her vineyard manager husband Tyler Knight. Jordan came to the Okanagan in 2010 to complete her winemaking training, working the harvest at Stoneboat Vineyards. She then joined Okanagan Crush Pad (now Haywire), where she met Tyler. She eventually became the sparkling wine specialist there. Tyler, along with Jordan, did harvests in New Zealand, Australia, and the prominent Chilean winery Clos des Fous and spent much time in several European wine regions.

Their dream of having their winery was enabled in 2016 when Jordan's father, Ron Kubek, purchased two vineyards in the Summerland Bench sub-GI. The home vineyard, Elysia, was planted in 2006 and purchased in 2017. It includes 1.4 hectares of pinot noir on an elevated, eastward-facing, granitic hill containing alluvial soil and limestone.

From the beginning, under Jordan Kubek, the winemaking focused on producing minimal intervention but unfaulted wines. This included starting with "pied de cuve" from grapes in the vineyard as a starter, adding low sulphur, using a mix of fermentation vessels, and farming using organic practices. The winery's first vintage was in 2017.

The second vineyard, purchased in 2018, was the celebrated Canyonview vineyard, begun by Krimo Souilah in 2003. It contains 1.6 hectares of pinot noir that, over the years, has made notable wines for several wineries. Okanagan Crush Pad made single vineyard designated wines with Canyonview pinot noir grapes up until the 2015 vintage. Giant Head Winery made pinot noirs from the vineyard under their Canyonview label in 2016 and 2017. The first vintage of Canyonview at Lightning Rock was in 2018.

A third vineyard, St. Katharina, planted in 1968 and located in the Summerland Valleys sub-GI, was later added to the mix. It is one of the first vineyards in the Okanagan to be planted with pinot noir.

In part to pursue their enthusiasm and commitment to making natural wines, Jordan and Tyler moved on from Lighting Rock in 2023 to begin a new winery project. The Pamplemousse Jus winery is located near the Summerland Valley sub-GI and utilizes grapes from the St. Katharina vineyard.

Lightning Rock's current winemaker Sébastien Hotte, is a Washington State University graduate and a certified sommelier who continues the winery's focus on low-intervention winemaking.

Wine Reviews

Some older vintages from the Summerland Bench sub-GI were opened recently to see how they had held up over the years. From Giant Head, their 2014 estate pinot noir and 2018 reserve estate pinot noir. Additionally, Giant Head Winery made pinot noirs from the Canyonview vineyard under their Canyonview Wines label in 2016 and 2017. Their 2016 Canyonview has been included. The winemaker for the three wines is John Glavina of Giant Head.

For comparison a 2012 wine from Okanagan Crush Pad (now called Haywire) is included because it was also sourced from the Canyonview vineyard. Okanagan Crush Pad made single vineyard designated wines with Canyonview pinot noir grapes up until the 2015 vintage.

Giant Head Pinot Noir 2014

In the glass, clear, very pale with a light garnet rim. The aromas are an even mix of subdued cranberry, pomegranate, strawberry and some savoury cherry along with matured barrel notes of cloves and nutmeg. The mellowed tannins are very much in the background. Not an abundance of complexity or tension here but well balanced and very enjoyable. Has aged well. Made with 100% estate fruit, and spent some time in French oak. 13.4 ABV 227 cases produced. 88 Points

Giant Head Pinot Noir Reserve 2018

A range of berry fruits show immediately on the nose, including fresh, bright, strawberry, cranberry and a touch of blueberry. This follows through on the flavours with some added cherry, mulberry and plum. The ample rounded fruit allied with a fresh acidity that keeps things in balance, is the main event here. Tannins are soft and in the background. The higher alcohol here lends some silkiness but doesn't compete with the fruit. Overall, simple, easy drinking and fruit focused - holding well. The wine was aged in oak (38% new) for 10 months 14.7% ABV 200 cases produced. 88+ Points

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Canyonview Wines Pinot Noir 2016

Begins with some generalized red fruit notes of pomegranate and mulberry along with wood/baking spice. The alcohol here is bigger but doesn't seem to get in the way. On the smooth palate, there's a harmonious though simple mix of the same fruit and spice elements along with a bit of longish charcoal or light wood tannins on the ending. 14.7% ABV 88 Points

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Haywire Pinot Noir Canyonview Vineyard Raised in Concrete 2012

The aromas here wandered around as it opened up. Starts with some dusty fruit, baking spice and cherry pie crust, then beetroot, mulberry and finally some floral including roses and lilac. The appealing nose led into uncomplicated flavours of simple cherry, mulberry, beetroot and cinnamon accompanying a very smooth, open, silky texture. The fruit is savoury, very ripe and comfortable, aided by a slightly soft acidity. Savoury plum and cherry linger a little in the finish. The winemakers here were Michael Bartier and Alberto Antonini 13.2% ABV Aged in concrete. 88 Points

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Summerland Lakefront Sub-GI

Brent Gushowaty — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 21:03:53 GMT

8th Generation Farmhouse Tasting Room - Established 1940, Renovated 2015

The community of Summerland sits next to Highway 97 on the Eastern side of Lake Okanagan, directly across from the town of Naramata and its adjacent necklace of wineries.

In 2019, the Bottleneck Drive Association, a collection of wineries, cideries, distilleries, and breweries in the Summerland area, led the application to delineate several new sub-GIs. Three contiguous sub-GIs, Summerland Lakefront, Summerland Bench and Summerland Valleys, were granted, though several more were initially sought.

It broke new ground because this was the first time multiple sub-GIs were created across a site unofficially referred to as a single sub-region, namely Summerland. This was partly due to the complex geology and resulting soil types in the area and proximity to the lake's moderating influence, narrow shielded valleys, microclimates and other factors. Adding these three sub-GIs in 2022, along with three others - East Kelowna Slopes, Lake Country, and South Kelowna Slopes; brought the total number of sub-GIs in the Okanagan Valley to eleven.

This is the first of three articles on the pinot noir wines and wineries in each of the Summerland sub-GIs, beginning with Summerland Lakefront.

OVERVIEW

The town of Summerland sits in the crater of an exploded volcano that sent enormous lava chunks South and West, including what is now Giant's Head Mountain. In the last several million years, glaciers ran over these lava chunks and volcanic domes in the area, scouring and sculpting them into the rounded summits now arrayed around Summerland.

When the glaciers retreated, sediment from glacial meltwater buried the terrain below the 500 m elevation about ten thousand years ago, leaving most of the valley bottom filled with gravel.

Determinations and Differences of the Three Sub-GIs

Many factors influenced how and why the three sub-GIs were created in such close proximity to each other in Summerland, in contrast to all of the previous B.C. sub-GIs located in single and separate locations.

Generally, the factors determining the distinctness and boundaries of the three Summerland sub-GIs include elevation, aspect (including proximity to the lake's moderating effect), and topography. Variations in soils were also very instrumental in the sub-GI process. These variations included soil type, structure, texture (sandy or coarse), and geological origin.

The three sub-GIs step progressively back and up from Lake Okanagan, with overlapping East/West boundaries and distinct altitude variations. Few wineries are in the central part of the district. They are mostly grouped north of the Summerland townsite and south of Giant Head Mountain.

Summerland Lakefront sub-GI

The vineyard areas in Summerland Lakefront, strongly moderated by the lake, are situated in benches that hug Lake Okanagan. The soils are silty and often carbonate (lime) rich. Its eastern boundary is 12 kilometers of the shoreline of Lake Okanagan. The sub-GI is 760 hectares in area, with about 65 hectares planted to vines. It has an annual average of 1347 growing degree days. Pinot noir represents about 25% of the vineyard plantings.

Two distinct soil types are present here. The first, with a total area of 550 ha, is an ancient glacier lake bottom with mostly finer-grained carbonate soils. These soils are virtually identical to some found directly across the lake on the Naramata bench that formed simultaneously in the geological. The Summerland area marks the northernmost extent of the Osoyoos loamy sand, the dominant soil type along the Black Sage Bench in the southern Okanagan Valley.

The second soil type, possessing more gravelly subsoils, is found in the delta at the mouth of Trout Creek in the southern part of the sub-GI, just above lake level, and has a total area of 255 ha. Most of the vineyards in this part of the sub-GI have gentle East or South-Easterly aspects and benefit from the moderating effects of Lake Okanagan. They have excellent air drainage and a long frost-free period, allowing for an extended fruit maturation period in most years.

This area's variety of soils is due to the varying seasonal water flows from Trout Creek. Currently, the mainstem of Trout Creek is mainly on the Southern edge of the delta, but previously, the creek channel meandered across the entire width of the delta. During periods of highest flows, coarse material (gravel and cobbles) is deposited along the main channel(s), while the smaller stream network deposits finer materials (silts and sands) through overbank flooding. These deposits generate a wide range of soil conditions on the delta.

Wineries The wineries located in Summerland Lakefront sub-GI include 8^th Generation Vineyard, Haywire Winery, Sage Hills Estate Winery and Vineyards, Heaven's Gate Estate Winery, Summerland Estate Winery, Evolve Cellars, Oak Estate Winery and Savard Vines (now permanently closed).

Here are the three most noteworthy pinot noir-producing wineries in this sub-GI:

8th Generation Vineyard

The acclaim that 8th Generation Vineyard has received over the years for its white wines, principally their rieslings, might explain why their silky, elegantly balanced, distinctive, gold medal-winning pinot noir is often overlooked and underappreciated. A husband-and-wife team, Bernd Schales is an 8th-generation winemaker, and Stefanie Schales is a 10th-generation winegrower. Bernd had an essential role in his family winery in Germany, but the couple wanted to do something independently. After searching various vineyard areas in South America and Niagara, Ontario, they settled on the Okanagan Valley, buying properties in Okanagan Falls and Summerland, where 8th Generation is now based. Their first vintage was in 2007. They quickly established a reputation for quality, consistency and innovation. The estate pinot noir from the home vineyard is made from clone 667 and has a particular set of flavours that tend to set it apart from other B.C. pinots.

It may be due to the vineyard's unique placement in the Trout Creek delta. It is typically fuller, with savoury fruit, more complex, textured tannins and a hint of minerality in the finish. It ages very well.

Haywire Winery/Okanagan Crush Pad

Previously known as Okanagan Crush Pad, the winery has recently rebranded and is now known as Haywire Winery. Their properties also include Garnet Valley Ranch in the Summerland Valleys sub-GI. Okanagan Crush Pad had previously focused in part on doing custom crush work for various smaller B.C. wineries that lacked winemaking facilities. Many wineries got their start at Okanagan Crush Pad. It was founded by Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie in 2005 with a 10-acre orchard growing apples and apricots. The planting of vineyards subsequently replaced the fruit trees. The first small vintage of 165 cases was in 2009. Their focus moved progressively towards less interventionist farming, and now all the vineyards are organic. Their senior winemaker, Matt Dumayne, joined them in 2013. Their pinot noir bottlings, over time, have included grapes sourced from their vineyards and those of selected growers, including Canyonview Vineyard and Waters & Banks.

Sage Hills Estate Winery

Sage Hills Estate Winery is a 100% organic winery that produces only natural, organic wines with a philosophy of nothing added and nothing removed. The wines are low-yield, single-vineyard, and 100% vegan. In their ongoing effort towards sustainability, they run entirely off solar energy in their cellar and tasting room. They are the first small net-zero wineries in the Okanagan Valley region. Founded and operated by Rick Thrussell and his wife Toby, since 2017, their son Keenan has been making the wine along with his partner Zoë Jacoe, who manages the vineyard and winery. From 2019 onward, winemaking has shifted from the more conventional to natural wines. This includes wild ferments, 100% whole berry fermentation, ageing on lees for seven months, neutral barrels, no added sulphites, and minimal intervention. They recommend drinking the entire bottle once opened. The first pinot noir vintage was made in 2012 by Tom DiBello at Okanagan Crush Pad.

Wine Reviews

Some decade old vintages from the three featured wineries were opened recently to see how they had held up. The wines capably demonstrated the quality and ageability of B.C. pinot noir from this Summerland sub-GI.

8th Generation 2012 Pinot Noir

Pale with a touch of garnet only on the rim. The nose is an unusual but intriguing, harmonized assembly of rich marsh-like aromas that include dried dark currants, preserved black plums, charcoal, wet leaves and licorice. The tastes are similar and also include red currants, underripe blackberries, and leaf smoke. There's not a big initial flavour impact here or overall intensity but the second half is compelling, mainly mid-palate and fades very slowly into a finish containing complex, contributing tannins along with the elements of dried currants, marshiness and licorice. There's great focused purity of flavour throughout. Singular and Remarkable. 94 points

Sage Hills Small Lot 2012 Pinot Noir

Tasted previously in 2014, it was very interesting to taste the same wine ten years later and see the continuity. Very pale and garnet coloured throughout, it starts with preserved cherries and strawberries, vanilla, some caramel, cloves and cinnamon. The flavours follow through similarly with sweet baking spices, preserved fruit, mulberry, violets and overripe thimbleberry. Beautifully mature, the fruit is not faded, just changed from its younger self. Superbly integrated, rounded flavours, pinpoint acidity and finessed aged tannins. Well balanced with a long complex finish, could go five more years. 2014 notes: Vanilla, oak, cloves, floral, roses, effortlessly beautiful, pine, forest floor, cross currents of cherry, raspberry – projected bouquet. Vanilla, cedar, cloves, sweet spices, penetrating flavours, not typical Pacific NorthWest pinot. Reminiscent of weightier, but balanced & elegant California pinot esp. from Santa Maria AVA. 94 Points

Haywire/Okanagan Crush Pad Waters and Banks Pinot Noir 2014

Very pale, brick coloured throughout and very shy on the nose. Well balanced but with fading flavours, all in the mid-palate and fairly simple. There were some light notes of autumn leaves and preserved plums. Easy drinking and rounded. Sourced from a Summerland vineyard containing both limestone and granite. Waters and Banks sounds like a lyrical winery marketing name for a pinot noir but it is actually the names of the two growers involved - Terry Waters and Cathy Banks whose vineyard is in what is now designated as the Summerland Bench sub-GI.

The wine was whole bunch fermented with wild yeast and spent four weeks on skins before going into concrete eggs. Matt Dumayne and Jordan Kubek were the winemakers and the consulting winemaker was Alberto Antonini The clones involved are Dijon 115 and 667. 88 Points

Pinot's Progress

Brent Gushowaty — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 19:19:12 GMT

How They’re Doing - Can B.C. Pinot Noirs Age Well?

One of the questions often asked about B.C. pinot noirs is how long will they keep and improve? The modern wine industry in B.C. is just over thirty years old, so the answers are only just beginning to come in. There are actually several eras nested inside the history of pinot noir in B.C. .

The Expanding Number of Wineries Over Time

The number of wineries in B.C. along with the accompanying wines being made, including pinot noir, has grown leaps and bounds since the early nineties. Two hundred new wineries have been established in the last fifteen years alone.

Number of B.C. Wineries by year:

1994 - 34 Wineries
2004 - 110 Wineries
2009 - 197 Wineries
2014 - 284 Wineries
2024 - 369 Wineries

This most recent fifteen year time span is one that has seen greatly improved winemaking, vineyard practices and better technology being employed throughout the industry. The arrival of many talented winemakers from abroad and the accumulated experience from pioneering ones is also helping coax more of the best from B.C. pinot noirs. This means that some of the best pinot noirs are arriving from winery properties that have only been in existence for the last ten to fifteen years.

Vine Age

When evaluating wines and gauging their ultimate potential, vine age is an important factor. Older vines tend becomes less vigorous and produces less fruit per vine that can result in more concentration, complexity, and particularly, more depth of fruit compared to young vines. The definition of “old vines” varies but I think twenty years would be the minimum before the term would reasonably apply.

So, the relatively steep increase in the number of wineries making pinot noir in B.C. in the past couple of decades also means that many of the most promising pinot noirs have not likely reached their full potential, including the ability to continuing to develop in bottle and age well.

Patience Is Required to Evaluate Ageability What is certainly true is that B.C. pinot noirs are mostly opened far, far too young, usually in the first couple of years. Like their counterparts in the better known pinot noir regions like France and New Zealand many need time to develop out fully and show what they are capable of.

In the Pinot’s Progress series, I taste and review wines that are three years old or more (and some will be much older) to see how these older pinot noirs have aged and fared. Second in the series, here are six more to consider:

Solvero Wines Pinot Noir 2019

In the glass

Dark cherry notes, a touch of licorice, molasses cookie spices and some winning strawberry notes in the finish. The fruit amplitude holds well into the long finish. A complementary acidity contributes to excellent balance, all arching over a remarkably restrained 12.2 percent alcohol. C+ to B- ~ 89

In The Winery & Vineyard

Cropped at 1 ton to the acre, the wine spent 12 months in barrel, of which 25% was new oak. The clones involved were 115, 667, 777, Swan, 828, Pommard and 943. 450 cases produced.

About the Winery

The Garnet Valley is much less familiar to wine drinkers in the province than the Okanagan, Similkameen, Fraser or Cowichan Valleys but it is already the source of some very interesting B.C. wines including pinot noir and holds great promise for more.

Garnet Valley begins where a ridge rises in the agriculturally greened North West corner of Summerland. It then runs parallel to Lake Okanagan separated by a mountain ridge that continues up towards Peachland.

The valley is blessedly undeveloped. There are no strip malls, fruit stands, or townhouses. In places the valley can be steeply tilted, undulating, forested or narrow It’s a farming valley. The first time I drove it it reminded me of out-of-the-way wine regions in France like the Dordogne.

Three elements of vineyard aspect in Garnet Valley that are favorable for the cool climate loving pinot noir grape include the steepness of the hillsides, the elevation and the morning shade provided by the mountain ridge.

It’s here that the Sartor family, Andrea and Bob Sartor and their son Matt dreamed that vineyards could flourish. Fittingly, the initial conversation was over a glass of pinot noir. In 2014, they acquired thirty acres of land 20 minutes North of Summerland that was a steep, forested mountainside. It took two years to clear the land and prepare it for planting. This 2019 pinot noir is the inaugural vintage.

The success of the initial wines also rests with their experienced and talented winemaker Alison Moyes. Her winemaking resume in the Okanagan Valley includes five vintages at Stoneboat Vineyards and six vintages at Liquidity. Having tasted the wines from both vineyards during her stints there, it notable how consistently she expressed the very different pinot noir terroirs through a range of vintages, at those two properties.

Tantalus Pinot Noir Reserve 2019

Tantalus first released a pinot noir reserve wine in 2016. It is based on 18 mid-slope rows of 667 clone in their home vineyard that the winemaker David Paterson felt showed something special. The similarities and differences in flavour elements to the Tantalus estate pinot noir coming from the same vineyard are engaging to sift through.

In the glass

Like the estate pinot noir, the baseline fruit density, forest floor earthiness and darker berry flavours are all present but this reserve is like the perfected copy. It's richer, livelier and more elaborately, structured. It shows more power as well as more elegance - a rare triumph with pinot noir. On the nose Morello cherry, loganberry, mulberry and wet undergrowth lead to authoritative silky cherry and berry flavours. It all pulls together and has the balanced, deeper intensity of some Oregon pinots. The finish trails on and on. Still formative and should develop for 5-8 years at least. B to B+ ~ 93

In The Winery & Vineyard

Dijon clones 667, 777 and a small selection of stand-out Clone 37. It is all wild fermented, incorporating 50% whole bunches and gets a single, foot treading daily. Aged in French barriques for 15 months, 40 % new. 100% Pinot Noir | Alcohol: 13.2% | RS: 1.49 g/L | pH: 3.78 | TA: 5.5 g/L

About the Winery

Tantalus Vineyards was established in 2004 by investment dealer Eric Savics when he purchased the previous winery called Pinot Reach Cellars. The property had a lot of history as some of the grapevine plantings went back to 1927. The pinot noir vines on the property include some clone 93 (a Spatburgunder or German clone) planted around 1985 and Dijon clones including 667, 115 and 828 were added between 2005 and 2012. The first pinot noir release was in 2006.

Tantalus is fortunate in having had the same winemaker since 2009, the Vancouver born New Zealander David Paterson. His winemaking experience included time at the renowned Henschke Cellars in Australia.

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In the glass

The Meyer Micro Cuvée bottling is a barrel select wine from their estate McLean Creek Vineyard and always presents as a beguiling mélange of flavour elements. Here we have baking spices, underbrush, charcoal, pomegranate and more along with deft, framing tannins. The oak touch is complementary and shows a pleasing intensity of flavour that is not big body alcohol driven. The finish is long and echoing. B ~ 92

In The Winery & Vineyard

The clonal mix here is Dijon 114, 115, 667, and Pommard 91. It was fermented and aged in two new French oak 500L puncheons, as well as eight 1 year old French barrels for 11 months. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

About the Winery

In 2006, JAK (an acronym of his initials) Meyer purchased a vineyard planted to chardonnay and, with the help of local winemaker Michael Bartier made a couple of vintages of chardonnay at Road 13 Winery, where Bartier was heading up the winemaking. The success of the chardonnays, which were well reviewed (by no less than Steven Spurrier), encouraged Meyer further down the road to launch his winery.

Meyer currently produces five different pinot noirs and has, over the years, made single-vineyard pinot noirs using non-estate grapes. The terroir, combined with low-intervention winemaking, produces pinot noirs that are a benchmark for quality. The world seems to agree. Meyer pinot noirs can be found on wine lists in London, Montreal, New York, and Marks and Spencer outlets in the U.K.

Chain Reaction Pendulum Pinot Noir 2020

In the glass

Begins with redolent cherry, nutmeg, pomegranate and vanilla. Lush, elegant savoury fruit that is prominently mulberry along with some elevated intensity. Note perfect balance here of mulberry fruit, soft tannins and supporting acidity, A distinct style here of ripe savoury berry flavours that shows the diversity of Naramata Bench pinot noirs. Dwight Sick, formerly of Stags Hollow and Moraine Vineyard is the consulting winemaker here and this is the first vintage from the McMillan Vineyard. B- to B ~ 91

In The Winery & Vineyard

The grapes here are from the leased, mature, four-acre McMillan Vineyard on Naramata bench. The grapes were harvested at just under 2.5 tons to the acre. The fermentation utilized indigenous yeasts, saw 15% new French oak) and was bottled unfined and unfiltered. 196 cases produced. RS: 5.183 g/L | 13.0% ABV

About the Winery

The owners Joel and Linda Chamaschuk are originally from the Lower Mainland. They left the tech sector in Vancouver in 2017 and moved to Naramata to follow their dream of owning a winery. They purchased an orchard on the Naramata bench, and planted their first vineyard in 2019. The winery is named for their love of cycling.

Kitsch 5 Barrel Pinot Noir 2020

In the glass

Initially, balanced scents of rich cherry, clove, nutmeg and sandalwood with a growing component of earthiness and underbrush. Later, plum skin, florals, blueberry, crushed green leaf, lilac and marionberry. Flavours of savoury cherry with juicy acidity, some earthiness, lightly taut tannins with black and blue fruits predominating and a clear, focused intensity through the finish. The texture really stood out in an unfolding finishing sequence of flavour elements that included clay, plum, cherry pomegranate a touch of graphite and elegant darker fruits. Showing a great deal now but will repay keeping for another 2-5 years. B- to B ~ 91

In The Winery & Vineyard

A five barrel select from a single vineyard it was destemmed and spent 5 days on skins and then 8 months in French oak (60% new) The wine blends two clones, 828 and 115, all grown at G-Spot Vineyards in East Kelowna and was cropped at 3 tonnes/acre pH: 3.7 | TA: 6.5 g/L | RS: 0.75 g/L | Alc: 13.3% 125 cases produced.

About the Winery

Located in East Kelowna, Kitsch Wines was founded by Trent and Ria Kitsch. The Kitsch family’s Okanagan roots go back to 1910. The Kitschs created and grew an apparel distribution company which they sold in 2010 in order to buy land and go into the winery business. They initially planted 13 acres of grapes in 2013 and 2014 including pinot noir. They grew production from 1000 to 3000 cases between 2015 and 2018.

Foxly Pinot Noir 2020

In the glass

Starts with a precocious flourish of savoury cherry, a touch of barnyard, blueberry, kirsch, vanilla, sweet baking spices, a nice range of mid-red fruits including strawberry and mulberry. In the glass, a similar flavour potpourri of flavours, all elements well balanced and the red fruits really entertain. Good length in the finish. Give it an hour to open fully. B- ~ 90

About the Winery

Foxly is the second label of Foxtrot Vineyards. The first vintage was in 2018.

In 2002 the Foxtrot Vineyard was purchased by Gustav Allender from Carol and Don Munro (growers who planted it in 1994 and 1995 all to clone 115) as the foundation for his new winery – Foxtrot Vineyards. Before this time grapes from this vineyard found their way into pinot noirs from other wineries, most notably the Kettle Valley Foxtrot Vineyard bottling. Their first vintage was 2004. Recently purchased adjacent land (5 acres) has also been planted to the 115 clone from Foxtrot Vineyard cuttings.

In 2018 the winery was sold to Douglas Barzelay, a retired New York lawyer, and his partner, Nathan Todd, a former Calgarian who lives in New York. Barzelay is one of the world’s leading authorities on the wines of Burgundy.

The Pinot’s Progress series is ongoing so stay tuned for more tastings of older B.C. pinot noirs.

Blue Mountain Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability

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Okanagan Falls Sub-GI

Brent Gushowaty — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 20:04:30 GMT

British Columbia wine regions are currently broken up into nine Geographical Indications similar to appellations used in other countries.

These G.I.s are determined by analyzing similar soils, climate, annual weather, etc. The Okanagan Valley G.I. is further broken down into sub-Geographical Indications (sub-GIs), including the one for Okanagan Falls, created in 2018. Roughly, the shape of Florida The 800 hectares of the Okanagan Falls Sub-GI (150ha of vines) stretches roughly from Peach Cliff in the North to Vaseux Lake in the South and from approximately Highway 97 in the West to the steep granite hillsides in the East with an elevation that ranges from 400m to 500m.

Geography Matters

In many ways, Okanagan Falls marks a pivot point in the nature of the wines and vineyards in the Okanagan Valley. It's generally agreed that Okanagan Falls is the northernmost point in the valley where Bordeaux variety grapes consistently ripened., but for me, it is also where the more interesting, higher-quality pinot noir wines begin.

The climate is undoubtedly cooler in OK Falls than further South around Oliver and Osoyoos and that relative coolness is more favourable to the pinot noir grape. Several geographic factors contribute to the cooler atmosphere, beginning with a dramatic narrowing of the valley presided over by a trio of rock monoliths, including 673 M high McIntyre Bluff and Eagle Bluff. This narrowing undoubtedly affects the wind flow patterns as air moves North through the narrow gap, across Vaseux Lake and mounts up into the vineyard areas of Okanagan Falls.

Its Northern boundary is anchored by Peach Cliff, a massive stone feature that absorbs and radiates back the day’s heat to several wineries skirting its base.

Parenthesized by Vaseux and Skaha Lakes, the Okanagan Falls Sub-GI is a landscape of ascending, dimpled ridges. The dimples are large cratered kettle holes formed when buried glacial ice blocks melted and the overlying sediment collapsed. The ones in Okanagan Falls were formed about 12,000 years ago.

Kettle Hole

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Blue Mountain Vineyards & Cellars

Blue Mountain is the pioneering pinot noir-producing winery in Okanagan Falls. Founded by Ian and Jane Mavety in 1971, they bought a languishing farm with fruit trees and hay fields. Initially, they planted hybrid grape varieties consistent with those generally grown in the rest of the Okanagan. They were only grape growers in this period, supplying grapes to existing wineries for their first few decades. Their bend towards quality began in the mid-1980s when they began switching their hybrid varieties to European vinifera.

This move was accelerated by the government-subsidized pullout of hybrids in favour of higher-quality varietals that began in 1988, in advance of the free trade agreement with the U.S. They shifted to creating their winery in 1992 when they released their first pinot noir from the 1991 vintage.

Subsequently, they planted a lot more pinot noir in 1990 and 1991, including six different pinot noir clones. Their long history and pursuit of quality have always involved innovation and evolution. A section of the new pinot noir plantings was installed at twice the Okanagan's typical density and Blue Mountain has always used 100% estate-grown grapes in its wines. In 1997, the Mavety's son, Matt, began to manage the vineyard, winemaking, and cellar.

The Wines In 2007, the vineyard was further extended. Subsequent innovation in the quality of the wines has been achieved partly through changes in wine transfer, bottling the wines unfined, a progressive move to native yeast fermentation and lighter pressing. Their sustainable and organic practices include carefully selected cover crops, manure composting, organic fertilizers, and diverse flora and fauna.

The family's close familiarity with their vineyards eventually demonstrated that three vineyard areas consistently showed distinctive pinot noir elements. The first release of these very individual single-vineyard blocks derived wines, Gravel Force, Wild Terrain, and River Flow, was in 2017.

Very few B.C. wineries can claim continuous grape production for over fifty years by one family. This long history of successfully pursuing quality pinot noir wines makes them one of the most important benchmarks for pinot noir in the province.

Review of Blue Mountain’s 2017 Gravel Force single vineyard pinot noir

Code Wines

Code Wines is a relative newcomer to the Okanagan Falls Sub-GI. Shay and Harlee Code founded their dream in 2016 on a 5-acre parcel on the East side of Peach Cliff, the 600m - high wall of granite rock that dominates Okanagan Falls.

With a degree in commerce, Shay had spent three decades in corporate jobs in Canada. On an assignment in France, he immediately became enamoured with Rhone wines and then with wine generally. Searching for suitable vineyard sites led them to an unusable remnant of land from a housing development. Though the propertywas in a proven vineyard area, the plantable land on it had been generally deemed too small to support a viable winery.

The planting of chardonnay and pinot noir vines started in 2017. Beginning in 2019, the Roches of Roche Winery helped make the first three vintages at their facility in Penticton. During this period, the winemaking gradually shifted from Dylan Roche to Shay.

The Wines From the start, there has been a focus on clonal selection with four separate pinot noir vineyard blocks - Dijon 115, 777 and Pommard 91. Most interesting is the inclusion of a clonal block whose identity is unknown, which Shay calls Ancestor 01. The cuttings came from around the corner of Peach Cliff at Meyer Family Vineyards. The unidentified clone grows in Meyer's Old Block vineyard and was resident when the Meyers purchased the formerly winery property.

In some vintages, Code Wines has chosen to vinify and bottle pinot noirs from the four clones separately, as well as an estate blend version. The opportunity to taste wines from four different clones of pinot noir grown and vinified identically is like catnip for pinotphiles. Comparing the Code and Meyer versions of the ancestor 01 clone would be particularly interesting. The winery focuses on organically farming the grapes that their five acres produce. Production will likely range between five hundred and a thousand cases. There is no current plan to expand production further.

Code Wines Estate Blend Pinot Noir 2020 Review

Look for bright cherry and preserved plums shaded with mulberry and baking spice/barrel notes. In the glass, transparent, layered flavours of cherry, mulberry and pomegranate throughout, leading to an extended, graceful ending. The modest alcohol and harmonic acidity lets the fruit subtleties shine through. An impressive wine coming from young vines, this winery is one to follow. It mixes three clones: Dijon 115; Ancestor 01 (unknown clone); and Pommard 91; each individually picked for ripeness, processed separately, fermented and aged in 2nd fill and neutral French oak for one year and bottled unfined and unfiltered. B- ~ 90

Code Wines Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability

Liquidity

The precise, contemporary, minimalist design of the winery building at Liquidity Wines belies a history of over 50 years. It was initially a 110-acre fruit orchard created by an engineer named Charlie Oliver and named Oliver Ranch. Some of the irrigation systems created back then are still utilized.

In 1971, a thirty-acre parcel split from Oliver Ranch formed the basis of the modern-day winery property. Rolland and Heidi Hellar purchased it in 1991. Called Adelheid's Vineyard, it grew hybrid varieties. 1991 saw the start of planting all vinifera grapevines, including some pinot noir.

Liquidity Wines began when a group of investors, led by Ian MacDonald purchased the property in 2008. Existing buildings were renovated to create a tasting room and bistro that takes full advantage of a view descending from Noble Ridge Winery to Vaseux Lake. A proper winery was designed, and its first vintage was produced in 2012.

The Wines Liquidity had a small inaugural release of 2009 Pinot Noir (60 cases), produced under license at Pentage Winery, along with slightly larger quantities in 2010 & 2011 and were made by Matt Holmes, the former winemaker at Tantalus Vineyards, and they showed very well. Their first larger production vintage was in 2012, produced in their then-newly-completed production facility on site. The winery and its then winemaker Alison Moyes were certainly pinot noir focused. Their 2014 Pinot Noir Estate was awarded a Silver medal at the prestigious Mondial des Pinots international competition in Switzerland in the Autumn of 2016.

A second estate vineyard was added in 2014 with the purchase of a contiguous Okanagan Falls vineyard property. Just over a third of the 12-hectare vineyard is planted to five clones of Pinot Noir: 115, 667, 828, 777 and 114.

Liquidity has produced three levels of pinot noir, an estate version, a reserve and one called Equity. The wines tend to be fruit driven, smoothly textured, full flavoured and show good oak integration.

The current winemaker is New Zealand native Amy Paynter.

In March 2020, Liquidity was purchased by Iconic Wineries, one of Anthony von Mandl's companies. His other Okanagan wineries include Mission Hill Family Winery, Martin's Lane Winery, CheckMate Wines, CedarCreek Estate Winery and Road 13 Vineyards.

See review of Liquidity’s 2011 pinot noir

Liquidity Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability

Meyer Family Vineyards

Good fortune seems to have followed JAK Meyer into the wine industry, although he has worked his luck most effectively. An interest in drinking good wine led to a chance meeting with Master of Wine James Cluer. JAK (an acronym of his initials) had become interested in beginning a winery, and Cluer agreed to help him navigate the process. And so it began.

In 2006, Meyer purchased a vineyard planted to chardonnay and, with the help of winemaker Michael Bartier made a couple of vintages of chardonnay at Road 13, where Bartier was heading up the winemaking. The success of the chardonnays, which were well reviewed (by no less than Steven Spurrier), encouraged Meyer further down the road to launch his winery.

Serendipity provided the opportunity in 2008 to buy an existing winery that had gone bankrupt. It had established vineyards that included plantings of pinot noir and was also in Okanagan Falls. At about the same time, Chris Carson, a New Zealand-trained Canadian native, was returning to Canada. His winemaking resume included time at the legendary California pinot noir producer Calera Wines, as well as Burgundy and New Zealand. JAK engaged Chris as his new winemaker, beginning with the 2008 vintage.

The Wines Meyer currently produces five different pinot noirs and has, over the years, made single-vineyard pinot noirs using non-estate grapes. The terroir, combined with low-intervention winemaking, produces pinot noirs that are a benchmark for quality. The world seems to agree. Meyer pinot noirs can be found on wine lists in London, Montreal, New York, and Marks and Spencer outlets in the U.K.

Review of Meyer 2022 pinot noirs

Meyer Family Vineyards Pinot Noirs Current Vintage & Availability

Stag's Hollow

Stag's Hollow was founded by Larry Gerelus and Linda Pruegger in 1992, at the beginning of the modern era of B.C. wine when there were only about 30 existing wineries. They established the Stag's Hollow home vineyard and built it over the next fifteen years.

You might guess that Stag's Hollow was simply a fanciful winery name and that a "hollow" was a clearing at the bottom of a hill or some other similar minor geographical feature. Not so. A hollow is another name for a kettle, i.e. a large hole, like a giant kettle, formed when chunks of glacier melted under the deposited soils at the vineyard 12,000 years ago.

The Wines Stag's Hollow original vineyard vines, including pinot noir, are planted on the steep sides of the kettle, giving them excellent sun exposure. It is just one of the remarkable geographical features in the Okanagan Falls area that gives the wines such variety.

In 2011, another 18 acres of raw land was purchased 2km North of the home vineyard. This Shuttleworth Creek Vineyard is named for the creek that runs through it, and much of it was planted to a variety of pinot noir Dijon clones. The new terroir and the expanded clonal varieties gave a new range of options for crafting their pinot noirs.

The current winemaker, Keira LeFranc, was born and raised in Penticton and took over from Dwight Sick in 2018. Larry Gerelus and Linda Pruegger sold the winery to Eric Liu, the owner of Bench 1775 Winery, in 2019. Still, they remained as managers, leading the team until April 2021, when they retired.

Review of Stag’s Hollow 2020 pinots.

Stag’s Hollow Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability

Noble Ridge

If there is one winery that illustrates how Okanagan Falls can be seen as a varietal turning point in the valley, it would be Noble Ridge Vineyard and Winery. It rides the first kettle-hollow-pocked ridge up the Eastern side of the valley, just North of Vaseux Lake and if you are heading North is the first Okanagan Falls winery you encounter.

Having developed a taste for European wine on a three month family trip to Europe, Jim and Leslie D’Andrea set out to begin their own winery looking at opportunities in Niagra and France as well as the Okanagan. They chose Okanagan Falls, purchasing a Southern sloping vineyard with 1.4 hectares of vines that had been planted to cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and chardonnay in 1986. Over the next few years they added another 1.6 hectares of pinot noir and pinot gris.

Noble Ridge officially opened in 2005 and the next year a neighbouring vineyard was acquired and an existing building on that property, converted into their winery.

The winery has a very focused sustainability program that involves winery elements including: water, energy waste and the land itself where they utilize insectuaries, non-chemical weed control, carefully selected cover crops and composting.

The Wines

Their first vintage was in 2003 and consisted of forty cases of pinot noir and five hundred cases of Meritage. The success of the 2003 pinot noir encouraged them to plant more, along with some chardonnay. The first three vintages were made at other wineries by consulting winemaker Michael Bartier. Some later vintages were handled by Phillip Soo. The current director of winemaking & viticulture Benoît Gauthier, joined Noble Ridge in 2011.

One reason why Noble Ridge seems like a varietal pivot point in the Okanagan is the unique location and aspect of the winery and its vineyards. The winery sits atop a ridge, draped on four sides by sloping vineyards swith the largest vineyard areas face directly North and South. The slopes are relatively steep with the Southern-facing one having the greatest incline. They grow concentrated cabernet sauvignon and merlot on the warm Southern side and four clones of flavourful pinot noir as well as pinot gris on the cooler Northern side. North of this point cabernet sauvignon is difficult to ripen consistently and South of this point, the hotter temperatures near Oliver and Osoyoos make for pinot noir wines that are too ripe, causing them to lose their balance and mask their subtlety.

Like another Okanagan Falls winery Stag’s Hollow, Noble Ridge utilizes an unusual trellising method in its vineyards called Geneva Double Curtain. This is a double wire system that trains the vines downward to suppress vigor, increase yields and improve flavours.

Noble Ridge favours a bigger, bolder style of pinot noir with oak as the center pole in it’s tent of flavours, more like pinot noirs made to the South of them in Oliver and Osoyoos. They produce two different pinot noir wines, their estate wine and in certain vintages only, a reserve version called King’s Ransom. Their bigger, more extracted approach is certainly the winery’s stylistic choice but it interesting to wonder if it may also partially proceed from their Southern position in \the OK Falls sub-GI and the vineyard’s unique aspect.

Noble Ridge Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability

Synchromesh

“Powered by Riesling” is the catchphrase that Synchromesh uses in its promotions and it nicely combines two strands of the winery’s story - riesling and automobiles. Indeed, the first time I met the owner and winemaker Alan Dickinson, he crawled out from under a truck he was working on, walked over to his tasting shed with me and poured some of his remarkable rieslings. A synchromesh is a manual transmission component that makes for a smooth, effortless shift. A connection to motorsports runs through the family, Alan’s father John, used to race and restore MG sports cars.

Alan was involved with the wine business in Vancouver and in 2009 became interested in finding a property to start a vineyard producing high quality rieslings. Part of that search involved Okanagan camping tours by Alan in his MGB.

In 2010, he purchased a five acre site with established vines that anchors the winery’s home vineyard. The existing riesling on the property was then replanted and some blocks of pinot noir were added.

The site was just down the road from Meyer Family Vineyards at the base of Peach Cliff mountain, a sheer, massive rock, that absorbs and radiates back the day’s sunshine. The 300 meter high feature dominates the nearby municipality of Okanagan Falls.

Before the establishment of the actual winery, his initial business was called Alto Wine Group. That company offered a range of wine production services including crush facilities, aimed at helping smaller volume wineries.

Synchromesh’s success with its dazzling array of distinct, refined rieslings from a keyboard of terroirs up and down the Okanagan Valley is the source of the winery’s well-deserved acclaim but pinot noir has always been part of the project.

Pinot noir was part of Synchromesh’s early output, initially utilizing contracted grapes from the Palo Solara vineyard in East Kelowna to make pinot wines. For a number of years, two Palo Solara pinots were offered, a regular and a reserve. When pinot noir vines from the home vineyard, called Stormhaven, became mature, pinot noirs began being released under that name.

In 2017 Synchromesh was able to purchase a large adjoining property that brought their total acreage to 107. They currently have 21 acres under vine. They keep the majority of this large property accessible and protected for wildlife habitat working with local wildlife organizations to maintain and protect the undeveloped land as a sanctuary and host to the biodiversity needed to farm in the holistic manner they pursue. This holistic approach informs their farming and winemaking including natural wine fermentation. The focus is on creating site specific wines.

Synchromesh Stormhaven Pinot Noir 2020 Review

The wine initially shows a distinctive and engaging range of florals and darker aromas, including black raspberry, blackcurrant, violets, black olive, and lilac. This follows through similarly in the flavours, with blackcurrant, black olive, black tea, and a seam of minerality entering the frame. It's herb tinged, relatively tight and lean, with good fruit intensity from front to back, leading to a long finish involving florals, darker fruits, and coal dust. There's a sense of slumbering power here and a submerged set of flavours that will surface with more bottle time. 2020 comes off two home vineyard blocks: Amelia Block's, with clay and granite; and Block 4's decomposing granite and sandy gravels. The mix of clones here is 114, 115, 667, 777, and 828. B- to B ~ 91

Synchromesh Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability

Wild Goose Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability

Wild Goose

The winery was founded in 1983 by Adolf Kruger, beginning with the purchase of four hectares of undeveloped land in Okanagan Falls. The first grapes planted were riesling and gewürztraminer. Two of his sons, Hagen and Roland have been directly involved with Wild Goose but all four sons are in the wine industry. The winery opened in 1990. It was the seventeenth winery in B.C..

In 1999, a two-hectare vineyard property near Oliver called Mystic River Vineyard was added. They further expanded in 2008 with the purchase of the 3.8 hectare Secrest Vineyard near Oliver. Again, more plantings of riesling and gewürztraminer, their popular, signature grapes were added along with small amounts of merlot and petit verdot.

Like their neighbour Synchromesh, the reputation of Wild Goose Vineyards has been built largely on their white wines. Wild Goose has won numerous awards for their wines made from riesling, pinot gris and gewürztraminer but they have also produced pinot noir wines from nearly the very beginning.

The Wines

For most of the first two decades, their pinot noirs were made from grower purchased grapes sourced variously from Skaha, Naramata, and two different neighbouring vineyards in Okanagan Falls. Because of their great success commercially and critically with their white wines, an interest and facility with red wines initially trailed behind though they made merlot and marechal foch regularly over the early years also from purchased grapes and had begun experimenting with their own plantings of merlot and petit verdot.

A trip by Roland Kruger to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, with exposure to some of the superb pinot noirs being created there demonstrated to him the potential that pinot had and helped nudge Wild Goose in a new direction with their pinot noirs. They began reducing the time their pinot noirs spent in wood and in the very first such vintage, were encouraged when they won Best of Class in the 2018 Cascadia Wine Competition.

As part of the shift to pinot noir, they took over the vineyard management of a property they had been purchasing pinot noir grapes from. Also in 2018, they purchased the Sumac Slope Vineyard, a property that included pinot vines of clones 113, 114, and 115 that had been planted in 1998. The Sumac Slope pinot noir has been consistently winning medals in Canadian and international wine competitions ever since.

They currently produce two pinot noirs, an Okanagan Valley wine sourced from Naramata fruit and their Sumac Slope vineyard pinot noir from the Okanagan Falls Sub-GI.

Wild Goose Pinot Noir 2020 Review

Pale in the glass with a ruby rim, this wine begins with light, rounded, floral, and airy cherry, strawberry, a touch of baking spices, and some forest floor. The flavours are straightforward but with good clarity. The light berries whisper off nicely into the lengthy finish. The grapes are sourced from the Naramata Bench. C+ to B- ~ 89

In July of 2021, Wild Goose was purchased by the Wyse family of Burrowing Owl Vineyards.

Okanagan Falls West Side

Though not part of the official Okanagan Falls sub-GI, there are two wineries on the West side of Vaseux Lake that also make pinot noir wines. They are reached by taking scenic Green Lake Road that begins just outside of the town of Okanagan Falls.

The two estates and their pinot noirs provide quite a contrast. One is a relative newcomer, family owned and operated. The other has a long colourful history and is now one of a number of wineries owned by the corporate wine giant Arterra Wines Canada.

See Ya Later Ranch

This winery has a long history. Near the turn of the 19^th century, the Hawthorne Brothers made a homestead and ranch at this location. In 1920 it was purchased by Major Hugh Fraser and he and his son subsequently planted the first vines beginning in 1961.

Fraser died in 1970 and it changed hands again in 1983 when it was purchased by Albert LeComte. Prior to this, the grapes had been sold to existing wineries, but LeComte established winery facilities of his own and opened LeComte Estate Winery in 1986. The winery was not successful and was purchased in 1995 by Harry McWatters who also owned Sumac Ridge. The property was renamed Hawthorne Mountain Winery.

The property is one of the highest elevation vineyards in the South Okanagan, rising to 536 metres. The cool location makes it a favourable site for pinot gris, gewürztraminer, and pinot noir.

The winery changed hands once again in 2000 when Sumac Ridge and Hawthorne Mountain by Vincor Canada (now Arterra Canada). The name See Ya Later became the name of Hawthorne Mountain’s reserve wine and was so successful that it ended up replacing the winery’s name entirely.

There are pinot noir grapes on the estate property vineyard but they are also sourced from a variety of vineyards in the South Okanagan to create their pinot noir wines.

See Ya Later Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability

Nighthawk Vineyards

A time-out weekend at Burrowing Owl vineyards in Oliver planted the idea of getting into the wine business for Daniel and Christy Bibby. They began researching properties and came across their dream property set atop a plateau with a log home, ten acres of vineyards and a commanding view of spring-fed Green Lake and the valley. They made an offer on the property, but the deal did not go through at the time. For the next five years they regularly drove up the valley road to look at their dream. Incredibly, after five years, the owners contacted them to say that the property was still for sale.

Initially with a partnering couple, Daniel and Christy purchased Nighthawk Vineyards in 2014 and the winery opened in 2015. Subsequently the Bippys became sole owners.

Daniel is as a hotelier with a career is in the hospitality industry that includes stints as an executive chef, director of food and beverage, director of operations, hotel manager and general manager - most recently of a large hotel in Kelowna. Christy was an education professional, who now looks after Nighthawk’s wine shop, accounting and day to day running of the property.

The four hectare vineyard is planted to 1.2 hectares of pinot noir. Desert Hills Winery made some of the initial Nighthawk wines but for the 2015 vintage, they engaged Matt Dumayne, now the chief winemaker at Haywire Winery. Currently their son Dakota Bippy, handles the winemaking after having studied winemaking at Okanagan College and worked for six years in a variety of Okanagan wineries including Stag’s Hollow in Okanagan Falls.

Nighthawk pinot noirs typically see very little wood and are vinified to maintain fresh, rounded, carbonic, red fruit flavours. Nighthawk makes good use of pinot noir’s versatility, using it for pinot noir rosé in some years and it is also an element in their sparkling wine program.

Nighthawk Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability

In Summary

The diversity of landscape elements, elevation, soil types and air patterns in the Okanagan Falls sub-GI has created diverse meso-climates that produce an impressive and fascinating range of pinot noirs from this relatively small landscape within the Okanagan Valley. Its wineries range from the multi-generational to the brand new.

As is generally true in B.C. overall, the flavours of pinot noir wines in OK Falls thus far tend to reflect stylistic choices in the vineyard and winery versus shared expressions of terroir but evidence of the influence of certain sites are beginning to appear. It currently produces some of the best pinot noir labels in the province and demonstrates again the wide range of styles in quality B.C. pinot noir.

Pinot's Progress

Brent Gushowaty — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 20:37:13 GMT

How They’re Doing - Can B.C. Pinot Noirs Age Well?

One of the questions often asked about B.C. pinot noirs is how long will they keep and improve. The modern wine industry in B.C. being just thirty years old or so, the answer to that question is only really just beginning to come in. Additionally, the actual number of pinot noirs being made grew very rapidly starting about fifteen years ago. And in the last decade and a half, improved winemaking, better technology and accumulated experience is coaxing the best from B.C. pinot noir to make these wines better and better, faster and faster. So there are a number of eras nested inside the grape’s history in B.C.

What is certainly true is that B.C. pinot noirs are mostly opened far too young, usually in the first couple of years. Like their counterparts in the better known pinot noir regions, many need time to develop out fully and show what they are capable of.

In the Pinot’s Progress series, I taste and review wines that are three years old or more (and some will be much older) to see how these older pinot noirs have aged. Here are six to consider.

O'Rourke's Peak Cellars Pinot Noir 2019

In The Glass

Generally rich, dense, darker fruit aromas reside, including dried plums, black mission fig, chocolate, licorice, and prune. Less dense, intense, and alcohol-driven than the nose might indicate, it's supple and balanced with fruit leather, baked cherry, and black Mission fig. The finish is long and well counterbalanced. Made with Lake Country estate-grown fruit. B- to B ~ 91

About the Winery

Dennis O’Rourke is the chairman of Sureway Construction Group Ltd., a company he founded in Edmonton in 1973. Beginning around 2009 he began to purchase farm land in the Lake Country area of the Northern Okanagan. The first property, acquired, Rainbow Gardens is now home to Peak Cellars Winery. After much renovation, the land was converted to vineyard area and the first vines were planted in 2013. The winery opened in 2017. The enormous property includes three hundred meters of circular tunnels and twelve thousand square-feet of cave space to store and age their wines.

There are now just over 104 acres under vine with half dedicated to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and the rest to Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Grüner Veltliner and Gamay Noir. All wines are 100% Estate grown. Nikki Callaway is the head winemaker.

Tasted October 14, 2023

Rathjen Cellars Pinot Noir Saison Vineyard 2020

In The Glass

Complex drifts of blueberry, cherry, fruit leather, earthiness and dried clay on the nose. The savoury flavours are very subtle and drifting as well, with dried plum, plum skin, dried blueberries, cherry fruit leather, dried flowers, vanilla, and some baking spices. The texture is light and very ethereal with great fruit clarity, restrained alcohol, and a mellow fruit intensity. The exceptional balance and dreamy harmony of elements here show why the Saison Vineyard is so well regarded. B ~ 92

In The Winery & Vineyard

Made entirely from Cowichan Valley’s Saison Vineyard’s Southern sloping, deep rocky soils, this pinot blends clones 115, 667, 777, 828, all dry farmed since planting in 2009. Cold soaked for 48 hours before a native ferment in open top neutral French puncheons, with twice daily punch downs for a week. This remained in barrels for two years before bottling without fining or filtration

About the Winery

Rathjen Cellars began as a farm-based winery located on the Saanich peninsula, just outside Victoria, BC.. The founder Mike Rathjen was committed to working with 100% Vancouver Island fruit, and worked to bring under-utilized farmland back to health and into production. The winery also had access to vineyards that had previously supplied two Saanich wineries, Dragonfly Hill Vineyard and Starling Lane Winery. These were in addition to his own 2 ½ acre vineyard planted in 2016. Unfortunately, due to Covid, the pressures of weather and wine commerce on small wineries the winery closed permanently in the Summer of 2023.

About Saison Vineyard

In 2009 Frederic Desbiens and Ingrid Lehwald, began planting the Saison Vineyard in the Cowichan Valley. Dry-farmed, the vineyard is planted at a higher density (about 50% greater) than a typical North American site. Dedicated farmers, they work the vineyard meticulously and mostly themselves. They call it “attentive farming.” The plant responds to the growing season, and they react to it. A number of Cowichan Valley wineries have used their pinot noir grapes to make excellent pinot noirs.

Tasted August 22, 2023

Alderlea Vineyards Pinot Noir 2020

In The Glass

The evolution of pinot noir in the Cowichan Valley Sub-GI typically trends towards lighter, ethereal, precision fruit, but Alderlea goes its own way here, showing the scope of pinot noir’s capacities.

The vineyard was planted in 1993 with a mix of Dijon clones 113, 115, 667, and 777, plus Alsace clones 538, Colmar, and 93. The Alsace clones have skins significantly thicker than a Dijon clone and impart more tannin and colour than most coastal pinot noir. Fresh blackberry, loganberry, and marionberry of elevated intensity show on the nose and in the glass and continue laser-like, maintaining well into the finish. Bigger pinot noirs can want acidity or contain compensating winemaking adjustments that compromise balance. However, the edge of acidity and complementary tannins in the wine provide enough back current to keep the fruit from taking over.

It’s a feat to deliver this much fruit intensity combined with such a graceful, echoing balanced finish on 13% alcohol. B- to B ~ 91

In The Winery & Vineyard

The grapes were harvested at 24 brix, with a TA of 6.8 and a PH of 3.4.

About the Winery

Zac Brown and Julie Powell purchased the meticulously tended Alderlea Vineyards in 2017 from one of the valley’s pioneer pinot noir winemakers, Roger Dosman, who was retiring from the business. Both left corporate careers to pursue their dream of a small, quality winery based on standard organic practices. Though not formally trained, they share the winemaking, and both have won national awards for their wines. The vineyard sports a diverse cover cropped, pollinator-friendly and no tilling.

Tasted August 20, 2023

This post is public so feel free to share it.

In The Glass

The nose is slight, light plum and chocolate, a whiff of Mission fig, Seville orange, rich mulberry, loganberry, and more. In the glass, ample red berry fruit, mission fig, oak involvement, and dried fruit. It is a little weighty and bigger bodied, with some alcohol heat and tannic friction at this point, but the wine carries it all with grace. The finish is lengthened and flavourful. C+ ~ 88

In The Winery & Vineyard

Sourced exclusively from estate vineyards, the involved clones are 115, 667, 777, 828, 943, 91, Swan, and Mt. Eden. The yield is about 2 tons per acre. The grapes are destemmed into one ton fermenters and undergo a 6-7 day cold soak before a natural fermentation. The wine matures in the barrel (28% new French puncheons, balance in 2nd fill) for 15 months with no racking until pre-bottle blending. Unfined and unfiltered.

About the Winery

Steven and Nicole French purchased their first Naramata bench property in 2011 and converted the existing land to vineyard. They later bought a second property on Naramata Road that included existing vines and a winery. In total, they own or control about twenty-five acres of Naramata Bench vineyards. The winery focuses mainly on chardonnay and pinot noir.

Tasted October 16, 2023

Blue Grouse Estate Pinot Noir 2020

In The Glass

A delightful assemblage here of savoury cherry, raspberry, pomegranate and some forest floor, along with restrained alcohol and fine grained tannins. This Cowichan Valley sub-GI blend has a small percentage of Saison Vineyard fruit. A fine example of how far pinot noir from this area has evolved. The takeaway here is the clarity of fruit, a finely tuned balance, and a very agreeable tension between all elements. B- to B ~ 91

In The Winery & Vineyard

These pinot noir vines were planted between 1992 and 1994. The aspect is South facing on a slope of about 6ºC. 100% organically farmed using no/ minimal till cover crop rotations, minimal irrigation, full leaf stripping and crop thinning. TA 7.2 Harvest Date: October 15, 2020 – Brix 20.5

The winery whole cluster fermented a portion in terracotta amphora to achieve a large percentage of carbonic maceration and maintain a fruit forward profile while keeping tannins in check. It was then fermented slowly over three weeks before pressing. The wine was finished in Amphora, 500 L new French puncheons and neutral French oak barrel for 12 months before blending. Un-fined and un-filtered, the wine was bottled and further aged for 6 months prior to release. Production 225 cases

About the Winery

Blue Grouse, the second Vancouver Island winery to receive its license, was begun by Dr. Hans Kiltz in 1992, and he made pinot noir as part of his lineup. It was subsequently purchased by Paul Brunner and his family in 2012. They were thinking big, as their efforts included building a spectacular new winery tasting room and accommodations and two rounds of new vineyard plantings, including pinot noir. The quantity and quality of the wines over the past decade at Blue Grouse has steadily risen.

A second Blue Grouse change in ownership came in December 2022 when the winery was sold to a group from the Jackson family.

Tasted August 20, 2023

Unsworth Vineyards Pinot Noir 2020

In The Glass

Scented with notes of undergrowth and savoury light blackberry and mulberry. Lighter and less intense on the palate than some previous vintages, but more complex and subtle than ever with great balance and precision of fruit. B- to B ~ 91

In The Winery & Vineyard

A mix of clones is used: 115, 667, 777, 828, as well as a clone whose origin is unknown

The blend here is 76 percent Saison vineyard fruit with 16 percent Unsworth estate fruit and 8 percent Zanatta Vineyard pinot. The fruit is destemmed and then whole berry fermented in stainless before spending one year in barriques, of which 10 percent are new.

About the Winery

Tim Turyk was vacationing near the Cowichan Valley in 2009. He made an offer on a piece of land he had spied. And so the let’s-build-a-family-winery retirement project began with his son Chris as overall manager.

Since it began, the winery’s reputation has grown via a range of impressive wines, including whites, sparkling, rosés and reds. On the pinot noir front, early on, they were able to supplement their two acres of estate pinot noir with fruit from the Saison vineyard - a great piece of luck.

The wine world eventually took notice. In June 2020, Unsworth was sold to Americans Barbara Banke and Julia Jackson of giant Jackson Family Wines. As admirers of what Unsworth was doing, they left the entire management and staff in place, bringing instead financial resources and industry expertise to extend and deepen what the winery was already doing. Their new vineyard plantings alone could see total pinot noir acreage in the Cowichan Valley increase by fifty percent.

Tasted July 12, 2023

Some Thoughts

Although this tasting was just a small sample, of slightly older wines, I think a few things shone through.

The wines were scored according to how they tasted on the day and the average score was close to 91 points, with the wines coming from three distinct areas, Naramata, Lake Country and the Cowichan Valley. B.C. is crafting elegant, flavourful high quality pinot noirs from a range of vineyard sites in the province.

With the exception of the wine from Little Engine where they continue to cast oak as a protagonist in their pinot noir productions, the wines did not have wood or tannic scrims masking the fruit components. The primary and secondary aromas and flavours were quite accessible. This showed that waiting even a few more years before opening, allowed the wines to assemble their flavour components helped make a difference in how well the wines presented.

The Pinot’s Progress series is ongoing so stay tuned for tastings of older B.C. pinot noirs. Have a look at the first article in the series on a Blue Mountain pinot noir from 2017 tasted twice, four years apart.

Current Releases - Meyer Family Vineyards

Brent Gushowaty — Wed, 08 May 2024 16:57:47 GMT

Meyer Family Vineyards

Good fortune seems to have followed JAK Meyer into the wine industry though he has worked his luck very effectively. An interest in drinking good wine led to a chance meeting with Master of Wine James Cluer. JAK (an acronym of his initials) had become interested in beginning a winery and Cluer agreed to help him navigate the process. And so it began.

In 2006, Meyer purchased a vineyard planted to chardonnay and with the help of winemaker Michael Bartier made a couple of vintages of chardonnay at Road 13 where Bartier was heading up the winemaking. The success of the chardonnays, which were well reviewed, (by no less than Steven Spurrier) encouraged Meyer further down the road towards having his own winery.

Serendipity provided the opportunity in 2008 to buy an existing winery that had gone bankrupt. It had established vineyards that included plantings of pinot noir and was also in Okanagan Falls.

Okanagan Falls is a sub-GI of the Okanagan GI (Geographical Indicator) and was created in 2018. The Okanagan Falls Sub-GI (150ha of vines) stretches roughly from Peach Cliff in the North to Vaseux Lake in the South and from approximately Highway 97 in the West to the steep granite hillsides in the East with and elevation that ranges from 400m to 500m. Its Northern boundary is anchored by Peach Cliff, a massive stone feature that absorbs and radiates back the day’s heat to the wineries skirted around its base including Meyer and its McLean Creek Road home vineyard .

About the same time that the winery property was being acquired, New Zealand trained Canadian native, Chris Carson was returning to Canada. His winemaking resume included time at the legendary pinot noir winery Calera Wines as well as Burgundy and New Zealand. JAK engaged Chris as his new winemaker beginning with the 2008 vintage, and he carries on to the present day.

Meyer currently produces five different pinot noirs and over the years have also created single vineyard pinot noirs using non-estate grapes. The property is not certified organic but practices organic/sustainable farming principles. They currently produce about 8,000 cases per year. The terroir combined with low intervention winemaking helps Meyer produce pinot noirs that are a benchmark for pinot noir quality in the province.

The world seems to agree. Meyer pinot noirs can be found on wine lists in London, Montreal, and New York as well as Marks and Spencer outlets in the U.K..

The Wines

Meyer Family Vineyards Okanagan Valley Pinot Noir 2022

In The Glass

Pale with a ruby rim, there's some light sour cherry compote, plum, a touch of barnyard, and rounded, smooth cherry and baking spice, with very approachable tannins. The finish is long, focused, and well balanced. C+ to B- ~ 89

In The Winery & Vineyard

This was hand picked between Oct 9 and Nov 2 from four distinct vineyard sites in various areas of the Okanagan Valley: Fat Coyote, Anarchist Mountain, Lakehill Road, and McLean Creek Road. It was aged in neutral French oak barrels and puncheons before bottling in April 2023. Alcohol 13.5% | Acidity 6.5 g/L |ph 3.54 |RS <1 g/L. 2,800 cases produced.

$25.30 winery direct.

Meyer Family Vineyards B Field Blend McLean Creek Road Vyd. Pinot Noir 2022

In The Glass

Very light, almost a rosé in colour. On the nose a lovely balance of fresh wild strawberry, barnyard, rose petals, cinnamon and dried orange peel. The flavours are a balanced, delicate, commix of strawberry, autumn leaves and mushroom with a drift of pu eh tea. Rose hip, autumn leaf and wild strawberry persist along with a floating acidity into a lingering finish. Very different and interesting. B- to B ~ 91

In The Winery & Vineyard

The relatively new B Field Blend is from their home estate McLean Creek Road vineyard, as well as a 2017 planting of Dijon clones 115, 667 and 777. It also includes a cutting taken from their Old Block whose clone is unknown The four clones were picked together and co-fermented before resting 11 months in neutral French barrels. 450 cases produced.

$31.39 winery direct.

Meyer Family Vineyards Pinot Noirs Current Vintage & Availability

Meyer Family Vineyards McLean Creek Rd. Vyd. Pinot Noir 2022

In The Glass

A beautiful perfume lead by sweeter spiced wood, cinnamon, nutmeg, mulberry, loganberry and pomegranate. The flavours are a gracefully balanced fuse of raspberry, strawberry, mulberry, and savoury potpourri, while the texture is very airy and delicate, showing a long, reiterating, complex finish. B to B+ ~ 93

In The Winery & Vineyard

From the McLean Creek Road Vineyard, planted in 1994 in OK Falls, to five clones (91, 114, 115, 667, 777). It was destemmed, cold soaked, and native fermented over 2 weeks before moving into French oak (25% new) for 11 months before bottling, unfined, and unfiltered.

$37.48 winery direct.

Meyer Family Vineyards McLean Creek Vyd. Old Block Pinot Noir 2022

In The Glass

The wine opens with elevated notes of wild strawberry, fresh cherry, lilac, and baking spices, and follows through with a rolling wave of loganberry, cherry, and strawberry. Silky and seamless, the floral tinged fruit has an appealing, supple intensity that pulls you to it. The fruit echoes into a prolonged finish. The Old Block pinot noir from Meyer is always special and distinct. B to B+ ~ 93

In The Winery & Vineyard

The fruit comes from a one acre plot that is part of the McLean Creek Road vineyard, established before the property was purchased by the Meyers. The vineyard is in the Okanagan Falls Sub-GI. The clone in the Old Block is unknown. The fruit was gently destemmed via gravity into small open top fermenters and allowed to cold soak. Later, an indigenous fermentation began, with temperature peaking at 30 degrees Celsius. Gentle hand plunging of the must was done throughout. After a post maceration period the wine was transferred to French oak barrels (40% new) where it remained for 11 months. A natural malolactic fermentation occurred in late spring. The wine is unfined and unfiltered. Alcohol 13.5% | Acidity 6.4 g/L | PH 3.66 517 cases produced.

$47.91 winery direct.

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In The Glass

This starts with deeply rounded black cherry, loganberry, early blackberry, blueberry, and baking spices. There's a serious, but elegant concentration in the fruit, which seem to float upwards onto your palate. Focused, supple fruit notes of tea and dried leaves are animated by a subtle, but buoyant, acidity. Black cherry and marionberry contribute to a structure like a long, breaking wave that shows elevated intensity without sacrificing elegance and nuance. You typically need to wait a few years for the Micro Cuvée’s charms to fully emerge but it is drinking very well now and should improve even further in time. It all rests on very restrained 13.5%, producing a remarkable, eminent pinot noir from the hand of winemaker Chris Carson. B+ ~ 94

In The Winery & Vineyard

The Micro Cuvée is a barrel selection from their McLean Creek home vineyard in the Okanagan Falls Sub-GI. This mix of Pommard 91, and 4 Dijon clones used only free run juice and was fermented in stainless and French oak (50% new) for 11 months prior to bottling unfined and unfiltered. Alcohol 13.5% | Acidity 6.4 g/L | ph 3.65

$60.97 winery direct.

All Wines Samples for Review

40 Knots Winery

Brent Gushowaty — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 20:58:18 GMT

British Columbia’s Pinot Noir Vineyard Outposts

The great majority of wineries making pinot noir wines in British Columbia are ranged along the full length of the Okanagan Valley, with a much smaller cluster in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island as well as handfuls in the Fraser and Similkameen valleys. But there are a score of other worthy pinot noir producing vineyards scattered on the map of B.C. as well in places like Kamloops, Lillooet, Creston and the Gulf Islands (where 6 wineries are on 4 different islands).

There are different kinds of pinot noir vineyard outposts. Some are strictly geographical, some are climate related, and other involve proximity or lack thereof to people, whether those people are resident or happen to be driving by.

In the matter of terroir however, every new vineyard planted is an outpost. Research involving weather records, overall climate and soil analysis as well as varietal, clone and rootstock selection, availability of water and many other factors contribute to the decision about where to plant a vineyard. But to know for certain that you’ve founded a successful vineyard you will have to wait a number of years for vines to mature enough to provide grape juice for your wine.

Outposts are inherently leaps of faith of one kind or another. To find the right spot to grow and vinify pinot noir grapes, a winery’s founders must in part, dream of pinot noir. In order to bet this terroir long shot, the dream has to be a patient and persistent one because vineyards are no short term experiment. A founder’s site research must conclude there is something exceptional about the area and a particular, unfledged piece of ground to take the risk and make a decision both faithful and fateful.

Despite pinot noir’s ability to be used in sparkling, still white, rosé or still red wines ,some pinot noir vineyards outposts will fold, some will idle along and some will become dreams comes true.

The Northern Outpost For Vancouver Island Pinot Noir

40 Knots winery is Vancouver Island’s Northern pinot noir outpost. Though not the most Northerly pinot noir vineyard in B.C., it is a 160 km drive Northwest (1.5 degrees of more Northerly latitude) from the Cowichan Valley, home to the largest grouping of pinot noir vineyards on Vancouver Island. So, it is a fair jump up the map.

Its location near the base of the stubby thumb of the Comox peninsula that juts into the Salish Sea, parallels some other pinot noir areas such as the Mornington Peninsula in Australia or the Niagra Peninsula in Ontario.

Depending on other factors, the moderating effect of a nearby body of water can provide a longer growing season. When I lived in the Comox Valley for a few years, it was generally understood that the proximity of the Salish Sea gave Comox a growing season that was generally two weeks longer than the rest of the valley.

40 Knots Winery was founded by Bill Montgomery and opened in 2011. The original eighteen acre vineyard was planted in 2007 and 2008 with five acres of Pinot Noir planted in 2007 and one and a half acres in 2008. The majority of the rootstock arrived from France in 2005. Pinot noir comprises about a quarter of the acreage.

The first pinot noir (56 cases) released in 2009 was produced by Natasha Ponich (her first vintage as a winemaker) with consultation from B.C. based Christine Leroux who studied at the University of Bordeaux and was involved in a number of Bordeaux vintages.

From the outset, 40 Knots pinot noir showed well. The 2009 was favorably reviewed by Globe and Mail wine columnist Beppi Crosariol. It was also tasted by the B.C. pinot noir panel and received 90 points.

The winery was purchased by Layne Robert Craig and his wife, Brenda Hetman-Craig in July of 2014 after a two year search for the right vineyard property. They had been located in Calgary, were both working in high stress corporate jobs and were looking to do something different and to make a change in their lifestyle. Layne had grown up on a grain farm in Saskatchewan, so the idea of tending a vineyard encompassed moving forward and a return to his roots.

They felt that the 40 Knots founder Bill Montgomery had assembled all the right factors for starting a vineyard, including putting the right varietals in the right terroir along with the right equipment and infrastructure. This helped to convince them to make the leap.

40 Knots Winery is an outpost in terms of it’s latitude and geographical location but it is actually part of the community of Comox (pop. 14,000) and immediately adjacent to the town of Courtenay (pop. 28,000). This proximity to population has enabled 40 Knots to bind with the community in the valley and make itself a destination through its extensive programming of events, classes, seminars and more.

Layne took on the winery’s vineyard and winemaking management and Brenda handles the marketing, promotion and business aspects of 40 Knots.

The winemaking began with consulting advice from two very well respected winemakers Matt Dumayne from Okanagan Crush Pad (now Haywire Winery) and long time Okanagan winemaker Michael Bartier of Bartier Bros. Winery and Vineyard. Matt and Layne have both been involved in the winemaking in the subsequent decade of vintages.

From the beginning, the new owners placed a continuous focus on implementing farming practices that encourage thinking of the vineyard as a whole and tend towards self-sustainment. This means favouring the utilization of organic soil inputs, no herbicides or pesticides, minimal irrigation and utilizing biodynamic methodology. Ducks and sheep can be seen roaming the vineyard.

The winery leverages it’s Comox Valley spot to provide a host of reasons for locals and visitors alike to visit the winery. Their calendar of events includes: a wind chime workshop, craft nights, seaglass art instruction, fondue Fridays and a three level wine club. It’s small but elegant venues are available for a wide range of special events.

It’s an outpost yes, but an outpost with benefits.

40 Knots Vineyard Terroir

Within a half a kilometer from the Salish Sea, the soils consist of sandy gravelly marine over sandy gravelly morainal leading to schistic clay at 12-16' depths. The Elevation slopes 3° seaward. Hot to moderate day temperatures with cooling at night from the ocean breeze. Winters are very mild, seldom reaching below 0°C.

Farming: VSP (Vertical Shoot Position): Spur.

The Wines

The winery provided three wines for sampling and I was able to pull two more vintages from my cellar to provide a more in-depth portrait of pinot noir and its relation to amphora aging at 40 Knots. Here are my notes.

40 Knots Pinot Noir 2022

In The Glass

Quite pale in colour, almost a rosé and cedes very little on the nose at first but eventually showed pu-eh tea, light nutmeg, slightly confected cherry, pin cherry and some marionberry. The flavours are similar with light cherry/marionberry, pin cherry, and cranberry, succeeded by a lighter following wave of rose hip.

Overall, very delicate with light intensity of flavours though they are lengthy and thoroughly balanced and all ride on a singing acidity. Mandarin peel, dried mushroom and saffron crept in too as it opened up. The clarity of flavour, grace of its balance and persistence of flavours, light though they may be, is the charm here. B- ~ 90

In The Winery & Vineyard

The wine is sourced from all estate fruit and the clone is 777. De-stemmed with no crush to fermenters. 2-3 punch downs daily until native fermentation. Inoculated 50% with D254. Punched down 2 times daily until the cap sank. Racked to terracotta amphora for aging. 10 months of aging - 35% aged in clay amphorae, remainder in mostly neutral French oak.

2022 was off to a very slow start with unusually cool temperatures and higher precipitation but recovered by June bringing dry warm weather through to the end of October to allow high brix with zero disease. The average sunlight was between 14-16 hours during the growing period with an average monthly precipitation of 3.6cm. PH: 3.47 | RS: .93 | TA: .9 | ABV: 11.5 Cases produced: 800 Winemaker: Layne Craig

This wine won a bronze medal in the £20-£30 category in the 2024 Pinot Masters Sample for Review

40 Knots Pinot Noir 2020

In The Glass

Very pale with a garnet colour throughout. Begins with slightly exotic, very savoury spices, including dried roses and mandarin peel, saffron, pu-eh tea leaves and a touch of cloves. The flavours are as on the nose, the fruit is very savoury with a soft entry, very delicate flavours, tea-like, very well balanced. It’s light bodied with a long light saffron/dried mandarin peel finish and the tannins are very mature. Seems to be at its plateau. For current drinking. C+ ~ 88

In The Winery & Vineyard

The wine is sourced from all estate fruit and the clone is mainly 777 with about 10-15% clone 115. Pressed and aged 18 months aged in amphorae, with about 10% in Stainless for topping.

PH 3.55 | TA 6.82g/L | ABV 11.1% | RS: 1.8 Cases produced: 238 Winemaker: Layne Craig

Sample for Review

40 Knots Pinot Noir 115 Amphora 2017

In The Glass

The wine displays flowery, entwined notes of canned cherries, cloves and saffron on the nose and flavours. The flavours here are mostly gathered in the relatively plush mid-palate which then carries on to become the finish. Very rounded, smooth and approachable, the body and intensity are on the light side of medium. The flavours here have a little more weight but are less elaborated and though well balanced, it doesn’t feature the gentle tension of the 2022 and 2020 wines. A little less poise but overall, more flavour intensity. C+ to B- ~ 89

In The Winery & Vineyard

The wine is sourced from all estate fruit and the clone is 115.

Cool native fermentation, whole cluster in terracotta amphora. Extended maceration until 20th of December. Pressed and returned to terracotta, and left there until September 2018, then rested in neutral Burgundian oak, 2nd-4th fill for 8 months until bottling. Lees stirred by inverting barrels a couple of times/week. No filter, no fining, minimal effective sulfites.

PH: 3.55 | RS: .2 | TA: 5.4 | ABV: 11.0 Cases produced: 167 Winemakers: Matt Dumayne, Layne Craig

40 Knots Pinot Noir 2014

In The Glass

Pale with a garnet rim. Ripe slightly confected cherry shows on the nose. Good intensity. Some greater weight and heft on the palate expressing cherries, clove, preserved plums and sweet baking spices. Very well balanced. C+ to B- ~ 89

In The Winery & Vineyard

The wine is sourced from all estate fruit and the clone is mainly 777. ABV 12.0%. Aged in newer 1-3 year French oak barrels, and stainless steel for 10 months.

Cases produced: 145 Winemaker: Matt Dumayne

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In The Glass

Pale with a garnet rim, it’s beautifully scented with marionberry/blackberry, cloves, florals including violet and lilac, all intermingled with dried cherries and raspberry in the fruit baseline. There’s a more elevated intensity here compared with the other wines.

The clarity and persistence of flavours are present here too but are much more on the blackberry side versus the exotic tea/saffron ones found in the wines raised in amphora. There’s some very slight tannic friction just ahead of long finish that shows dried cherry and marionberry. The focused fruit flavours, persistent, fresh and pronounced, carry on well into the finish as it opened. An engaging wine showing some power while retaining balance and grace. Should still improve for a few more years. B- to B ~ 91

In The Winery & Vineyard

The wine is sourced from 100% estate fruit and the clones involved are 85% 777 and 15% 115. Aged 15% in amphorae, 85% in French oak, barrels turned for lees stirring weekly for 8-10 months. PH: 3.2 | ABV: 11.0

Cases produced: 398 Winemakers: Matt Dumayne, Layne Craig Sample for Review

General Notes on the Wines:

Overall, this was a particularly fascinating tasting. 40 Knots has been experimenting over the years with aging it’s pinot noirs to varying degrees in amphora and I was very interested to see its effects on the resulting wines.

There are only a handful of amphora aged wines made in B.C. and elsewhere for that matter, so my experience with terra cotta aged wines is admittedly limited. Up until now my general impression of such wines is that they are relatively unelaborated but possess unique, plush, rounded fruit flavours which were almost entirely located in the mid-palate. Very roughly put, most amphora wines I have had tasted thus far have been similar to simpler grand cru Beaujolais (though none were made from gamay). Yes, I certainly need to taste more amphora wines but I’m doing my best.

Wine being so complex, I hesitate to draw conclusions regarding the role of vintage, winemaker intention, clonal influence and the effects of various containers used for aging but here are a few observations that stood out for me in the tasting.

Judging by the relatively low alcohol levels, it is tricky to ripen pinot noir this far North yet the wines were extremely well balanced and seemed to have phenolic ripeness.
The wines were quite light in terms of fruit intensity and body but the flavours were focused, layered and though very savoury, were generally well elaborated.
The 2020 wine, which was the only one that was all amphora seemed to be the most developed and closer to the end of its drinking window.
The 2016 wine, which saw the most oak in combination with amphora had a very different set of fresher, juicier fruit flavours than any of the other wines, was more impressive overall and seemed generally to be more toward the middle of its drinking window.

Until next time.

Horseshoe Found - First Four Vintages

Brent Gushowaty — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 19:16:22 GMT

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

For Michaela and Pavel Horak, like many others, owning a winery began with a wish to change lifestyle and a random drive past a piece of ground that they fell in love with. In their case, the small parcel of land was in Cawston in the Similkameen Valley and the time was about eighteen years ago.

Both were professionals from non-farming backgrounds in Czechia (Czech Republic) who had first settled in Canada many decades ago. Beginning with a small house on three acres that included mature trees and a hay field, together through their own hard work and endless learning, they created a vineyard and built their winery. The winery was first licensed in 2019 and opened in 2020. The first pinot noir vintage was 2018.

For me, they seemed to appear “out of the blue” about a year or so ago at a BC VQA event. Of course no producing winery lands out of nowhere. Beginning a vineyard and winery from scratch requires most of a decade’s work to emerge from that “blue”. As the saying goes, “It takes ten years to be come an overnight success”.

Though not certified organic, Michaela and Pavel follow organic and biodynamic practices wherever possible. Weed control is manual while good bugs are encouraged. They continue to do all the vineyard and winery work themselves and will even do their best to deliver wine to your door if you live in the Okanagan or Vancouver.

Their winemaking approach is one of minimal intervention. Fermentations are done using native yeast. Their production is very small, around five thousand liters, with the pinot noir coming from a single acre. Horseshoe Found is one of the smallest licensed wineries in B.C..

And what of the name? It turns out that their land was once part of a local rodeo grounds and in converting the hayfield to grape cultivation, a horseshoe (one of many) was found. The first one, now hanging in the cellar and bolstered by their hard work, has proved to be a lucky one.

Horseshoe Found Pinot Noirs Current Vintage & Availability

Horseshoe Found’s First Four Pinot Noirs

I was pleased to be able to round up all of the winery’s first four pinot noir vintages. Here are my notes.

Horseshoe Found Pinot Noir 2018

In The Glass

Very pale with some garnet on the rim. Initially not that elaborate, mostly cherry aromas with some rhubarb, earthiness, and floral - violets or lilac. Similar lovely flavours grew after a few minutes in the glass, led by cherry, allied with savoury strawberry and pincherry. It then opened up beautifully on the nose to show some of the pinot noir magic including dried rose petals, damson plum, strawberries and violets. Graceful, subtle and heady at the same time, it's all persuasion and magnetism. The relatively restrained alcohol helps reveal the supple charms here. It's silky, savoury, feminine and for me Volnay-like with an exquisite balance and nary a static crackle to blemish the melody. Possibly the best mature pinot noir to come out of the Similkameen that I have tasted. It is often asked whether B.C. competes favourably with wines from around the world. I think that one would have great trouble finding an equivalent pinot noir from France or Oregon for example, at this price level (low thirties). B ~ 92

In The Winery & Vineyard

The Horseshoe Found 2018 pinot noir was harvested from the winery’s single vineyard on September 23, 2018 with Brix 23.1. The wine was fermented on skins for 10 days with indigenous yeast an then aged for 20 months in new French oak, and neutral barrels. The wine was bottled on September 19th 2020 unfiltered. Total production was 117 cases. Alcohol 13.8% · PH 3.77 · TA 6.6 · RS 1.4

In The Glass

Pale with garnet/tawny colour throughout. Dry, savoury versions of wild strawberry, pomegranate molasses, mulberry, black raspberry melded with autumn leaves and a lovely balance that is evident even on the nose. The flavour follows through and adds nutmeg, dried cherries and blueberries, a silky texture, a nerve of minerality and very mature softened tannins. A long finish shows an elegant, drifting, finely sifted blend of flavours with superb balance. Drinking well but the drying savoury fruit, advanced colour and tertiary tannins makes me think that this one is at or near the tipping point. For current drinking. B- ~ 90

In The Winery & Vineyard

The 2019 pinot noir was harvested from their single vineyard on October 2nd 2019 with Brix 22.5. The wine was fermented on the skins for 12 days with indigenous yeast and then aged for 22 months in new French oak and neutral barrels. the wine was bottled on September 26th 2021 unfiltered and unfined. Total production was 46 cases. Alcohol 13.2% | pH 3.78 | Titratable Acidity 6.8 | Residual Sugar 0.2

Horseshoe Found Pinot Noir 2021

In The Glass

The colour is pale with a ruby rim. On the nose, light vanilla, very savoury cherry, pom molasses, preserved cherry, touch of floral lilac, cherry and light pomegranate molasses. Good acidity but pretty simple and a touch too much alcohol showing for the resident fruit. Initially it was not long on complexity and nuance. Later it opened up to reveal more length and charm, leaning towards pomegranate molasses versus cherry, a touch of earthiness and some wild strawberry, all well balanced. The flavours are relatively simple, and it has a silky texture but alcohol keeps coming to the fore. It does keep opening, retaining floral, savoury wild strawberry notes, a touch of minerality and has some charm. The finish also lengthened as it opened and became softer and more graceful overall. The through line here to the other Horseshoe Found vintages is the lovely balance on the finish.

2021 was a very difficult year for wineries in the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys. Throughout the interior vineyards, it was difficult to get a relatively balanced wine in the face of an unprecedented heat dome producing alcohol levels high enough to force harvest in mid-September. Many Okanagan pinot noirs were off their game in one way or another. Wildfires were a second stumbling block in this year but there’s no trace of smoke in this wine. This was literally pulled this out of the fire of the heat dome. The challenges of the vintage seemed to have interfered with a pinot noir that in other vintages showed superbly. C+ ~ 88

In The Winery & Vineyard

The Horseshoe Found 2021 pinot noir was harvested from the Cawston vineyard on September 17, after the historical heat dome with temperatures rising above 45°C in June and July. Some fruit was lost due to these extreme weather elements. The wine was fermented for 11 days with its own natural yeast and then aged for 18 months in new and neutral French oak barrels. It was bottled on April 23, 2023 unfined and unfiltered. A natural, vegan friendly wine, total production was 145 cases. Alcohol 14.40% | pH 3.87 | Titratable Acidity 6.80 | Residual Sugar 0.60

Sample for review

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In The Glass

Pale with a ruby/garnet rim. Initially on the nose, a mixture of savoury berry fruits including mulberry, pomegranate along with light touches of caramel/molasses and cinnamon. A lovely balance is evident even on the nose. Horseshoe Found pinot noirs seem to open out quite nicely after fifteen or twenty minutes and this was especially evident on this 2020 vintage. The aromas swelled to include fairly savoury forms of pomegranate and mulberry, dried blueberry, wild strawberry and chestnut.

This wine showed a fresher fruit intensity on the taste than the other vintages in this tasting and included notes of cherry, strawberry, mulberry, pomegranate, some baking spice and dried leaves, as well as a pleasing, vibrant, mildly astringent note that I associate with the presence of limestone in the vineyard soils. The finely textured complex finish is very long and shows a wonderful poise all the way to the last taste horizon. This should hold very well for 2 to 4 years. B to B+ ~ 93

In The Winery & Vineyard

The 2020 Pinot Noir was harvested from the single vineyard on the property on October 2nd 2020 with Brix 24. The wine was fermented on skins for 10 days with indigenous yeast then aged for 18 months in new French oak and neutral barrels. the wine was bottled on May 6th unfiltered and unfined to maintain its natural character. Total production was 162 cases. Alcohol 13.50% | pH 3.69 } Titratable Acidity 6.38 | Residual Sugar 1.68

Notes:

Some speculative thoughts on the wines.

I am no winemaker or vineyard manager. I don’t know what choices the winemaker faced but the wines generally seem quite forward in colour, ranging from garnet to almost tawny. Development seems similarly advanced. Although pinot noir can show a wide range of depths, colours and speeds of development, it seemed to be a little unusual.

I can’t help but wonder that with PH numbers of 3.69 or above in the wines whether this is contributing to the advanced appearance and development? On the other hand, with the winery’s commitment to minimal intervention it may just be part of accepting what nature gives. It certainly hasn’t harmed the quality of the wines as you see from the tasting notes.

But here’s another thought. When first tasting Horseshoe Found pinot noir, I remember thinking it reminded me right away of some I had tasted a while before from Eau Vivre Winery. It had the same very pale and advanced colours, similar savoury, floral flavours and were both very light and beautifully balanced. I knew they were both from the Similkameen but it turns out they are both from Cawston and are in fact across Lowe Drive from each other. You could walk from one vineyard to the other in less than a minute. So maybe it’s simply the dirt as they share an almost identical geographical terroir? I welcome all comments and perspectives on this. This is why wine in general and pinot noir in particular are so fascinating.

The Promise of Pinot Noir in the Similkameen Valley

It has long puzzled me as to why there seem to be so few interesting pinot noirs coming from vineyards in the Similkameen valley.

In terms of growing degree days, variety of aspects, lowered disease and pest pressure due to prevailing dry winds, and other basic growing conditions, the Similkameen Valley seems to lack for nothing. Most intriguing though was the tantalizing promise that the Similkameen possessed great pinot noir's magic ingredient, its philosopher's stone - limestone.

The Okanagan and Similkameen valleys are geologically quite diverse and though the Okanagan valley has very little limestone, it is present in some places in the Similkameen. Minerality is a much debated subject in wine circles. What is it? How could it get there? How do rocks influence flavour? The debate continues on this.

What I can say is that in my experience, there are particular recognizable nuances and flavours present in some wines grown in soils possessing limestone. For me it presents as an astringent aspect similar to but distinguishable from that of tannins. It’s like a thin seam of vibrancy or energy that adds complexity and interest to pinot noir as well as other wines both red and white. Limestone is woven through many of the vineyards and wines of Burgundy and other celebrated wine regions throughout the world.

How important can limestone be for pinot noir?

The search for limestone influenced soils is what drove Josh Jensen the founder of Calera Winery to search California to find the right location for establishing his pinot noir vineyards. Jensen fell in love with pinot noir when he apprenticed with winemakers in Burgundy. His winemaker mentors were adamant that great pinot noir must be grown in limestone-rich soils such as those in the Côte d’Or in Burgundy.

Upon his return from France in 1971 he spent two years searching California to find limestone soils. The search led ultimately to the steep slopes of Mount Harlan where Calera Wines resides today. He is widely credited with proving that quality pinot noir could be made in California and his pinot noirs are mineral driven and superb.

The story of that search and Jensen’s subsequent struggles to master pinot noir, was told in Canadian author Marq de Villiers’ book called The Heartbreak Grape and that tag has been repeated relentlessly, by wine writers, to pinot noir ever since.

The Similkameen Valley Is Known For It’s Other Mineral Streaked Reds So Why Not Pinot Noir?

That minerality associated with limestone’s presence is evident in many red wines from the Similkameen made from syrah, the Bordeaux varieties and others but Similkameen pinot noir has not shared in that reputation.

One reason may be that the Similkameen's ability to produce reds of elevated intensity and body from other red grapes influenced the approach to crafting pinot noir by some wineries there. Certainly, a decade or so back, two of the more prominent Similkameen wineries making pinot noir had a house style that emphasized robust, heavily extracted reds and I think their pinot noirs were carried along in that approach.

Strictly by the numbers, of the seventeen properties listed in the Similkameen only six or seven by my count, currently make a pinot noir so there are simply not that many of them. Also, a number of Similkameen pinot noir growers sell their fruit to wineries outside the Similkameen. Additionally, some Okanagan wineries who have Similkameen pinot noir vineyards simply use it as a contributing part of their pinot noir blends. I don’t remember seeing a pinot noir from an Okanagan based winery labeled as Similkameen single vineyard. It may just be a kind of chicken and egg situation i.e. since Similkameen pinot noir doesn’t currently have a big reputation, why feature it with a separate single vineyard bottling?

The Horseshoe Found pinot noirs demonstrate to me that limestone has been struck as it were, in the Similkameen and found its way into the pinot noirs. It supplies an elaborating element to their wines and shows a very encouraging glimmer of pinot noir’s potential in this area.

I hope other B.C. wineries will consider exploring and promoting pinot noir’s potential for quality in the Similkameen Valley.

Postscript May 31, 2024 Sorry to report that since this article was published the winery has announced that it will be closing permanently. This was due to the extreme frost that hit the Similkameen Valley in January 2024 that severely damaged many vineyards including theirs.

Until next time.

Pinot Noir Thriving On Vancouver Island

Brent Gushowaty — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 19:51:38 GMT

British Columbia’s Vancouver Island is a geologically complex isle, a little bigger than Sicily, half-tucked into a Pacific Northwest pocket on the west side of North America.

Tectonically, it is surrounded by the active boundaries of three tectonic plates – the North American, Pacific and Juan de Fuca, and the Cascadia subduction zone. All are prone to volcanic and earthquake activity, making it easy to imagine a geological history that includes volcanoes, mountain folding, earthquakes, tsunamis and other tectonic events. Add in periods of ocean submersion and resulting marine sediments, glaciers, and morainal deposits, and the extensive diversity of soil types, slopes, altitudes, and prospects in Vancouver Island’s geography is no mystery.

The Cowichan Valley sits in the Southeast corner of Vancouver Island, south of Vancouver, not far from the Salish Sea - centered about the 48th parallel one degree south of the Canada/U.S. border.

The climate is classified as maritime Mediterranean. It sits in the rain shadow of the Vancouver Island Range, one of the protective necklaces of mountains that run along the center of Vancouver Island. Though a decidedly cool climate, the average temperature in the Cowichan Valley is one of the highest in Canada. It has a long frost-free growing season, and the rain that does fall is mainly in Winter.

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Cowichan Valley Sub-GI

The Cowichan Valley was the first region outside the Okanagan Valley to be recognized as a sub-GI in June 2020.

Cowichan Valley Sub-GI - From: Winegrowers British Columbia

The 350 square kilometer Cowichan Valley Sub-GI surrounds the city of Duncan. It extends from the coast between Maple Bay and Mill Bay (in the east), along Cowichan River to Cowichan Lake (to the west) and as far south as the village of Cobble Hill. The vineyards range in elevation up to about 250 meters. Virtually all the fourteen Cowichan Valley wineries have some pinot noir planted, and ten consistently produce still red pinot noir. Numerous sparkling pinot noirs and rosés are also made. The total pinot noir vineyard area of pinot noir is presently boutique level, about 25 hectares, though more is coming fast.

The commercial era of wine production in the Cowichan Valley dates to the very early nineties, but a confluence of people and events in the last ten years, combined with the uniqueness and excellence of its cool climate pinot noirs, the area is beginning to receive the wider recognition it deserves.

Some of the first pinot noir vines were planted in and around 1990 at Venturi-Schulze Vineyards, Blue Grouse Vineyards, Zanatta Winery (then Vignetti-Zanatta) and Alderlea Vineyards. For a wine industry that is only thirty years old, having the right grapes in the right vineyard sites initially is crucial because, despite thorough research beforehand, there are no guarantees that a particular grape variety will thrive and produce superior wine there. Fortunately, many pioneers guessed right when they planted pinot noir in the Cowichan Valley.

Wineries such as Glenterra Vineyards, Averill Creek Vineyard, and Emandare Vineyards also all have older pinot noir vines that helped set the baseline for the grape in the valley.

The Wine World Takes Notice

Stephen Spurrier, the celebrated English wine writer whose “Judgement of Paris” tasting in 1976 showed that great wine could come from other wine regions (California), not just the hallowed vineyards of Europe.

Stephen Spurrier Speaking at BC Pinot Noir Celebration

In his keynote speech at the B.C. Pinot Noir Festival he attended in 2015, he said that – wine is all about the three P’s - people, place, product and assured us that B.C. had them all. It’s increasingly apparent over the last decade that all three are present in the Cowichan Valley.

Small Things Accumulate to Bring Change

Progress is often an accumulation of small things, but it can make an appreciable difference when you are this small. The nature of wine is that it touches and depends on numerous factors that find their way into the final liquid in the glass. The past decade in the Cowichan Valley has brought pinot noir to the fore. Some of these changes could be more expected, i.e. increasing vine age, a maturing industry where techniques become increasingly shared and new technology.

The GI and Sub-GI framework rightly brings attention to the importance of place in understanding wine. But ultimately, at the vineyard level, the right grapes in the right place, tended by the right people, can make magic happen in your glass. Under the “People” heading of Spurrier’s list, it’s worthwhile to note a few of the Cowichan Valley pioneers who set forces in motion or helped move the dial for pinot noir.

Emandare: Fleurie Vineyard a 3.5-Hectare Adventure

Emandare Tasting Room

Planted in 2001, the Fleurie vineyard North of Duncan supplied high-quality pinot noir and other grapes to wineries as far away as Saanich through to 2011. At that time, it was essentially abandoned by its grower/owner.

In 2013, after a province-wide search, Mike Nierychlo and his wife Robin began their “3.5-hectare adventure” called Emandare Vineyard in the Cowichan. A faithful, passionate advocate of low-intervention winemaking and nurturing vineyard soil, all his wines, led by pinot noir and sauvignon blanc, have moved from strength to strength in the decade since they began.

Venturi-Schulze: Never Too Old to Learn

Left to Right: Michelle, Giordano, Marilyn

Giordano Venturi, the talented, eclectic, inventive founder and winemaker at Venturi-Schulze, has always been one for learning and adapting. From diesel electric maintainer to a degree in education to teaching electronics to designing hardware and software systems, he has a track record of remaining open to and learning from the new. After twenty vintages or so at Venturi-Schulze, for four years, as he found time, he pursued a Master of Wine course in part to travel to other wine areas and be exposed to different wine-making ideas. He brought that experience back to inform his winemaking, notably to his much-improved estate pinot noir.

Averill Creek Vineyards: Onward and Upward

Established in 2001 to make Canada’s best pinot noir, Averill Creek has produced remarkably consistent, fine-quality estate and reserve pinot noirs that almost single-handedly established the reputation for the grape in the Cowichan Valley, especially between 2006 and 2014. Winemakers naturally influence the style, quality and ongoing dreams of a winery and its wines. They can bring with them accumulated experience, fresh ideas and new perspectives. In 2018, the dedicated owner Andy Johnston engaged Brent Rowland, who brought with him an impeccable pinot noir winemaking resumé that included stints in top wineries known for their pinot noir in Australia, California, New Zealand, Niagara and France. He favours whole cluster fermentation for pinot noir, has introduced concrete fermentation vessels, reduced fining and filtering and a range of winemaking/elevage techniques, seeking to take Averill Creek to the next level.

Andy Johnston in the Averill Creek Tasting Room

Alderlea Vineyards: Changing of the Guard

Both left corporate careers to pursue their dream of a small, quality winery based on standard organic practices. Though not formally trained, they share the winemaking, and both have won national awards for their wines. The vineyard sports a diverse cover cropped, pollinator-friendly and no tilling.

To the typical Cowichan Valley mix of pinot clones such as 113, 115, 667 & 777, they also grow two thicker-skinned Alsace clones, 538 Colmar and 93, that help create a darker, more decadent pinot noir that nevertheless remains supple. The evolution of pinot noir in the Cowichan Valley Sub-GI trends towards lighter, ethereal, precision fruit, but Alderlea goes its own way, showing the scope of pinot noir’s capacities.

Mostly self-taught but with a background in chemistry and biology, Zac became, in his words, “a nerdy Garagiste home winemaker for two decades & taught winemaking online for ten years.” The results are evident in his pinot noirs' developing complexity and poise.

Saison Vineyard: Chef Meets Baker

Not all vineyards are part of the estate holdings of a winery. Grower-only vineyards also have a role in most wine regions, supplying grapes, often under contract to the Saison Vineyard wineries there. The availability of Saison Vineyard pinot noir fruit beginning about ten years ago in the Cowichan Valley proved a well-timed to move a level up in pinot quantity and quality in the valley.

Frederic Desbiens, the chef and Ingrid Lehwald, the baker, met in White Rock one day when Frederic was trying to source some bread and stopped at her bakery. Jump to 2009 when the couple began planting the Saison Vineyard in Cowichan Valley, where Ingrid was raised. Dry-farmed, the vineyard is planted at a higher density (about 50% greater) than a typical North American site to have higher yields in the same area and produce more concentrated flavours. Frederic and Ingrid are dedicated farmers who work the vineyard meticulously and mostly themselves. Frederic calls it “attentive farming.” The plant responds to the growing season, and they react to it.

By 2012, Saison was beginning to sell pinot noir grapes to a handful of wineries that would eventually include Unsworth Vineyards, Blue Grouse Vineyards, Rocky Creek Vineyards, Rathjen Cellars and Alderlea Vineyards, all on Vancouver Island, as well as Domaine Jasmin on Thetis Island and Vista D’Oro in the Fraser Valley.

The timing could not have been better for Unsworth (recently launched) and Blue Grouse (who had just changed hands), who had plans to expand their pinot noir offerings but had little estate pinot noir themselves. They began using Saison pinot noir fruit to increase their case volume. Since then, Saison fruit has been a component in most Unsworth pinot noir bottlings and the Blue Grouse Quill pinot noir. It importantly meant they needed less to seek pinot noir fruit from outside sources before the Sub-GI implementation. It enabled them to move towards wines with 100% Cowichan fruit.

The additional volume of pinot noir fruit was welcome, but the exceptional quality of Saison pinot noir grapes also became apparent when, beginning in 2014, the pinot noirs started winning medals. Unsworth, mainly, ended up winning a string of them. In Canada’s 2021 Wine Align National Wine Awards alone, pinot noirs partially or entirely Saison fruit garnered a Platinum for Rathjen Cellars, a Silver and Bronze for Unsworth and a Bronze for Blue Grouse.

But the biggest splash in the wine award world was at the Decanter Magazine World Wine Awards 2021 when the Unsworth 2019 Pinot Noir containing Saison fruit earned 91 points and a Silver Medal. This was the highest score ever for a Vancouver Island wine and one of only a handful of Canadian Pinot Noirs to get 90+ points overseas.

Unsworth Vineyards: Tim Turyk Not the Type of Guy to Sit On the Beach

Tim and Colleen Turyk

Tim Turyk had retired from a long career in the fishing industry and was vacationing near the Cowichan Valley in 2009. He made an offer on a piece of land he had spied. Unsworth Vineyard and his let’s-build-a-family-winery retirement project began with his son Chris as overall manager. The winemaking at Unsworth has been ably helmed since 2015 by cool climate specialist Dan Wright, who worked vintages in the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario, Orange in Australia, Marlborough, New Zealand, and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Since it began, the winery’s reputation has grown via a range of impressive wines, including whites, sparkling, rosés and reds. On the pinot noir front, early on, they were able to supplement their two acres of estate pinot noir with Saison fruit - a great piece of luck.

Dan Wright, Winemaker and Chris Turyk, Marketing Director

Blue Grouse Vineyards: Changing of the Guard Twice

Blue Grouse Vineyards, the second Vancouver Island winery to receive its license, was begun by Dr. Hans Kiltz in 1992, and he made pinot noir as part of his lineup. It was subsequently purchased by Paul Brunner and his family in 2012. The winery was revitalized under the “Blue Grouch,” as Paul Brunner called himself. He was thinking big, as the effort included building a spectacular new winery tasting room and accommodations and two rounds of new vineyard plantings, including pinot noir. The winery became a real Cowichan Valley destination. The years since have also contained several warmer vintages that have confirmed that impression.

In that same year, Bailey Williamson, a former chef, took over the winemaking, and his steady hand helped lift both the quantity and quality of the wines over the past decade at Blue Grouse. He was also very instrumental in coordinating the Cowichan Valley’s Sub-GI application.

The second Blue Grouse change came in December 2022 when the winery was sold to a group from the same Jackson family that had purchased Unsworth.

The current winemaker Stacy Hornemann was appointed lead winemaker for Blue Grouse in May 2024, taking over all winemaking responsibilities for the Blue Grouse and Quill brands. Before joining Blue Grouse, Hornemann worked at Jackson Family Wines' Stonestreet Estate in Sonoma.

Change in Climate or Kinder Vintages?

Some Cowichan Valley winemakers would say that before 2010, the good, riper vintages were running about 3 out of 10 and in this period, and vintages, such as 2006 and 2009 really stood out for pinot noir in the valley. 2010 and 2011, however, were cool, rainy and challenging. 2012 was warmer and kinder, but the next four, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, were all warmer again. I believe that this quartet of vintages allowed Cowichan Valley pinot noirs to demonstrate their real potential.

Cowichan Valley Growing Degree Days 2008 - 2023

The degree days and other meteorological measurements may have been only incrementally better. Still, the wines were noticeably richer and deeper in flavour, with Cowichan Valley pinot noir notes of black fruits, forest floor, mulberry and more. Other factors were also in play, of course, particularly increasing vine age. Still, this continuing string of riper vintages has been an essential boost to pinot’s profile and to understanding the potential for pinot noir in the Cowichan Valley.

The Final Product

Spurrier’s last and perhaps most important “P” is about the product. Over the last decade, more and more wineries are making better and better pinot noir and are doing it more often. Global recognition has shown that Cowichan Valley pinot noir is not just a local hero; it can compete favourably with pinot noirs worldwide. The quality of the wines and the momentum of the grape is not likely to diminish. Passionate, skilled winemakers are hard at work trying to unlock the enormous potential of this particular piece of dirt. Expect the volume of pinot noir wine from the Cowichan to mushroom over the next three to five years. More wine to sell should result in broader distribution and growing attention, or precisely what a Sub-GI should be about.

In Summary

With vine age at 30 years in places and warmer vintages allowing greater grape expression, the question is, has an overall pinot noir style emerged from the Cowichan Valley? That remains to be seen because the sample size is so tiny. Results have been up and down, reflecting the variations in elaboration techniques, available clones and rootstocks, and a small sample of vineyard sites at three to four percent of B.C.’s 540-hectare pinot noir total. What we have seen among the many misses is some inspiring hits, and that knowledge gives big hopes for the Cowichan.

There are, however, some differences between Cowichan Valley pinots and those from the central and Northern Okanagan Valley. Overall, Cowichan Valley wines are lower in alcohol, higher in natural acidity, less exposed to oak in the winery and show a more layered transparency of focused fruit that evokes the lighter end of Oregon pinots. The fruit profiles differ slightly, with central Okanagan pinots generally showing primary cherry, and strawberry notes and wood-influenced touches of vanilla and baking spices. North of Kelowna, the wines increasingly display “soprano” red fruits like cranberry, chokecherry, pin cherry and fresh pomegranate. Cowichan Valley pinot noirs, on the other hand, show savoury blueberry, blackberry, mulberry, marionberry and other lighter-to-medium berry fruits, as well as a note of wet forest floor savour. The more delicate touch of oak in the Cowichan Valley also seems to result in finer-grained, less robust tannins than their Okanagan Valley counterparts.

This all speaks to there being a wide range of styles in quality B.C. pinot noir. They are all a work in progress. To be continued.

Pinot's Progress Tasting Series

Brent Gushowaty — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 21:02:21 GMT

One of the results of my needing to pause this web site for a time is that the pinot noirs in my cellar have had an opportunity to slumber and develop for an additional four years or so. My collection is not deep but it is wide and includes wines that go back fifteen vintages and more. Many are inaugural vintages or for a variety of reasons, such as changing ownership or shuffled winery priorities, no longer produced.

How They’re Doing The province’s pinot noirs are mostly opened far too young, usually in the first three years. Like their counterparts in the better known pinot noir regions, many need time to develop out fully and show what they are capable of. So, this begins a series of reviews to taste wines that are more than three years old to see how some of these older pinot noirs have fared.

Blue Mountain Block 14 Gravel Force Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017

This was the inaugural vintage of Blue Mountain’s three single vineyard pinot noirs that also include their Wild Terrain Block 9, and River Flow Block 23.

The Wine in 2019

When I tasted this wine initially after its release in the fall of 2019 it had firm fruit flavours along with memorable clarity and immediacy. It wasn’t Burgundian, it just simply was Burgundy, reminding me specifically of mid-level premier cru Beaune or Pommard. In saying that it just was Burgundy I don’t mean it was a successful imitation of one and anyway, the term “Burgundian” is thrown around far too much. Given the range of styles and quality levels even in the Côte d'Or, the term is fairly meaningless. What I mean is that like the Burgundies that I find enamouring, it was an unclouded expression of just terroir only, front and center. The flavours were not behind a scrim of misplaced remnants of fermentation and/or élevage choices made by winemakers.

Any winery chasing finer, terroir focused pinot noirs strive to “get out of the way” and let the wine express itself. Many try but few succeed in any pinot noir region including Burgundy. I remember first tasting this in 2019, struck by what I was finding and thought “they’ve done it!”.

Blue Mountain Pinot Noirs Current Vintage & Availability

The Wine in 2023

I would have predicted that the 2017 Gravel Force would have retained the bigger, firmer fruit flavour profile but grown more involved and complex. Predicting how any wine will taste a number of years down the road is like another kind of blind tasting and has about the same success ratio. Wine in general and pinot noir in particular always has something new to show you. It will always go its own way. This one certainly did.

By 2023, the Gravel Force 2017 had let go of the bigger firmer fruit to show a much lighter, silky texture and a very graceful balance.

What ties the two snapshots of this wine together is the absolute clarity and flavour of terroir displayed without a distracting note. It’s presence in the glass is clear and immediate.

Demure and perfumed with autumn leaves, flecks of cinnamon, wild strawberry and violets. This all follows through on the palate. Graceful, airy and poised from the beginning through a lingering finish, it's a floating wave as clear as Ella Fitzgerald's voice. Supported by a finely calibrated acidity, there isn't a misplaced note. This is world class wine making. The texture is remarkable and the flavours should develop further with time. If this sounds rhapsodic, so be it. They’ve done it. 92

Other Notes

Blue Mountain released its first pinot noir vintage in 1991. Founded by Ian & Jane Mavety, their son Matt is now the winemaker and general manager. For more than a dozen years the emphasis in Blue Mountain’s pinot noirs has been to adjust their winemaking let the site show through. This has included gentler wine transfer, lighter extraction, unfined bottling, fermentation with native yeasts and more. Their long experience with their vineyard site showed them that three areas of their vineyards, due to soil differences and topography, consistently produced unique pinot noir expressions. Each of the single vineyard blocks Gravel Force, Wild Terrain, and River Flow were named to evoke these differences.

Gravel Force comes from vines that are over thirty years old and consist of clones 115 and 667. Gravel Force Block 14 pinot noir 2017 was first released in September 2019.

Stag's Hollow Pinot Noirs 2020

Brent Gushowaty — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 03:01:43 GMT

Stag’s Hollow was founded by Larry Gerelus and Linda Pruegger in 1992, at the beginning of the modern era of B.C. wine when there were only about 30 existing wineries.

They established the Stag’s Hollow home vineyard and built it out over the next fifteen years or so. In 2011, another 18 acres of raw land was purchased 2km North of the home vineyard. Shuttleworth Creek Vineyard is named for the creek that runs through it, and much of it was planted to a variety of pinot noir Dijon clones. The new terroir and the expanded clonal varieties gave a new wider range of options for crafting their pinot noirs.

A word about the “Hollow“in Stag’s Hollow. I interviewed Larry and Linda along with their longtime winemaker Dwight Sick at the winery several times while doing research for the book I am writing on B.C. pinot noir. Not having been to the winery before, I had presumed that Stag’s hollow was simply a fanciful winery name and that a “hollow” was a clearing at the bottom of a hill or some such geographical feature.
Not so. A hollow is another name for a kettle i.e. a large hole, like a giant kettle, formed when chunks of glacier melted under the deposited soils at the vineyard 12,000 years ago. I discovered this was no mere dip in the landscape! Vines, including pinot noir were planted in the steep sides of the kettle, giving them great sun exposure. It is just one of the remarkable geographical features in the Okanagan Falls area that gives the wines such variety.

The current winemaker Keira LeFranc was born and raised in Penticton and took over from Dwight Sick in 2018. Larry Gerelus and Linda Pruegger sold the winery to Eric Liu, the owner of Bench 1775 Winery, in 2019, but they remained as managers, leading the team until April of 2021, when they shifted into retirement.

Stag’s Hollow Winery is located in the Okanagan Falls Sub-GI. British Columbia's wine regions are currently broken up into nine Geographical Indications (GIs), similar to 'appellations' used in other countries. These GIs are determined based on analysis of similar soils, climate, annual weather, etc. The Okanagan Valley GI is further broken down into four sub-Geographical Indications (sub-GIs), including Okanagan Falls, that was created in 2018. The 800 hectares of the Okanagan Falls Sub-GI (150ha of vines) stretches roughly from Peach Cliff in the North to Vaseux Lake in the South and from approximately Highway 97 in the West to the steep granite hillsides in the East with and elevation that ranges from 400m to 500m.

The Okanagan Falls sub-GI is home to a wide variety of pinot noir styles including what I think are some of the very best pinot noir wines in the province.

Stag’s Hollow was one of a handful of wines that first piqued my interest in British Columbia pinot noir as I am a great fan of red Burgundy. The 2006 vintage from Stag’s Hollow, Tantalus, Tinhorn Creek, See Ya Later, Foxtrot and others was an excellent one. The wines were varied and engaging. There are still a few from that vintage left in my cellar.

These wines rested in the cellar for a year before they were tasted.

Stag’s Hollow Simply Noir 2020

In The Glass

Predominantly pinot noir, this is an interesting mix of preserved cherries, kirsch, chestnut, lilac, dried rose petals, both sweet and earthy at the same time, with just a touch of alcohol heat. In the glass, pinot noir plays lead but the rounded merlot and the easy gamay both harmonize capably. The texture is light and shows some complex fresh and savoury cherry fruit intensity. Simple, balanced and easy, it also includes a bit of tangy cherry cough drop. The alcohol is a little elevated but the fruit keeps up with it. After fifteen minutes or so in the glass, it softened and spread its wings nicely. The finish lingers with a last savoury fruit note and a farewell glimpse of dolcetto tang.
C+ ~ 88

In The Winery & Vineyard

The wine has always been mainly a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay, similar to Burgundian Passetoutgrain but here there are additional small amounts of other varietals. The wide range of grapes planted at Stag’s Hollow has some reflection in this Simply Noir blend of pinot noir, merlot, gamay and dolcetto. The 2020 is approximately 65% Pinot Noir from their Shuttleworth Creek Vineyard, with the remainder consisting of 22.6% merlot 5.5% gamay and 4.2% Dolcetto, a grape added since 2017 when it was discovered to be a natural flavour match for the blend.

Each lot was hand-harvested, sorted, destemmed and lightly crushed into open top one ton fermenters. The lots were cold-soaked for 3 days before being inoculated with selected yeasts. Once fermentation was completed, all lots were pressed into French oak barrels. The wine went through malolactic fermentation and was then assembled, lightly filtered and bottled in June 2021. 440 cases produced. 14.0%

Stag's Hollow Pinot Noirs Current Vintage & Availability

Stag’s Hollow Stag’s Hollow Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020

In The Glass

A little reluctant on the aroma with some flat cherry/strawberry and a developing note of berry fruit and bramble. I have tasted this wine a number of times in the past (though not for a while) and always found it to have good concentration with lots of promise but found the tannins, though not harsh, ultimately muffled the fruit, keeping it from emerging even if cellared for 3-5 years. I wondered if increasing vine age (about 30 years) and/or a different winemaker would produce a difference.

The answer was definitely yes. At first it seemed the same as previous wines, tight, dark cherry fruit, good fruit intensity but uneager to show much. What was different was the length, focus and clarity of the finish which really stretched out, diminishing very slowly. This unpacked further and opened out, a savoury, lengthy, dark red fruit intensity showing marionberry and baked cherries. This emanating, clear, long wave of flavour is not flashy but is difficult to accomplish in pinot noir. Very well done and promises much for the future. Overall, a spare yet exceptional wine. B- to B ~ 91

In The Winery & Vineyard

Three clones of Pinot Noir grow in the winery’s Stag’s Hollow Vineyard, the winery’s original vineyard. This wine is a co-ferment of clones 115 and 667. It was aged 12 months in French oak barrels (16% new). 195 cases produced.

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In The Glass

Aromas of cherries, kirsch and some breezy sweet baking spices, silky and breezy, immediately beckon from the glass along with some complexity involving strawberry and marionberry. A noticeably soft and silky texture with cherry and strawberry, lively flourishes of fruit and sweet spice notes as on the nose. Goes straight to a pirouetting mid-palate that further slides into a second darker, supple, fruit layer built on rich cherry and wild strawberry. Smooth and exceptionally elegant with a beautiful accompanying acidity that keeps the flavours fresh. The Dijon clones definitely class it up, make it more forward and showy with red fruit flourishes. Elegant, flirty, balanced - a real showoff.
B- to B ~ 91

In The Winery & Vineyard

This is a blend of six Dijon clones (777, 115, 828, 114, 667 and Pommard), all fermented and aged separately for 12 months before the final wine was assembled.

Sustainably farmed grapes were 100% destemmed, without crushing, leaving as much whole berry fruit as possible. After a 4-day cold soak, the must was warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts. Hand punch-downs started at 3 times daily and tapered off to once a day as tannins progressed. Free run juice was drained off and the skins were pressed off as soon as the primary ferment was completed. All lots were racked into 300L French oak barrels (17% new, remainder 2nd & 3rd fill), where each lot rested, untouched, for 12 months, before being blended, stabilized and bottled. 175 cases produced.

Stag’s Hollow Renaissance Pinot Noir 2020

In the Glass
This wine is a mix of grapes from their Stag’s and Shuttleworth vineyards and tastes like a grander version of Stag’s vineyard, more supple more accessible, more complex and more intense but retaining the focused fruit element. A delightful mix of cherry, mulberry, marionberry, tobacco, cloves, nutmeg and gingerbread. Balanced, rich, intense and silky, there’s a spare, intense dark fruit wafer of flavour here. It’s big in body but not alcohol driven, has real flavour clarity and makes me think Cote de Nuit. Power and elegance combined that really shows itself in the second half. B to B+ ~ 93

In The Winery & Vineyard

The clonal mix here is 39% 667, 31% Pommard, and 30% 115. Hand-picked and hand-sorted estate grown lots of pinot noir were fermented in small 1 ton, open-topped fermenters. The 30% whole berry ferments were punched down 3 times daily by hand and then pressed directly into 100% French oak barrels (15% new 300L hogsheads). Each clone was fermented, pressed and barrelled down separately. After malolactic fermentation it was aged for an additional 13 months on fine lees before being racked and blended. 100 cases produced.

Winemaker’s Notes:

“The pinot noir planted to our Shuttleworth Creek property is gradually becoming some of the most intriguing and beautiful fruit we’re producing. Of the 7 Dijon clones we have planted to this vineyard, it is the Pommard clone that continues to captivate me, and whose haunting aromatics are showcased in this blend. Almost 2/3 of this iteration, though, comes from the concentrated 667 and 115 clones from our 25+ year old estate vines, used to give this wine its signature weight and structure. We’ve created an impressively elegant Pinot Noir that is excitingly indicative of the quality of fruit coming out of both estate vineyards.”

Samples for review.

Back At It... A New Day, a New Deal, a New Web Site

Brent Gushowaty — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 17:09:48 GMT

For those who followed and read my previous blog bcpinotnoir.com created in 2013, you might have been aware that it had been rather quiet over the last few years. Starting in 2020, my postings were chiefly about the pinot noirs to be found at the Vancouver Wine Festival. Absent were the regular panel tastings and stories from time to time about wineries or events related to B.C. pinot noir.

The tastings, intended to be an ongoing survey of all B.C. pinot noirs, always contained side by side comparisons to equivalent level pinot noirs from around the world and were the main focus. Unfortunately, those panel tastings were interrupted by covid and then in the midst of that, life got in the way… in a big way, that left me stopped on a siding well off the main track.

Rings &Vintages

Still, my fascination with wine in general and B.C. pinot noir in particular remained and I managed to continue doing some interviewing for my long gestating book on B.C. Pinot Noir.

Finally, I am back onto a more central track. Changing the web site from my old Wordpress platform to this new one is part of this renewal going forward.

All the posts from the previous bcpinotnoir.com blog have been brought over to this new one bcpinotnoirinfo.com

Thank you for reading BC Pinot Noir. This post is public so feel free to share it.

The reason for the change to Substack is twofold. Substack is built from the ground up make it as easy as possible for writers to create, communicate and publish easily and frequently. Unlike other blog software platforms, Substack has a subscription based newsletter component that fuses a newsletter with a blog i.e. every edition of a newsletter written, goes out to subscribers and is also automatically added to a blog as you see here. This and a host of other features greatly frees a writer from the admin and technicalities of a blog and/or a newsletter and gives one more time to focus on the writing.

Secondly, being subscription based (free or paid - BC Pinot Noir is free), provides an opportunity to connect more easily with like-minded readers, not only with the written word but through podcasts, sound files, video, charts, polls, voice versions of articles and more. There are also easily accessed features for dialogue, not only through a comments section but through a Twitter like feature called Notes.

The bottom line is that I can tell the ongoing story of pinot noir in British Columbia more easily, more often and in a more varied way than before.

Coming Soon… This ability to publish more easily and more often means that aside from panel tastings I will begin doing my own reviews of individual pinot noirs, as well as providing more in-depth articles on B.C. pinot noir wineries, vineyards, winemakers and more.

So please tune in, tell anyone you know who might be interested and subscribe to get the latest on B.C. pinot noir.