Current Releases - Meyer Family Vineyards
2022 Vintage Showing Well
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 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.
Meyer Family Vineyards McLean Creek Vineyards Micro Cuvée Pinot Noir 2022
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.
Meyer Family Vineyards Pinot Noirs Current Vintage & Availability
Brent, thank you for reviewing these wines. I have not yet tried Meyer Family Vineyards B Field Blend McLean Creek Road Vyd. Pinot Noir 2022, but hope to in the near future.