Okanagan Falls Sub-GI
The Pivot Point For Okanagan Valley Pinot Noirs
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.
The Wineries
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
Blue Mountain Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability
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
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.
Wild Goose Pinot Noir Current Vintage & Availability
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 19th 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.