Pinot's Progress
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.
Current Vintage & Availability
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.
Current Vintage & Availability
Meyer Family Vineyards Pinot Noir Micro Cuvée McLean Creek Vineyards 2019
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.
Current Vintage & Availability
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.
Current Vintage & Availability
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.
Current Vintage & Availability
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.
Current Vintage & Availability
The Pinot’s Progress series is ongoing so stay tuned for more tastings of older B.C. pinot noirs.
Can’t reach you any other way I can’t get into my emails for some reason. Call me at 204-599-0876. Deane