Photo: Rolf de Bruin and Heleen Pannekoek
In 2008 Rolf de Bruin and Heleen Pannekoek,
newly arrived in British Columbia from Holland , decided on an audacious gamble: they would
establish the first winery in Lillooet, beside the Fraser River .
There is a history of trial vineyards in
the region going back decades, but theirs was to be the first commercial
vineyard. There is no doubt that Lillooet has the heat units to ripen many
varieties. The question was whether untimely frosts or cold winters would stop
the project.
So far, their gamble is looking quite
promising. Here is their report on their 2012 vintage:
“The 2012 harvest in the estate vineyard at Fort Berens
Estate Winery started on September 21st and was completed on October 25th. We
are very excited about both the quality and the quantity of the fruit this
year. The flavours are impressive and the fruit was very clean. The quantity
allows us to continue the transition from grapes sourced from the Okanagan to
grapes from our estate vineyard in Lillooet.
“Overall, the 2012 growing season was quite good, with a long frost free period. The spring was warmer than last year, which encouraged earlier bud break (May 1st) – about one week ahead of 2011. A cool yet dry May & June period resulted in bloom starting on June 20th. Summer temperatures were average with a few hot spikes in July, where temperatures approached 40c. The temperatures in September and early October were higher than average with lots of sun and no rain till mid October. Second half of October was much cooler. During harvest we saw balanced development of sugar and acids in our early whites and reds. The cooler second half of October required some patience with our later varieties including Cabernet Franc and Riesling.
“Lack of rain, good air movement throughout the season
and low humidity resulted in a very low disease pressure. With a new deer and bear
fence and bird netting on our red (and gris) varieties, we saw little loss to
wildlife.
“In addition to the 47.5 tons harvested from the Estate
Vineyard in Lillooet, we sourced approximately 15 tons from the Okanagan. Total
production in 2012 will exceed 4,000 cases with more than 75% of the grapes
coming from our estate vineyard in Lillooet. This is a significant growth in
production aimed at fulfilling the strong demand for our wines.
“The first 2012 wines, including our Pinot Gris,
Riesling, Pinot Noir Rosé and 23 Camels White will be released at the Vancouver
International Wine Festival from February 25th till March 3rd 2013.
“While our production is growing quickly, many of our
wines are still short in supply and high in demand as our wines continue to
perform well in international competitions. The best way to assure access to these
limited production award winning wines is to join the [winery’s] Discovery
Club, where membership has some tasty privileges.”
With the end of the vintage, Fort Berens
also has released four wines from 2010 and 2011. Here are my notes:
No comments:
Post a Comment