Photo: Winemaker Brooke Blair; credit Stuart Bish
Wineries have begun to
release the 2010 reds from the Okanagan. Consumers who have heard that the
vintage was cool and challenging will be approaching the 2010s with some
apprehension.
However, the wineries that
did a good job in the vineyards were able to make delicious wines.
Jackson-Triggs is certainly among those producers with a strong viticulture
team backing up an equally strong winemaking team.
At Jackson-Triggs Okanagan,
the red wine maker is Brooke Blair. Born in 1978 at Mount
Gambier in Australia , she is the daughter of a
vineyard manager. She studied at the University
of Adelaide , starting out
in commerce before switching to wine. After graduation, she worked two and a
half years as assistant winemaker at Hollick Wines, a family-owned winery in
Coonawarra, did a vintage in Spain ,
and was thinking of Italy
when she landed the job at Jackson-Triggs in 2004.
The 2010 vintage almost
certainly was the toughest one she has experienced in the Okanagan to date.
“It was an odd year, I
would say,” she recalls. “The spring was very wet and the early summer was
quite cool. From memory, I think late August and September were the warmest
months for summer. Typically, July and August are the warmest. So it was
definitely a challenging growing season.”
The vineyard managers at
Jackson-Triggs took the necessary measures to ripen the grapes despite the
weather. “Knowing that the spring was wet and the summer was cool, our vineyard
managers did a lot of leaf removal and also did more crop-thinning than normal,
to try to ensure that the grapes were going to ripen,” Brooke says. “We took
pro-active steps to try to ensure that the best quality grapes we could get
came into the winery, rather than try to have to work on things more in the
winery. If you start off with good quality, it is easier to make a great wine.”
One of these two wines is
made entirely with grapes from the 80-acre SunRock Vineyard near Osoyoos. It
takes its name from a huge rock face at the north end of the vineyard.
“The SunRock Vineyard is
our top tier vineyard,” Brooke says. “It gets the most amount of attention. It
is not surprising that the grapes coming from that vineyard were able to ripen,
even in a difficult year. The crop levels are a lot lower. We handpick these grapes
as well, so there is better selection in the field as to what you want to bring
into the winery.”
The rock soaks up the sun
and radiates heart back across the vines at night. The block of Shiraz next to the rock
consistently ripens to the highest Brix (or sugar) levels of all of Jackson-Triggs
grapes. The SunRock Vineyard is entirely planted to reds – Merlot, Cabernet
Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz .
It once had a block of Chardonnay but that has been grafted over to Shiraz . Growing
Chardonnay here, Brooke suggests, was “a wasted opportunity.”
Here are notes on the two
reds.
Jackson-Triggs SunRock Meritage 2010 ($34.99 for 250 cases). This is 47% Merlot, 36%
Cabernet Franc and 17% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine begins with appealing
aromas of blackberry, blueberry, raspberry and mocha. On the palate, there are
flavours of plum and black currant. The tannins are ripe but still firm enough
to suggest this wine will show further improvement with another year or two of
aging. 90.
The limited production is
typical for the top tier single vineyard wine at Jackson-Triggs. The Grand
Reserve tier is typically between 500 to 1,000 cases, depending on the quality
of the wines and on the market for them.
Jackson-Triggs Grand Reserve Cabernet Shiraz Viognier 2010 ($29.99 for 500 cases). This is 49% Cabernet
Sauvignon, 48% Shiraz
and 3% Viognier. The winemaker chose to ferment the Shiraz and the Viognier together at, blending
the Cabernet Sauvignon later. This wine has a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon minty
aromas on the nose, leading to flavours of black currant, tobacco and
chocolate. The ripe tannins and the 18 months of barrel aging have given the
wine a generous texture. However, it is firm enough to develop further with a
few years of cellaring. 90.
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