Tucked away in East Kelowna, Camelot Vineyards Estate Winery
has kept a low profile since opening in 2009.
In recent years, the wines made by Julian Samoisette, Camelot’s
wine director, deserve a second look – or perhaps a first if this label still is
not on your radar screen.
The four samples sent recently were accompanied by Julian’s excellent
narrative on the wines and the vintage. I am reproducing most of it here.
“A bumper crop of Gewürztraminer [in 2019] allowed me to skew
our White Knight blend a little more heavily towards that varietal than I have
in the past,” Julian began. “After the cool finish to 2018, and the resulting
low alcohol of that vintage, we really let this past year’s Gewürztraminer hang
on the vine to get all the sun it could. I really wanted to fatten up this
blend and achieve some real mouthfeel, along with the beautiful perfume that
always comes along with Gewurztraminer. For a few different reasons, the
Riesling addition is very slight compared to previous years. I expect it'll
still please a crowd, but it is definitely a welcome deviation. from previous
vintages.”
The 2019 Riesling is the first release of this varietal in
five years.
“The wet weather last September led to some loss due to rot,
but the fruit we did get was of great quality, so I wasn't deterred in
showcasing it in the bottle,” Julian wrote. “As much as I do enjoy bone-dry
Riesling, a touch of residual sugar goes a long way in offsetting the high acid
and helps make the varietal a little more user-friendly, so that's the style I
pursued with this wine. The early response to it has been positive, which is
great to hear because I really believe people's perception and appreciation of
Riesling is improving with exposure. They definitely have their options [among
the wineries] in Southeast Kelowna. We're all too happy to add to the bench's
great reputation for the grape.”
There is so much Pinot Gris in the market that it is hard to
make one distinctive enough for consumers to remember it, Julian believes.
“After three or four vintages of experimentation, I believe
I've found the Pinot Gris profile I've been searching for,” Julian writes. “I've
been aiming for a more expressive aromatic profile for our Pinot Gris, and with
the help of a yeast I've been using the last few years, I think I've finally
got it. We also reduced the cold soak time from 20 hours to 14, which obviously
resulted in a much lighter, almost straw-colored hue in the bottle. Despite the
higher alcohol compared to 2018, I find the 2019 Pinot Gris actually lighter in
flavor, which I think works better than previous years. hence the constant
tinkering with the process in the cellar. Hopefully this can be the one that
sticks out!”
The final wine in the current release is a wine that Camelot
chooses to call Ruthless Rosé, in honour of Robert Young's mother Ruth, now 87.
“For the third season in a row, we've used some of our Pinot Noir
to make our Ruthless Rosé,” Julian
writes.
“While I loved the
bright pink hue of our previous two rosés, I wanted to see a lighter color
in the bottle this time around. Maybe not the pale orange of Provence, but
definitely scaled back a touch. Along with reducing the maceration time, I
decided to add a little Gewurztraminer to the final product as well. I'd done
the same but with Riesling the previous
two years to add acidity. I found the Gewürztraminer
added a bit of perfume and weight to the finished wine. Just like the other new
releases, I've tried to make the new vintage different enough to be
interesting, but similar enough to be recognizable to our long-time customers.”
He ended his
narrative with a reference to an upcoming red wine release.
“We currently have
2019 Pinot Noir in the barrel and are hoping for an early October release,”
Julian wrote. “We're pretty excited because it's been a couple years since
we've made a full-blooded Pinot Noir. I know our customers are definitely
thirsty for one so we're very much looking forward to having it available in
the fall.”
Here are my notes on
the wines.
No comments:
Post a Comment