1 Mill Road adds Washington wine to its portfolio

Photo: Katie Truscott and Ben Bryant

Along with many other Okanagan wine producers, Ben Bryant and Katie Truscott of 1 Mill Road Winery harvested no fruit from their Naramata vineyards in 2024 because the freezing temperatures early that winter. None of their vines were killed but none produced grapes. The vines were pruned hard and allowed to recover. This year, Ben and Katie expect a reasonable crop, supplemented with grapes from any premium blocks they can contract elsewhere in the Okanagan. The focus remains Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

1 Mill Road, based in Naramata, was launched exclusively with Pinot Noir by the original owners, David and Cynthia Enns. Ben, an Australian-trained winemaker, and Katie, an expert wine marketer, took over the business in the summer of 2022. They began expanding the portfolio with Chardonnay grapes from a Naramata Bench grower, and with a Pinot Noir rosé. The wines are of exquisite quality. The winery’s 2023 Chardonnay was recently awarded 95 points in the prestigious Decanter wine competition.

Ben and Katie managed the setback of no grapes in 2024 like their peers: they sourced grapes in Washington State, and have just released the first wine, a 2024 Grenache rosé. Later this year, or early next year, they will release a red wine from Grenache and a Syrah. “We were very quick to source that fruit last year,” Ben says. He called a viticulturist friend at Chateau Ste Michelle, the big Washington winery that, in a downsizing move, had dropped a number of growers. “I asked, who is one of your best growers that you let go. That was how I got connected with the Andrews family.” They own the Coyote Canyon Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. “They had some fruit that was no longer needed,” Ben adds. “I was very fortunate.”

“We wanted to source from a like-minded grower family,” he continues. “We went to Horse Heaven Hills and a vineyard owned by the Andrews family. They are a multi-generational farming family. Jeff Andrews farms a lot of grapes. They are big suppliers to Chateau Ste Michelle. We decided straight away that is who we wanted to work with. And we wanted to do Grenache and Syrah.”

“From a business perspective, we avoided Pinot Noir and Chardonnay completely,” Ben says. Since 1 Mill Road’s reputation is based on Naramata-grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Ben and Katie chose to keep making those signature varietals exclusively with Okanagan grapes. “There was plenty of Pinot and Chardonnay available [in the United States] and we could easily have gone to Oregon,” Ben says. “We chose deliberately not to. For 1 Mill Road, we want the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to be from British Columbia. We don’t want to reference point somewhere else for these varietals.”

There is very little Grenache and limited tonnage of Syrah in the Okanagan after the 2024 winter damage. 1 Mill Road’s clientele are likely to welcome these wines from imported fruit. If they do, Ben may continue sourcing these varietals from Washington in future years. “We are not doing it in vintage 2025,” Ben says. He is concerned about the political and tariff uncertainty that could arise with imported fruit this year. “But we will definitely look at continuing with Grenache and Syrah in the future for sure.” Here are notes on current releases.

1 Mill Road Chardonnay 2023 ($48 for 170 cases). The fruit for this barrel-fermented Chardonnay is from vines planted in 1998 in a Naramata vineyard. (One-third of the barrels were new French oak). The wine begins with appealing orchard fruit aromas mingled with a hint of oak. The palate is complex, with flavours of peach, citrus and apple with a hint of almond. The clean, fresh finish is exceptionally long. 95.

1 Mill Road Grenache Rosé 2024 ($38 for 180 cases). The fruit for this wine is from Washington’s Horse Heaven Hills AVA. The juice was fermented cool, primarily in stainless steel with 26% fermented to dryness in neutral French oak barriques, with bi-weekly stirring of the lees for four months. This added texture. The wine begins with a delicate salmon hue, in the manner of Provençal rosés. Dry on the finish, the wine has aromas and flavours of blood orange, watermelon and strawberry. 90.

1 Mill Road Home Block Pinot Noir 2023 ($67 for 200 cases). The vineyard for this fruit was planted in 2013 entirely to clone 115. The grapes were given a four-day cold soak and then were on the skins for 18 days before being pressed to barrel. The wine was aged for nine months in French oak barriques (28% new). A richly textured wine, it has aromas and flavours of cherry, plum and spice. The finish persists. 94.