Champions of the wine islands

Tasting room at Salt Spring Vineyards (above). Vineyard and winery at Garry Oaks Winery on Salt Spring Island (below).

At the recent Victoria Festival of Food and Wine, I had the privilege of moderating a panel dedicated to wines that were called Champions of the Islands.

The point was to focus on some of the best wines produced exclusively from island-grown grapes. A number of the wineries on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands make only estate-grown wines deliberately. That is the policy of Venturi-Schulze Vineyards, which is run by Giordano Venturi, Marilyn Schulze and her daughter, Michelle (pictured above).

They understand why some of their peers also offer wines made from Okanagan grapes. There are varieties, such as Syrah and Merlot, that simply do not ripen on the wine islands but are popular with consumers. Some very fine wines are made with Okanagan fruit. Church & State Wines in Saanich has just won a Lieutenant Governor's Award of Excellence with its Okanagan Syrah.

However, the seminar I moderated concerned itself with outstanding wines made in the challenging terroir of the wine islands. While the current season is likely to produce superbly ripe island wines, the last two years were cool and wet. It took very fine grape growing and imaginative winemaking to produce an island champion.

At Venturi-Schulze, Giordano, the winemaker, turned a potential disaster of inadequately ripe grapes in 2007 into a triumph - a wine called The Bad Boys ($26.10). It is a blend of Zweigelt and Pinot Noir, both red varieties, but this is a white wine. The grapes, lacking the colour that year for red wine, were pressed and the juice was fermented in new French oak barrels. The technique tamed the acidity, captured fruity flavours, in a wine with a rich texture and a light bronze blush.

Those at the seminar also sampled the winery's Brandenburg #3 2007 ($36.50 for a half bottle), a dessert wine made in a highly original manner. Giordano concentrates the flavours and aromas of Madeleine Sylvaner juice by simmering it.The initial purpose is to make balsamic vinegar. However, a portion is fermented as a wine. Relatively low in alcohol, this wine is like drinking a very elegant ribena juice, but better.

The most reliable red variety on the wine islands is, arguably, Marechal Foch. The grape ripens reliably even in cool years, yielding dark and full-bodied reds that, because the tannins are soft, are early-drinking wines. Two of the leading producers are Starling Lane Winery and Alderlea Vineyards.

Starling Lane is owned by three couples, some of whom are pictured above. The winemaking partner is John Wrinch (stripped shirt), a radiologist in Victoria and one of four (!) doctors involved with island wineries (not counting Bryan Murray of Victoria Spirits).

Starling Lane has produced several vintages of Marechal Foch that is generous on the palate, including the 2007 vintage that was tasted at the seminar. It sells for $23 at the winery, when and if it is available. Even less was made in the 2008 vintage because the Foch grapes left hanging in the Wrinch vineyard into a rainy November were attacked by mildew. In a warmer season, the grapes would have ripened earlier, before mildew had a chance.

Alderlea is operated by Roger Dosman (below) and his wife, Nancy.

Roger has always released his Marechal Foch under the proprietary name, Clarinet, because, as he once remarked, "it is too good to be called Foch." Aged in oak, like the Starling Lane wine, Clarinet also has th generous texture and plummy flavours to distinguish this variety when made well.

Blue Grouse Vineyards owner Hans Kiltz (above) is a former veterinarian. (He was the first medical person to enter the island wine business when he opened Blue Grouse in 1993.) Unlike some of his peers, he will not place little tents over the vines for a few weeks in spring to kick-start the growth. He just works with what nature gives him. Nature was not kind to island grape growers in 2007. Even so, the Blue Grouse 2007 Pinot Gris ($23) was applauded as a triumph by fellow winemakers at the seminar. It is a delicious wine, full of fruit flavours and with a crisp, refreshing finish, reflecting superior viticulture as well as fine winemaking.

Andy Johnston, a retired doctor, opened Averill Creek Estate Winery in 2006 with the ambition to make, among other varietals, outstanding Pinot Noir. This is a variety made well by all producers on this panel. They all believe that the islands have the soils and climate to grow Pinot Noir with good colour (perhaps better than the Okanagan) and with attractive feminine flavours. The Averill Creek 2006 Pinot Noir ($32) is a wine with beautiful elegance.

At Garry Oaks, owners Marcel Mercier and Elaine Kozak grow (among other varieties) an Austrian red called Zweigelt. This variety is showing a similar ability to Pinot Noir at ripening on the islands. Because the variety is unfamiliar to most consumers, the winery releases it under a proprietary name. Zeta 2006 ($25) is a full-bodied red with spiced cherry flavours.

Their next door neighbour is Salt Spring Vineyards, now owned by Joanne and Devlin McIntyre, both doctors, who took over the winery last year. The portfolio included a sparkling wine called Karma, now renamed Morning Star. The name change is part of the added attention that the new owners, who love Champagne, are giving to the production of this fine, dry, bottled-fermented wine.

Gadgets that go with your wines

Anyone with a swimming pool or a picnic at the beach knows that glassware is a bad idea. Break your wine glass and you might cut someone else's foot. One solution is the Govino wine glass (above), made of shatterproof pharmaceutical grade plastic.

Govino, which retail around $5 each, are made in Taiwan and are distributed in Canada by B & M Marketing (Canada) Ltd., the Toronto firm (905-855-8208) that introduced in 2007 the marvellous breathable wine glass made by Germany's Eisch Glasskultur. Those exceptional glasses, now widely available in stores selling stemware, soften the tannic edge of young red wines.

The function of Govino is simpler. It is a well-designed unbreakable glass designed for the beach or the picnic. It is the first plastic wine glass that I have used which seems as neutral as one made with real glass. It does not alter the aroma or flavour of the wines, unlike the cheap disposable party plastic. This is a reusable vessel that will serve you for years, as long as you do not wash it in the home dishwasher, where sometimes excessive temperatures may alter its shape slightly.

Anyone serving a young red wine knows that the wines are better after being decanted; the exposure of the wine to air softens the textures and opens the aromas and flavours. That's what the Eisch stemware does for a wine.

Not everyone has Eisch stemware or a decanter or wants to be bothered with decanting. Recently, I have tasted wines that had been served after being poured through alternatives to the decanter. They all do the job very well.

Pictured above is an attractive Italian-made product called Centellino areadivino. It effectively decants wine a pour at a time. Simply tipping the bottle to fill the amphora provides the aeration that opens the aromas and flavours of the wine. Centellino is distributed in British Columbia by GeaWineWorks and the contact is Angelene Janusonis (604-531-7506). The company's website, http://www.geawineworks.com/, has additional information. Expect to see Centellino in stores that sell good wine accessories.

Another alternative is a device called the Vinturi Wine Aerator, also sold in wine accessory stores. I saw one recently in a VQA store. This is a hand-held device that one holds above the wine glass while pouring the wine through it. The wine swirls through the device and this aeration opens the flavours and aromas.

A third device is a Danish-made product called the Wine Finer (see the photo at the upper right), which is distributed in British Columbia by Nuance Finer Imports in Summerland (contact Mike or Debbie Bevan, 250-494-52070. Their website is www.wineaerator.ca and it lists retailers.

The elegant Wine Finer slips into the wine bottle, doubling as a pour spout. The wine also swirls through it, picking up the air needed to soften and open the wine. The device also includes a filter that strains out sediments.

I have experienced all three in action. Each one sells for around $50 (give or take $10) and each one delivers what it promises. Young red wines clearly taste better.

Your choice will depend on how you feel about the aesthetics of each of these gadgets.

Lieutenant Governor's Awards of Excellence in wine for 2009

A dozen wines emerged this year from 248 submitted for competition to win Awards of Excellence in the Lieutenant Governor's competition.

This competition began in 2003. It is one of the few wine competitions with no entry fee. It is open to all wines produced from British Columbia grapes.

The panel of judges (of which I am one) taste the wines blind. That is, we do not know who the producers are. We are supplied only with the variety and the vintage.

It is a tough competition. The maximum number of awards of excellence has been 12; in some years, it can be less. There are no second places.

This year's awards went to a broad range of producers, large and small. Some of the winning wines are remarkably affordable, proving that a top wine does not have come with a top price.

Here are the winners:


Bounty Cellars 2007 Pinot Blanc ($16.90). Bounty is low-profile winery in an industrial park not far from the Kelowna airport. Most of its business involves making private label wines. Recently, as an example, it released four private label wines for the University of British Columbia's alumni association. However, the winery does sell through private wine stores (see the Bounty website for a list).

CedarCreek Estate Winery 2006 Platinum Reserve Merlot ($40.10). Platinum Reserve is the top tier of CedarCreek's wines. That name was coined by Okanagan Wine Festival judges in the early 1990s who thought a CedarCreek Merlot was so good that they gave it the first and only platinum medal ever in that competition's history. I was a judge on that panel, too. If that was a good Merlot, this one is over the moon. My records are incomplete but memory tells me that CedarCreek has won previously.


Church & State 2006 Syrah ($26). Church & State currently has its wine shop in Saanich but most of its wines are made in the Okanagan with Okanagan grapes. The winemaker is Bill Dyer, an all-star consultant from California who previously was Burrowing Owl's winemaker. He made great Syrah there as well.

Howling Bluff Estate Winery 2006 Pinot Noir ($29.60). Howling Bluff is a new winery on Naramata Road, owned by former investment advisor Luke Smith. This will be a hard wine to find because only 140 cases were made and only nine are left at the winery. The good news is that Luke believes the 2007 Pinot Noir is even better than this winner.

JoieFarm 2007 Reserve Chardonnay ($30). JoieFarm is also a previous winner in the LG competition. The wine will be released in September and 425 cases were made.

JoieFarm 2008 Riesling ($27). JoieFarm made 1,000 cases of this wine. It should be more easily available in private wine stores.

Peller Estates 2007 Private Reserve Pinot Noir ($18.99). This wine is great value and it is widely available - even in B.C. liquor stores. This award should draw attention to how much Peller wines have improved over the past several vintages.


Road 13 Vineyards 2006 Fifth Element ($35.99). This red is an elegant blend of five grape varieties - four Bordeaux varieties and Syrah. This winery is also a repeat winner of this award.

Sandhill Wines 2007 Small Lots Syrah ($34.99). This wine has just been released. Consumers need to move fast to get some of this excellent Syrah - only 224 cases were made. It can be ordered through the website. Sandhill is another repeat winner.


See Ya Later Ranch 2008 Gewurztraminer ($17). It is only right that this wine wins an award. The See Ya Later vineyard is North America's largest single block of Gewurztraminer and obviously one of the best. The wine is available in VQA stores, among other places. This winery is a repeat winner.


Stoneboat Vineyards 2007 Pinotage ($24.90). Stoneboat is a small new Oliver winery that won an LG last year with a Pinot Noir. Pinotage, a variety created in South Africa, is made by only a handful of Okanagan wineries.

Wild Goose Vineyards 2008 Pinot Gris ($18.99). I have lost count of how many LG awards have been taken by this excellent winery at Okanagan Falls. It may be five by now. The best bet is to order directly from the winery.

Congratulations to all - and to the producers of the other wines. There were a lot of fine wines entered this years.

Powerhouse wines from Blackwood Lane

After several years of hand-selling its wines (primarily to restaurants), Blackwood Lane Vineyards & Winery is about to open its own wineshop in a remodelled house on a south Langley hilltop with views of Mount Baker.

To borrow a phrase from the advertisements for Junker, a Langley car dealership, "it's worth the drive!" These are wines for the connoisseur - hopefully, the well-heeled connoisseur. Some of these tasty wines are not inexpensive. The Reference (above), for example, is an $89 Bordeaux blend.

Alliance, another of the winery's Bordeaux blends, sells for $59. Are they worth it? Wait until you see the scores.

Blackwood Lane's tasting room is at 25189 8th Avenue. It overlooks a south-facing slope with a two-acre vineyard. As it happens, the vineyard is being replanted after last's hard winter.

However, while the winery has based itself in Langley, this is in every other respect an Okanagan winery, with grape purchase contracts throughout the south Okanagan including the storied Inkameep Vineyards near Oliver. Like Domaine de Chaberton and Township 7, Blackwood Lane prefers to have its winery close to the important Vancouver market.

The winery is operated by Carlos Lee, a Vancouver businessman of Korean parentage who grew up in Peru, and Charles Herrold, a 1980s rock musician turned businessman turned winemaker.

In most blind tastings, it is hard to single out the winemakers. That is probably not so with Blackwood Lane. Charles stamps his wines with as identifiable a signature as any British Columbia winemaker. The wines, especially the reds, share bold, athletic builds - powerhouses of flavour. The reds have the structure to age but without the harsh tannins sometimes encountered in pricey reds. With a bit of decanting, these wines can be enjoyed now. With a bit of patience, they can be enjoyed five or 10 years from now.

Aggressive pricing (not all Blackwood Lane wines are expensive) might be a risk in this economy. However, these are small lot wines. Only 240 cases of The Reference were made. Even in this economy, there are enough collectors, connoisseurs and plain old high rollers to soak up that modest number of cases.

The prices reflect the high cost involved in making these wines. Charles and Carlos generally pay top dollar for Okanagan grapes in an effort to assure themselves of premium quality fruit. The reds are aged as long as two and a half years in expensive oak barrels, mostly French, and then age still further in bottle before being released. That is the formula for handcrafting expensive wines.

I recently tasted through the range of wines that are expected to be available in the Blackwood Lane wine shop, come the grand opening promised on the web site. The partial bottles were retasted again over the following several days, to see how the wines evolve. They improved and remained delicious as long as - in the case of a Merlot - a week after the original bottle was opened. Such sturdy winemaking is commendable.

An explanation on why two of the wines are called Vicuna, the name of a particular Peruvian llama. When Carlos and Charles bought this Langley farm, the neighbour had a herd of llamas. Sentimental for the country of his childhood, Carlos suggested naming some wines after those animals. No sooner had Blackwood Lane committed to those names than the neighbour sold the herd.

Vicuna Blanco 2008 ($19). This is an appealing aromatic blend of (mostly) Pinot Gris, Riesling, Chenin Blanc and Gewurztraminer. The wine has clean, refreshing flavours of pears and citrus fruits, with a tangy finish. A very quaffable white. 88 points.

Vicuna Roja 2005 ($N.A.) This is an unusual but successful blend of Pinot Noir (42%) with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a juicy wine with flavours of lightly spicy strawberry jam. 88.

Blackwood Lane 2005 Chardonnay ($19). Charles Herrold made about 700 cases of this wine and only has 150 cases left. It is drinking well now but probably has peaked. It is a bold rich golden-hued wine that recalls the California style of yore - tons of marmalade and butter flavours with aromas of honey and toast. 88

Blackwood Lane 2008 Chenin Blanc Sommelier Series ($24) Charles managed to buy grapes grown on 34-year-old Chenic Blanc vines to make 70 cases. It is a fleshy wine with aromas and flavours of lime and herbs. There is a long, tangy finish. The wine was fermented in neutral oak barrels, accounting for its attractive texture. 89

Blackwood Lake 2006 Cabernet Franc Sommelier Series ($44). The exceptionally grown fruit is from Inkameep and the wine spent 18 months in French oak. This is a vibrant red, with aromas of red currants and pencil lead; and with flavours of currants and cherries. The finish goes on and on. 90 The recently bottled 2007 Cabernet Franc is comparable.

Blackwood Lane 2006 Merlot Sommelier Series ($39). Another bright, lively red with flavours of cherry, blackberry and currant with a touch of vanilla on the nose. With time in the opened bottle, the wine became richer on the palate without losing freshness. 90 The recently bottled 2007 Merlot is comparable.

Alliance 2006 ($59). This is a blend of 58.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot and 12.5% Cabernet Franc that spent 25 months in a variety of barrels. The winery has released 625 cases and plans to release about 700 cases of a comparable 2007 Alliance. Dark in colour, this is a big, ripe red with vanilla and currant aromas and with flavours of currants, plums, spice, chocolate and coffee. The texture is polished and generous on the palate. 94

The Reference 2006 ($89). Made with 80% free-run juice, this blend includes all five Bordeaux varieties - the three in the previous blend along with Malbec and Petit Verdot. The wine begins with those classic cigar box and currant aromas one finds in good Bordeaux reds. On the palate, there is lovely sweet fruit, with notes of cherry, plum and chocolate. The wine is complex and elegant, with the svelte texture of ripe, fine-grained tannins. 96

First releases from Camelot Vineyards

The newest winery in the Kelowna area, Camelot Vineyards, opened its tasting room last month and released its first two wines.

This is a winery to watch because the winemaker is Kelowna-born Ann Sperling, a member of the power couple of Canadian winemaking. She and Peter Gamble, her husband, are winemakers for two exciting Ontario wineries and consultants for several other wineries in Canada and abroad.

Currently, Ann is also making wine for Sperling Vineyards Winery, her family's new Kelowna winery. That winery's tasting room is not open yet but apparently Sperling Vineyards wines have been making their way into the market by way of another winery's license.



Camelot is a venture owned and operated by two Air Canada flight attendants, Robert Young and his wife, Denise Brass. They took over his late father's orchard in 1996, converting the property to vines a decade later because apple growing had become uneconomic.

Having been burned by the apple market, Robert and Denise decided that they would go beyond merely being grape growers by adding a winery.

Last summer when they began looking for a winemaker - they are not winemakers themselves - Robert and Denise discovered that Ann was looking for a licensed winery in which to make the initial vintage for Sperling Vineyards.

It was a marriage made in heaven. The Camelot winery is only a few kilometres from the Sperling property while Ann is a winemaker with 25 years of experience. She began her career in 1984 with Andres, moved to CedarCreek in 1991 and then to Ontario in 1995. There, both she and Peter have launched several top wineries. Currently, she is the winemaker for Southbrook's new Niagara winery.

The plan is to establish a small winery for Sperling Vineyards in Pioneer Market on Benvoulin Road where Ann's mother has operated a popular market and bistro for many years. Fittingly, this is near the Father Pandosy Mission where the Okanagan's first small vineyard was planted about 1860. Ann's parents, Bert and Velma, now own a 45-acre vineyard in East Kelowna.

Meanwhile, the Camelot Vineyards winery easily has the capacity to process the grapes for both wineries, neither of which are large. The total production for both wineries last fall was around
800 cases for each.

The two Camelot white wines reflect the cool 2008 vintage in the north Okanagan. Both are lean, with moderate alcohol levels and good acidity. The Pinot Gris ($22.39) displays aromas and flavours of citrus and pear and has a crisp tangy finish. This is a food wine, not a sipping wine. I make that distinction because Pinot Gris styles vary considerably among the many wineries making this varietal.

The Gewurztraminer ($25.70) is light and refreshing, with typical spicy aromas, mint candy and peach fruit flavours and with a dry finish. This is the one I would sip while preparing the fish to go with the Pinot Gris.

Camelot has four more wines to release: a Chardonnay, a Merlot, a Cabernet Franc/Merlot and a Syrah.

The winery takes its name from what Robert Young Sr. had called a home he once owned in West Vancouver before moving his family to the Okanagan. That inspired his son and daughter-in-law to build a Medieval-themed tasting room, complete with King Arthur's round table, swords, shields, jousting gloves and a six-foot suit of armour.

The tasting room, located at 3489 East Kelowna Road in Kelowna, is open Thursday, Friday, weekends and statutory holidays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (5 p.m. on the weekdays) until November 1; or by appointment.

The Fraser Valley is home to more wineries than you think

Lively labels from The Fort Wine Company

Last Saturday's Fraser Valley Winery Association (FVWA) festival - its second annual festival at Langley's Highpoint Equestrian Community- gave consumers a chance to taste products from wineries not nearly as well known as they should be.

That would seem to be one of the reasons for the FVWA to exist: to spread the word about its members, just as the Naramata Bench Wineries Association has done so brilliantly.

However, the event also disappointed because almost half of the Fraser Valley wineries were not even there. The reason has a lot to do with the distressing politics in the British Columbia wine industry.

A 2007 brochure for this association lists 11 wineries, including Glenugie (which is scheduled to reopen in August under new owners and a new name) and Chilliwack's St. Urban Winery. The latter may or may not be open. It was absent from last year's tasting and, while there was a place card for the winery this year, it was again absent and no one could explain that.

Also missing was Mt. Lehman Winery, which opened in Abbotsford on the same weekend that the association was having its festival. Mt. Lehman decided to skip the festival in favour of its own opening weekend, an understandable decision but perhaps not the shrewdest one.

Other absentees from the festival were these Fraser Valley wineries:

* Township 7 Vineyards and Vista d'Oro Farms and Winery, both of which have left the Fraser Valley Association.

* Blackwood Lane Vineyards & Winery, just weeks away from opening its Langley area tasting room, has not joined FVWA.

* Blue Heron Fruit Winery and Kermode Wild Berry Wines, both producers on the north side of the Fraser River. Blue Heron was formerly a member of the association. I can only speculate that these producers believe they are too small to be in the association at this time.

* Lulu Island Winery, sister winery to Richmond's Blossom Winery, which is opening this weekend in Richmond.

* Isabella Winery, a low profile Richmond commercial winery right on the banks of the river.

* Constantin & Vasilica Wines, the fruit winery at the south end of Cultus Lake that formerly was known as Columbia Valley Classics. The current owners are in the wine business by accident, having bought the property for its farm, not for the winery.

* Campbell's Gold Honey Farm. This is the Fraser Valley's only meadery, based at a lovely Abbotsford farm. The producer seldom has enough mead to go into tasting events.

Township 7, under its previous owners, was an originating member of FVWA. It has dropped out as a consequence of a growing conflict between the valley's biggest winery, Domaine de Chaberton Estate Winery, and the British Columbia Wine Institute (BCWI).

Domaine de Chaberton chose not to remain a member of BCWI after BCWI became a voluntary trade association but it continued to sell its VQA wines through VQA stores, among other channels.

(Domaine is not the only winery to make that decision. Blasted Church Vineyards no longer is a BCWI member as well and is subject to the extra levy.)

The VQA store licenses are controlled by BCWI. In February BCWI imposed a six percent surcharge on the sales of VQA wines by non-member wineries through the VQA stores. The logic is that the stores initially were intended to benefit BWCI members and to support the BCWI's promotion of all VQA wines. Wineries that decline to support the BCWI with membership fees should not have the same privileges as those that do.

However, wineries like Domaine de Chaberton regard the surcharge as discriminatory. Domaine is leading a group of wineries, VQA and otherwise, that are lobbying the provincial government to lean on BCWI. If that does not succeed, I would not be surprised to see litigation.

Township 7's current owner, Mike Raffan, sits on BCWI's board of directors. That put him in conflict with the Domaine de Chaberton group. He decided he could not participate in both BCWI and in FVWA at the same time because of this conflict.

It appears that both Vista d'Oro and Blackwood Lane are not in the FVWA because they choose to sit out the dispute as well.

These decisions, understandable as they are, certainly reduce the ability of the FVWA to promote effectively, if at all. Yet the wineries need this promotion. I would suggest that the majority of people in Metro Vancouver have no idea there are so many wineries in the valley. Indeed, it is ironic that FVWA should be weakened by argument among VQA wineries since most FVWA members are fruit wineries - and fruit wine is not even recognized by the VQA.

Back to the FVWA festival, here are some of the wines that stood out for me:

Sanduz Estate Winery Merlot 2005. This Richmond winery has a long list of both fruit and grape wines, including a black currant wine so concentrated that it is almost overpowering. This Merlot, however, is a delicious middle-of-the-road red.

River's Bend Flaxen 2008. I am not sure where the name came from but this is a crisp, lean white blended from Pinot Gris, Kerner and Gewurztraminer grapes grown on this winery's Surrey vineyard.

River's Bend Black Horse 2006. This is an appealing and unusual blend of Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Domaine de Chaberton Bacchus 2008. This spicy, aromatic white, a refreshing summer wine, is one of the flagship varietals here.

Domaine de Chaberton Canoe Cove North Bluff Pink 2008. This is a juicy rose, full of the flavours of strawberry and rhubarb; another fine summer quaffer.

Wellbrook Winery Blueberry. This is a full-bodied wine with tons of fruit flavour and with a nice dry finish. Wellbrook is in Delta, just off the highway to the U.S., and easy to visit.

The Fort Winery Keremeos Pear Apple 2007. Crisp and refreshing, this is a tangy cider-style beverage with a good dry finish. Ted Bowman, the winery's community relations coordinator, has a good argument for drinking fruit wines as well as grape wines. "Drinking fruit wine is like having a colour TV," he says. "Why settle for just black and white?"

Pacific Breeze Winery Vin de Garagiste 2006. This fine boutique winery operates from an industrial strip in New Westminister. The winery really does look like a garage - but all the wines, made with premium Washington and California grapes, are first rate.

I ran out of time before I had a chance to taste the wines from Lotusland, an Abbotsford winery, and from Westham Island Winery, the producer of delightful fruit wines that is based on a farm on Westham Island. Next time ...

I hope FVWA thrives and continues to do more such events.

New releases from Herder Winery

Everyone who tours British Columbia's wine country should include the Similkameen Valley and, in particular, Herder Winery & Vineyards.

Lawrence and Sharon Herder, who had previously operated a winery with a similar name in California, opened this winery in 2004 in a small facility near Cawston. Three years later, they moved to a much better location on Upper Bench Road, close to Keremeos.

The new winery is better for at least two reasons. First, it occupies one of the best vineyard sites in the Similkameen, a sun-drenched, rock-strewn slope where the Herders have planted mostly the varieties that produce big reds.

Secondly, the winery has taken over a large three-storey house perched on a hillside with a panoramic view over the valley. The Herder tasting room is large, with high ceilings and with expansive south-facing windows. It is a comfortable place where a visitor can lean against the tasting bar, savour a glass of wine and enjoy the scenery.

The Herders also installed a commercial kitchen next to the tasting room. From time to time, the winery hosts food and wine extravaganzas. This season, three are scheduled on Friday evenings - July 31, August 14 and October 2. Check the winery's website for details.

Lawrence Herder established the winery in the Similkameen Valley because he saw it as a terroir that can produce big red wines. His winery has earned a cult following for both its reds and its whites, precisely because the wines deliver generous flavours. The current new releases include three of the finest reds yet from Herder.

Here are some notes.

Herder Pinot Gris 2008 ($17). Entirely fermented in stainless steel tanks, this is a crisp, almost austere, unoaked white with tangy flavours of lemon, pear and green apple. The style of this wine has me looking around for the oysters on the half shell. 86

Herder Cabernet Franc 2007 ($32). The south Okanagan grapes in this wine come from 14-year-old vines on the Osoyoos Lake Bench. That explains the attractive concentration of the texture and flavours. It is a dark-hued wine with aromas of cherry, cranberry and black currants. The flavours mirror the aromas, with additional notes of chocolate and coffee and with a satisfying earthiness of the big ripe tannins on the finish. 90

Herder Merlot 2007 ($35). Made with grapes from both the Similkameen and the Okanagan, this is a bold, ripe Merlot with so much concentration that it demands to be decanted so that wine can open up. It presents flavours of blackberry jam and spice and has a juicy, rich finish. An appealing wine, indeed. 91

Herder Josephine 2007 ($40). This is the flagship red wine at Herder, a blend of 66% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Franc and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, made with grapes from both valleys and aged 12 months in French oak. This is a cellar-worthy wine and collectors have begun accumulating the several vintages released so far. The wine should also be decanted for current consumption. Dark in colour, it begins with aromas of cherries, vanilla and spice. On the palate, there are flavours of spice, red currants, plum, chocolate and tobacco, with black cherry emerging as the wine opens. Drinking this layered, complex wine is like reading a good book that you wish would never end. 92