Photo: Culmina winemaker Jean-Marc Enixon
If you cannot get enough of a good thing, you will delight
in what Culmina Family Estate Winery has done this year with Grüner Veltliner.
Culmina, which is owned by the Triggs family, was the first
Okanagan winery to release a wine from the Austrian white variety, Grüner
Veltliner, in the 2013 vintage from its 2011 planting. The wine was released as
Unicus, still the name on the label. The wine, at $29 a bottle, is available at
the winery and to Culmina’s wine club members.
The 2016 released from the winery include both Unicus and a “Wild
Ferment Grüner Veltliner” labelled as “No. 002.” The 42 cases of this wine are
available at $37 a bottle, and just to members of the wine club. (The previous
wine in this series was a Riesling released as No. 001.)
The latter wine is made from a specific block in the Culmina
vineyard. Aside from that, there is no explanation in winery’s notes as to why
winemaker Jean-Marc Enixon made two Grüner Veltliners and deliberately
differentiated the styles. Just drink and enjoy.
Culmina appears to have triggered other Okanagan producers
to plant Grüner Veltliner. Wineries currently releasing this white include Pipe
Dreams, Bordertown Vineyards and Chase Wines. Elsewhere in BC, Fort Berens Estate
Winery at Lillooet has made trial wines but not for public release; Singletree
Winery in Abbotsford has just released its first Grüner Veltliner. And De Vine
Vineyards on the Saanich Peninsula was the very first winery in BC to plant the
variety in 2008.
The varietal has become popular with North American
restaurants, which is why plantings have been increasing in Oregon ,
California and Washington .
“We were looking for a cool climate white, and some
diversity,” Don Triggs told me a few years ago after Culmina planted about two
acres. “You know the three standard varietals for cool climate are Chardonnay,
Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. We were looking for a variety that was winter
hardy. And we were looking for a variety where there might have some consumer
interest. We did see some interest in this in California wine bars; and in people planting
it around the world.”
He gave some thought to Torrontes, the Argentine white, but
was not sure how well it would handle hard winters. Grüner Veltliner has a good
history of surviving continental climates in central Europe .
And there was some anecdotal evidence from Ontario where Karl Kaiser, the Austrian-born
founder of Inniskillin, planted a small block in the 1970s.
“It was a suitcase clone,” Don suggested. “They had one of
those bad Ontario
freezes and Karl’s Grüner Veltliner and Seyval Blanc were the two varietals
that survived the best. So I knew it was winter hardy. The sad part of that
story is that when Inniskillin expanded, they pulled it out to increase the
parking lot.”
That will certainly not be the fate of Grüner Veltliner in
the Culmina vineyard. It would take a mountain goat to negotiate some of the
mountainous benches on this Golden Mile vineyard.
There is more to Culmina than Grüner Veltliner, of course,
as the current releases show. Here are notes on the wines, include two under
the winery’s second label, the R&D Series. The labels show a photo of two
young boys. It is a family picture of the Triggs twins, Ron and Don.
Culmina R&D Series
White Blend 2016 ($20). This is a blend of Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer and
Viognier. The wine begins with orange blossom and citrus. It isa rich on the
palate, with flavours of apricot, ripe apple and orange peel and with a hint of
spice on the finish. 90.s is a blend of l end of estate grown Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer,
and Viognier from all three benches.
Culmina Decora
Riesling 2016 ($23). This wine begins with aromas of lime and lemon and
delivers a delicious mouthful of flavour, notably lemon with a suggest of peach
and apple. Minerality adds to the wine’s disciplined structure and its dry
finish. 91.
Culmina Unicus 2016 ($29).
The wine was fermented in stainless steel (49%), in a concrete egg (28%) and in
a concrete amphora (23%). The wine begins with lovely floral aromas that move
on to notes of green melon and grapefruit. A generous dollop of fruit flavours
hit the palate, including citrus, green apple and quince, with an herbal note
on the crisp finish. 93.
Culmina No. 002 ($37).
This wine was fermented slowly, for 59 days in stainless steel barrels with
indigenous yeast. In the glass, there is a lovely and appealing perfume. The
long ferment has imparted the pleasant yeasty note of rising bread while
preserving aromas of yellow plum that are richly echoed on the palate. The
flavours are seductively intense, subtly supported with a fine mineral
backbone. 95.
Culmina Saignée 2016
($24). The blend is 73% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 13% Malbec. The wine is
fashionably pale in hue (salmon coloured, the winery says). It begins with
aromas of strawberry and nectarine which are echoed on the palate. The finish
is dry. 91.
Culmina Merlot 2014
($31). Bold and dark in colour, this is a textbook Okanagan Merlot, with aromas
of plums and black cherry that jump from the glass. On the palate, there is a
juicy mouthful of black cherry, blueberry compote and dark chocolate. The 16
months the wine spent in French oak barrels (15% new) has imparted hints of
vanilla both in the aroma and in the flavour. 92.
Culmina Cabernet
Franc 2014 ($NA). This begins with aromas of red currant and blackberry,
leading to brambly flavours with savoury notes of red berries and spicy oak.
The wine is tight and brooding and benefits from decanting. 88.
Culmina Cabernet
Sauvignon 2014 ($34). The great 2014 vintage has produced superb reds,
among them this rich and concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine begins with aromas
of cassis and vanilla and goes on to show flavours of black cherry, plum, fig
and dark chocolate. The long, ripe tannins give the wine a satisfying elegance.
This is a cellar-worthy Okanagan Cabernet Sauvignon. 93.
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