Kitsch gains its cult

Photo: Kitsch winemaker Grant Biggs

Kitsch Wines in Kelowna, now in its third year, seems to have acquired a cult following.

Consumers have taken to travelling with Kitsch wines and posting photographs from exotic locales where the bottles have been enjoyed. These range from a safari in Africa to the Eiffel Tower in Paris; to a surfing beach in Australia and to numerous vacation spots across the United States.

“And people are doing it on their own, which is really special,” says Kitsch winemaker Grant Biggs.

You bet it is. With a burgeoning number of wineries in the Okanagan, it is not easy to stand out, never mind inspire your fans to traipse the bottles around the world.

Perhaps some consumers just think the label is quaint– not realizing that Kitsch is the family name of the owners, Trent and Ria Kitsch. More probably, the quality of the wine itself is the reason why devoted fans want to take a bottle or two half way around the world. Most of this winery’s peers would die for this kind of following.

The winery is on a plateau in northeastern Kelowna, surrounded by 12.7 acres of vines that were planted in 2013 and 2014. Trent and Ria launched the winery with the proceeds from the development and then sale of the SAXX brand of men’s briefs.

The wines initially were cellared in the three-car garage attached to the home of Trent’s parents, Bruce and Esther Kitsch. The tasting facilities were informal, while the owners monitored whether their venture would succeed. And succeed it did: a debut Kitsch Riesling even won a Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Excellence.

With Kitsch Wines here to stay, the three-car garage has been converted into a dedicated tasting room. Preparations are under way to build a processing facility on the property. A new press and relating winemaking equipment should arrive any day from Italy. The winemaker expects to produce at least 3,000 cases of wine this year.

The winery is just one of the businesses that Trent and Ria run. Serial entrepreneurs, they also operate a publicly-traded cannabis company. Ria suggests there is some overlap between the two businesses in that both wine and cannabis are heavily regulated.

(Two other Okanagan vintners also have invested in the cannabis business: Poplar Grove’s Tony Holler and Tantalus’s Eric Savics. In all instances, the cannabis business is entirely separate from the wine business.)

The winemaker at Kitsch, Grant Biggs, is a clean-cut youth who was born in Port Alberni in 1983. He honed an early appreciation of wine while working in Victoria restaurants, where he took a professional sommelier course.

“My grandfather, I think, is the reason why I pursued a career in wine,” Grant says, referring to Italian-born Elio Navé. “He used to order grapes from California – Zinfandel and Muscat – and we would make wine in the basement together when I was growing up. I associated the fondest memories with the foods that grandma was cooking and the wine that my grandpa was drinking.”

Elio died last year but his memory remains with Grant. “He was there with me when I was making those wines last year,” Grant says.

Grant came to Kitsch in 2015 to make the debut wines. He spent the previous two years as an assistant winemaker at Tantalus Vineyards. Before that, he had been an assistant winemaker at Mt. Boucherie Vineyards, had done a crush with a large New Zealand winery and had enrolled in the distance learning program from the University of California at Davis. He has honed a detail-oriented winemaking style, some of which is still evolving.

Case in point is Pinot Gris. His first two vintages at Kitsch had a significant amount of skin contact. In 2017, he switched to pressing whole clusters and fermenting in stainless steel to craft a more fruit-expressive wine. He calls it “Okanagan in a glass” because the aromas and flavours are redolent with Okanagan tree fruits. “I think I will keep this style of Pinot Gris going forward,” he says.

Kitsch grows five acres of Riesling in two different blocks. “Riesling is a big part of what we do here,” Grant says. The single Riesling made in 2015 incorporated fruit from both blocks. In 2016, a dry Riesling was made from the block with more sun exposure and an off-dry wine was made from the block with more acidity.

Two Rieslings were made again in 2017; but now the blocks have been named, honouring the women involved in the winery.  The dry Riesling is called Esther’s Block for Esther Kitsch and the off-dry Riesling is called Maria’s Block (Ria is a contraction of Maria).

“The drier Rieslings cleanse the palate naturally,” Ria maintains. “They are so intense. When people are tasting for a long time, dry Riesling will always stand out because it reawakens the entire palate.”

The other Kitsch white is Chardonnay. By his second vintage, Grant seems to have dialled in his style for a barrel-fermented Chardonnay.

“In 2015 I would have inoculated everything,” he says. “In 2016, I had 11 barrels. I did five with natural ferment. With the other barrels, I used a different yeast strain for each barrel, just to see what the difference would be between our indigenous yeast and different strains of cultured yeast.”

The wine aged eight months in barrel and, to preserve a freshness, was not allowed to go through malolactic fermentation.

“I love the outcome. On the nose, it is assertive on the oak but on the palate, it has this eruption of pineapple fruit and there is great acid balance,” Grant says.

He also took pains 2017 Kitsch Pinot Noir Rosé, crushing the fruit by foot. The advantage of this traditional method is its gentleness. There are no bitter flavours in the wine because the seeds are not broken nor are the skins treated harshly. “In 2017, I was looking to take the skin contact back with the rosé and let the expression of fruit shine through,” Grant says.

Lest anyone is squeamish about wines crushed by foot, it is worth noting that Grant had a thorough pedicure before he stepped into the bins of grapes. “It was such a cool experience,” Grant says. “It’s the middle of harvest. You have been working so hard. It is so hot outside. A mid-harvest pedicure is going to be an annual tradition now.”

Grant has also begun to define a subtle and pretty Pinot Noir style with the 2016, combining gentle handling of the grapes and fermenting them entirely with indigenous yeast.

“I am from Port Alberni,” he says. “It is the salmon capital of the world. I want to make Pinot for pink fish, and not have it be big and overly extracted.”

Here are notes on the wines.

Kitsch Pinot Gris 2017 ($22 for 490 cases). The wine has expressive aromas of apples and pears. On the palate, the flavours display a basket of orchard and tropical fruits. The finish is crisp. 91.

Kitsch Riesling 2017 Esther’s Block ($25 for 336 cases). This bright, vibrant wine begins with aromas of citrus that lead to flavours of lemon and lime. The acidity is bright but well-balanced. 92.

Kitsch Riesling 2017 Maria’s Block ($25 for 476 cases). The 22.6 grams of residual sugar are nicely balanced with 8.3 grams of acid. The sugar lifts the aromas – lime and lemon with a hint of petrol – and adds weight to the palate, with its medley of citrus and peach flavours. 93.

Kitsch Chardonnay 2016 ($29 for 254 cases). This wine begins with appealing aromas of pineapple, citrus and cloves. On the palate, the subtle and well-integrated oak frames flavours of pineapple and tangerine. With bright acidity, the wine is crisp and refreshing. 93.

Kitsch Pinot Noir Rosé 2017 ($25 for 240 cases). The wine presents with a beautiful and delicate rose petal hue. It begins with aromas of rhubarb and strawberry the are echoed on the palate. Bright acidity keeps the wine fresh. 92.

Kitsch Pinot Noir 2016 ($35 for 347 cases). The wine begins with dramatic aromas of wild strawberries, cherries and spice, which is echoed in the generous medley of berry flavours and a hint of forest floor. The texture is silky. 94.