C.C. Jentsch Small Lots are a big deal

Photo: Chris Jentsch

C.C. Jentsch Cellars is hard to miss. It is located in a refurbished packing house beside Highway 97, more or less midway between Oliver and Osoyoos. And there is a large parking lot.

It is worth stopping in. The wines in its Small Lots Series, while priced aggressively, are among the most interesting in the Okanagan. Those currently on offer are from the 2015 and 2016 vintages when the wines were made by Amber Pratt and by Matt Dumayne, the senior winemaker at Okanagan Crush Pad. He was called on when Amber went on maternity leave (she has since moved on to Moraine Vineyards).

Here is an except on C.C. Jentsch from my forthcoming edition of John Schreiner’s Okanagan Wine Tour Guide.

On a Sunday afternoon in June, 2010, the Testalinden Creek mud slide, triggered when an old dam broke, roared down the mountain. It destroyed Chris and Betty Jentsch’s home and sent Betty and her daughter running for their lives. (Chris was not home.) But the slide missed the nearby Jentsch packing house, a modern building just beside the highway. That bit of good fortune enabled Chris to turn it into a winery in 2013.

A self-described entrepreneur, Chris, who was born in Kelowna in 1963, is a third-generation Okanagan fruit grower. He became an independent apple grower in the 1980s. He built his first packing house in 1989 and rebuilt it after fire destroyed it in 1991. When apple prices collapsed in the mid 1990s, he converted his orchards to cherries. “We were in a golden time for cherry exports, with a 63 cent Canadian dollar,” Chris recalls. “Cherries were getting air freighted to Taiwan.”

In 1999, Chris planted his first vineyard, a 7.6 hectare (19-acre) on the Golden Mile, just south of the Tinhorn Creek winery. He sold it five years later to go to a much larger project – replacing his cherry trees with vines after overplanting led to a cherry surplus.  “That was hard because we were ripping out highly productive cherry blocks that were picture perfect,” Chris says.

In his usual style, Chris jumped in with both feet. Between 2005 and 2008, he planted 65,246 vines on a superb 19.4-hectare (48-acre) plateau on the Golden Mile. Once the vines produced, he sold grapes to several wineries, including Andrew Peller Ltd. He operated this vineyard for his own winery and his clients until 2018, when he sold it to Phantom Creek Estate Winery. He continues to farm three smaller vineyards in the south Okanagan.

The first C.C. Jentsch vintage was made in 2012 at Okanagan Crush Pad. Chris opened his winery with 300 cases of Viognier, 120 cases of Gewürztraminer, 550 cases of Syrah and about 900 cases of a Meritage blend called The Chase. The winery’s reputation is based on its Syrah, its Meritage and an array of small lot wines.

Here are notes on current releases from the winery.

C.C. Jentsch Small Lot Series Blanc de Noirs 2018 ($22.90 for 189 cases). This is a Merlot rosé. Twenty-four hours of skin contact has given this a deep rose petal hue. It begins with aromas of strawberry jam, followed with flavours of strawberry and cherry. A touch of residual sugar gives the wine a creamy texture. 90.

C.C. Jentsch Syrah 2016 ($31.90 for 817 cases). This wine was aged 16 months in French and American oak barrels. It begins with aromas of deli meats, leather, smoke, pepper and plums, all of which are echoed on the rich figgy palate. 91.

C.C. Jentsch Small Lot Series Merlot 2015 ($35.90 for 224 cases). This wine was barrel-aged for 17 months in French and American oak. It is a big, ripe wine typical of the vintage, with aromas of black cherry and mocha which are echoed on the palate. 90.

C.C. Jentsch Small Lot Series Malbec 2016 ($49.90 for 157 cases). This wine was aged 13 months in Hungarian and American oak barrels. It begins with the classic floral aromas of the variety, along with black cherry and vanilla. There is more rich cherry on the palate. 92.

C.C. Jentsch Small Lot Series Cabernet Franc 2015 ($49.90 for 222 cases). This wine, which was aged 16 months in French and American oak, reflects the vintage, with 15.1% alcohol carried well by the brambly aromas and flavours. Spice, black cherry and chocolate mingle with blackberry and raspberry. 92.

C.C. Jentsch Small Lot Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 ($49.90 for 205 cases). The wine begins with aromas of black cherries, cassis and spice. The fruit flavours and the texture are bold: flavours of cassis, cherry, blackberry mingled with chocolate and coffee. The wine has long ripe tannins. The finish lingers. 93.