Tasting wines with Severine Pinte

Photo: Severine Pinte, winemaker at Le Vieux Pin and LaStella

As a winemaker, Severine Pinte is like a jockey who rides several horses on the same day and delivers wins with all of them.

She makes the wines at sister wineries in the Okanagan. Le Vieux Pin near Oliver is focussed on Rhône varieties while La Stella near Osoyoos specializes in Merlot accented with Sangiovese in the manner of producers of Super Tuscan wines. The two wineries have the capacity to produce 20,000 cases of wine annually; and the wines are all exceptional.

“When people ask if I am ever going to go back to France, I say, no, I am happy here,” she told me in a 2018 interview. “The owners have given me the opportunity to grow. I don’t think I would have had the opportunity to build something like this in France.”

She was already a seasoned winemaker when she joined these two Okanagan wineries in 2010. She has a master’s degree in viticulture and enology from Ecole National Superior Agronomic in Montpellier, one of France’s leading wine schools. She got her first taste of British Columbia in the late 1990s as assistant winemaker at Domaine de Chaberton in Langley. She returned to France to work at a winery in Languedoc for nine years before coming back to the Okanagan.

Here, her ability is recognized by her peers. At least one major winery has tried to hire Severine for a Pinot Noir project.

“I would prefer to keep on making Syrah,” she told me. “I just love the aromas of Syrah and the way it evolves. And I like my wines to be a little bit structured. It is only possible because of all the work we do in the vineyard, making sure every plant is balanced.”

A major reason for the quality of her wines is that she gets very well-grown grapes both from the winery-owned vineyards and from the contracted growers.

“It was an education process [with growers],” she says. “When I first came in 2010, some growers said, ‘You are French, you are a woman. What are you going to tell us to do?’ I said nothing; we will just look at what you are growing. Then you will taste the wine and you will see for yourself whether your grapes are doing great stuff or not.”

In November, 2011, she hosted the growers to a tasting. “I brought in all the growers I buy from. We did a comprehensive tasting of all the terroirs and wines. And they saw what the grapes were bringing. I said, here the yield was a little higher and the wine lacks concentration; but here, it is perfect. So they saw the reason why we were asking them to do certain things in the vineyard. They all came on board. I have kept the same growers in the nine years that I have been here. We are hand in hand now and it works well.”

She now has well-equipped wineries in which to make the wines. When Enotecca Winery & Resorts, the owner, first built the two wineries, Le Vieux Pin has a 5,000-case capacity and LaStella was slightly smaller. A few years ago, Severine persuaded her owners to more than double Le Vieux Pin and to add state of the art equipment. She now has concrete vessels and large oak vats as well as more than 300 barrels (many of the red wines are aged in oak for about 18 months).

Here are notes on current and future releases from the two wineries.

Le Vieux Pin Ava 2018 ($29.99 for 1,713 cases). This is 51% Roussanne, 36% Viognier and 13% Marsanne. The wine begins with floral aromas that lead to flavours of nectarine and cantaloupe. The texture is fleshy and the finish is long. 91.

Le Vieux Pin Équinoxe Chardonnay 2018 ($N/A for 106 cases). The model for this wine is Meursault, a white Burgundy that the winemaker admires. The wine has citrus and apple aromas and flavours and almost imperceptible oak. It dances freshly on the palate. 91.

Le Vieux Pin Vaïla 2018 Rosé ($24.99 for 1,277 cases). Made from Pinot Noir, the wine has a pale hue in the style of a Provence rosé.  There are appealing aromas and flavours of strawberry and raspberry, with a crisp dry finish. 91.

Le Vieux Pin Syrah Cuvée Classique 2017 ($44.99 for 378 cases). Firm in texture, the wine has aromas and flavours of pepper, plums and dark fruit and leather with a hint of the oak from been aged 18 months in French oak (24.5% new). 92.

Le Vieux Pin Équinoxe Syrah 2016 ($89.99 for 292 cases). This wine was aged in French oak barrels and puncheons (58% new). Full-bodied and rich on the palate, it begins with aromas of violets, spice, black cherry and plum. It presents complex flavours of blackberries, black cherries mingled with pepper. 93.

Le Vieux Pin Équinoxe Syrah 2017 ($89.99 for 202 cases). This has not yet been released. This was aged 18 months in French oak. It is a full-bodied red, with aromas and flavours of deli meats, dark berries and a touch of pepper. 90-93.

Le Vieux Pin Retouche 2016 ($69.99 for 250 cases). The wine begins with aromas of cassis and dark fruit. On the palate, there are flavours of black currant, black cherry with a lingering finish of sage and fruit. The blend is 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 20% Syrah. The blend is inspired by an old Bordeaux practice, no longer permitted, of touching up a red wine with a dollop of Syrah. Happily, it is permitted in the Okanagan. 93.

Le Vieux Pin Retouche 2017 (Not released yet; 200 cases). The blend is 50% Cabernet Franc, 25% Syrah, and 12.5% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. This is a concentrated red with brambly aromas and flavours mingled with blackberry and black cherry. 93.

Le Vieux Pin Équinoxe Merlot 2014 ($89.99 for 173 cases). This is a firm, concentrated wine, with aromas and flavours of black currant mingled with minerals. This is a wine with a long life ahead of it. 93.

Le Vieux Pin Équinoxe Merlot 2017 ($89.99 for 13o cases). Again, this is a wine with great concentration. It begins with aromas of black currant. On the palate, there are notes of cassis, plum, fig and spice. 93.

LaStella Vivace 2018 ($22.99). This a Pinot Grigio. The wine begins with aromas of citrus leading to flavours of citrus, apple and melon. The wine is vibrant and refreshing. 91.

LaStella Lastellina 2018 ($22.99 for 864 cases).  The wine is 66% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot and 4% Sangiovese. It begins with a lovely rose petal hue. It has aromas and flavours of strawberry and watermelon. A modest amount of residual sugar gives it a fleshy texture; the finish, however, is dry. 91

LaStella Fortissimo 2017 ($30.99). The wine is 60% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc and 9% Sangiovese.  Full on the palate, the wine has aromas and flavours of black cherry, blackberry and plum with a spicy finish. 92.

LaStella Espressivo 2017 ($49.99 for 390 cases). This is the winery’s other Tuscan blend, with more Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon with a touch of Merlot and Sangiovese. The velvety tannins give the wine almost a juicy texture, with aromas and flavours of cassis, cherry and blackberry. 93.

LaStella Allegretto 2017 ($59.99). This is 100% Merlot. The colour is almost black, signalling the dense and concentrated structure that was typical of the vintage. There are layers and layers of dark fruit on the palate. 93.

LaStella Maestoso 2017 ($89.90). This is also 100% Merlot, with fruit from the LaStella vineyard and from the Golden Mile. The wine is bold, plush and ripe, with aromas and flavours of cassis and black cherry and plum, with vanilla mingled on the palate. 93.

LaStella La Sophia 2016 ($100). This wine, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon,  is an incredible powerhouse, with very concentrated flavours and texture. It was aged in barrel for 31 months simply to tame the wine. There are flavours of black currant, dark chocolate, fig, prune and licorice.  96.

LaStella La Sophia 2017 ($100). This is another stunning and powerful Cabernet Sauvignon, beginning with aromas of cassis and iodine. On the palate, there are rich flavours of black currant, plum and black licorice. The finish goes on and on! 95.