40 Knots champions orange wine

Photo:  Brenda Hetman Craig and Layne Craig

In recent years, more and more wineries have begun to release orange wines.

The first examples I tasted struck me as a fad, and one that I hoped would soon die. The wines often had a tannic bitterness on the finish and favours that reminded me of Cuban cigars. There was a time when I enjoyed the occasional cigar. But I never wanted to drink one.

40 Knots Winery, a producer at Comox on Vancouver Island, is making me rethink my views on orange wine. The winery’s current releases include three vintages. All are delicious and none taste like cigars.

Orange wines are white wines that have been fermented and aged briefly on the skins. The wines pick up the orange hue primarily from pigments in the skins. Depending on the varietal and the winemaking technique, some of the colour and tobacco flavours may also come from slight oxidation.

It is a matter of your palate whether you like notes of oxidation. I prefer a wine to be fresh and clean, even an orange wine.

Layne Craig, who calls himself the owner, janitor, farmer and grape fermenter at 40 Knots, seems to have mastered the technique of making orange wines that are fresh.

These wines are made with Schönburger grapes; one vintage also has some Pinot Gris in the blend. Both of these varieties have some colour in the skins of mature grapes.

Schönburger is a lightly pink-skinned variety developed in Germany in 1939. According to Wine Grapes, the book by Jancis Robinson and colleagues, it is a cross of Pinot Noir and Pirovano I. The latter is a cross of Muscat of Hamburg and Chasselas Rosé.

Schönburger, which was only authorized in 1980, is named for the town of Schönburg in Germany’s Mittelrhein wine region. It seems it is more widely planted in England than Germany because it ripens early. That suggests it is well suited to Vancouver Island.

Schönberger is one of the synonyms for the grape.  It is the spelling that 40 Knots uses of its labels. I prefer the spelling similar to the town, as if it matters.

To make the orange wines, Layne places the grapes, without crushing, in an Italian-made terracotta amphora. They are fermented with wild yeast, with gentle punchdowns and with minimal additions of sulphur. The wine remains in contact with the skins for three months. The wine is bottled without either fining or filtering.

The winemaking technique is risky compared with traditional winemaking but, as the cliché has it, “no risk, no reward”.

The rest of the 40 Knots portfolio is relatively conventional.

The 40 Knots winery was opened in 2011 by Bill Montgomery, a former towboat company owner who planted a sizeable vineyard near Comox in 2007 and 2008. The 18 acres include Auxerrois, Siegerrebe, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, and Gamay Noir.  He put the winery on the market a year after opening when he discovered that it involved an overwhelming amount of work.

The winery was purchased by Layne and his wife, Brenda Hetman-Craig, a business couple from Fort St. John who wanted to buy and operate a family business. They have had the energy to do it.

With consulting help from Okanagan winemakers Matt Dumayne and Michael Bartier,  Layne mastered viticulture and winemaking, Some of the winemaking techniques, like fermenting in terracotta amphorae with wild yeast, are comparatively cutting edge.

Here are notes on the wines.

40 Knots Soleil Rosé 2018 ($36.90). This is a delicious traditional method sparkling wine made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. The Pinot Noir dosage no doubt bolstered the pink colour, the fruity aroma and the flavours of strawberry and cherry, The residual sugar, which lifts the flavours, is superbly balanced with lively acidity. 91..

40 Knots Spindrift Extra-Brut 2018 ($36.90). This traditional method sparkling wine is made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The grapes were harvested early, the winery says, “to ensure a higher acidity.” The acidity here is certainly racy (9.7% with no residual sugar). The wine has an active mousse, with aromas of melon and citrus and with tart green apple flavours. 89.

40 Knots Sieg 2018 ($22.90 for 278 cases). The variety in this wine is Siegerrebe, a full-flavoured German white. The winery has resolved the challenging pronunciation by labelling the wine just with the first syllable. The wine has dramatic aromas of lime, lemon and spice that are echoed on the palate. With just 10.9% alcohol, the wine is light and fresh. 90.

40 Knots Auxerrois 2018 ($24.90 for 163 cases). Auxerrois is an Alsace white variety that was embraced by the early estate wineries, but less so by consumers – for no good reason that I can discern. Layne takes the variety seriously: this wine was fermented in French oak and aged in barrel and on the lees for seven months. The wine has a slight blush. Oak notes are barely perceptible. The wine has aromas and flavours of apple and cantaloupe. It also had good weight on the palate, with a dry finish. 90

40 Knots Pinot Noir 115 Amphora 2017 ($42.90 for 167 cases). The clone 115 Pinot Noir was fermented as whole clusters in the terracotta a amphora, with extended maceration. After pressing, the wine was returned to the amphora for nine months and then finished in neutral oak barrels. The wine has a lovely silky texture. It delivers aromas and flavours of cherry and spice. 90.

40 Knots Gamay Noir 2018 ($26.90 for 343 cases). This is a bright, light-bodied wine with aromas and flavours of cherry and cranberry. There is a hint of pepper on the finish. 88.

40 Knots L’Orange 2016 ($36.90 for 1,132 litres). This wine is made with Schönburger grapes fermented with wild yeast in an amphora. The wine remained in contact with the skins for three months. The wine has a lovely orange hue and aromas of mango and orange. It has flavours of orange peel and spice. The finish is dry. 90.

40 Knots L’Orange 2017 ($36.90 for 1,743 litres). This is a blend of Schönburger and Pinot Gris. Again, the wine begins with aromas of tropical fruits leading to flavours of orange peel and spice. The finish is dry but lingering. 91.

40 Knots L’Orange 2018 ($36.90 for 107 cases). The hue is more of a blush. Everything about this wine is slightly less intense – a touch less spice, a touch less orange peel, lighter weight on the palate. That is not a criticism; it seems to reflect a vintage variation. 90.