Osoyoos Larose offers Le Grand Vin vertical

Photo: Raphaël Merlaut

Osoyoos Larose Winery had a clever strategy at the Vancouver International Wine Festival: it offered a four-vintage vertical of its flagship Le Grand Vin.

Perhaps that emerged as a way of getting selected for the festival, given that Osoyoos Larose has just two wines. The festival’s selection committee expects participating wineries to offer four or five wines.. Osoyoos Larose got around that by dipping into its library, supplementing its current release with older vintages.

This may also inspire consumers not already doing so to buy and cellar some Le Grand Vin each year. This is one of the top Okanagan reds and it is ideal for building a tasting vertical.

Think of the fine Bordeaux reds that have been collected since Thomas Jefferson’s day and which appear regularly for vertical tastings. The Osoyoos Larose wine is on of the the Okanagan’s most collectible wines.  The reason: the Bordeaux-inspired viticulture and winemaking has informed Osoyoos Larose from its very first vintage in 2001.

Originally, the winery was a joint venture between Vincor International, the Canada’s largest wine group, and Groupe Taillan of Bordeaux. Vincor’s intention was to tap the knowledge of the Bordelaise for the benefit of the Okanagan.

“We had been doing wines in prestigious Bordeaux wineries before we were introduced to the possibility of a joint venture,” I was told last summer by Raphaël Merlaut, the grandson of the founder of Groupe Taillan. “We had a legitimacy in winemaking expertise. Vincor chose our group because they needed a signature.”

The 80-acre Osoyoos Larose vineyard on a spectacular site overlooking Osoyoos Lake and the south end of the Okanagan was planted entirely with Bordeaux red varietals: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

The winery itself was set up in the back corner of Vincor’s sprawling Jackson-Triggs winery north of Oliver. The only shortcoming of that was that Osoyoos Larose never had a tasting room.

Vincor was taken over in 2006 by Constellation Brands, a big American wine company with little interest in Canadian wineries and even less in joint ventures with the French. Constellation closed Le Clos Jordanne, an Ontario joint venture with a Burgundy group that made fine Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. (Arterra Wines Canada, which bought the former Vincor’s Canadian wineries, is re-opening Le Clos.)

 Constellation did not get the chance to close Osoyoos Larose because Groupe Taillan bought total control in 2013.

After that transaction, Osoyoos Larose was given notice to move out of the Jackson-Triggs winery within five years. The search for a suitable location has taken longer. The 2019 vintage was done in a leased building at the Bordertown winery just outside Osoyoos; and the 2020 Osoyoos Larose wines will be made there as well.

This happened because Groupe Taillan hesitated at the cost of putting a winery on the vineyard, even though space had been set aside for that under the original joint venture. There was a long search for sites closer to Highway 97 with easier access to water, electricity and other services winery needs. The Agricultural Land Commission shot down at least one site.

Groupe Taillan finally gave in: the permanent Osoyoos Larose winery is to be built on the vineyard over the next two years. It will include a tasting room.

What is remarkable is that Groupe Taillan has not walked away from this project and all the headaches.

“A family can have a long-term view, a long-term plan,” Raphäel said “If we were to do something that makes no sense, I guess the long-term future of the company would be at stake. So we cannot do something that does not match with Osoyoos Larose winery, in the sense of quality. It should also reflect the level of quality that we aspire to. And it should also make sense about the future of the winery. We cannot take a risk that would be putting the future of Osoyoos Larose at stake.”

Speaking of the absence of a tasting room, Raphaël drew an amusing parallel between Osoyoos Larose and the dancer in Georges Bizet’s opera, L'Arlésienne, whose face is not revealed.

“It will not last forever that you cannot see this beautiful dancer,” he told me last summer. “We just need to be sure we are making things right. We cannot rush into something. We are trying to build for the long term and we are trying to be faithful to the idea of Osoyoos Larose, which is to be a luxury wine without showing off too much.”

Osoyoos Larose makes just two wines, for a total of 15,000 cases a year. The premium label is called Le Grand Vin and the second label is called Pétales d’Osoyoos. Given that the winemakers have all been from France, there is a strong Bordeaux influence to the style.

Since the release of the first vintages, Le Grand Vin and Pétales d’Osoyoos have been distributed widely in private and government wine stores. One wonders how many more fans this winery would have if there had been a tasting room.

 At least there was one for three days at the Vancouver wine festival. Here are notes on these impressive reds.

Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin 2013. The blend is 57% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot and 4% Malbec. This is a harmonious winewith aromas of vanilla and cassis and flavours of black cherry and black currants, along with hints of espresso and dark chocolate on the finish. The texture is still tight, reflecting the ability of this wine to age. 91.

Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin 2014. The blend is 68% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot and 5% Malbec. The wine reflects of the finest of Okanagan vintages, beginning with dramatic aromas of black fruits mingled with spice and chocolate. The flavours are intense and concentrated, showing dark cherry, black currant and dark chocolate. 94.

Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin 2015. The blend is 71% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot and 4% Malbec. Bold and generous, this wine reflects the warm vintage and its abundant ripeness. There are aromas and flavours of dark cherry and black currant mingled with dark chocolate and tobacco. 93.

Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin 2016 ($47.99). The blend is 62.5% Merlot, 12.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11.8% Petit Verdot, 7.7% Cabernet Franc and 5.5% Malbec. This is a marvellous wine. To begin with, the tannin management has made this a little more accessible in its youth than many previous vintages of LGV. It has aromas and flavours of cherry, currant and blueberry. The flavours are bright and lively and the finish persists. 94.

Osoyoos Larose Pétales d’Osoyoos 2016 ($28.99). The blend is 81% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc and 1% each of Petit Verdot and Malbec. It is a juicy, fruit-forward with aromas and flavours of cherry, black currant and blueberry. The subtle, well-managed tannins bring a polished texture to this wine. 91.