SpearHead releases trio of 2019s

 Photo: SpearHead's Grant Stanley

The recent releases from East Kelowna’s SpearHead Winery provide an early glimpse of the 2019 vintage, at least in the North Okanagan.

The verdict: looking good for what was not an easy year for growing grapes. Of course, this may be a skewed example: Grant Stanley, the general manager and winemaker, is superbly experienced and has a good team working with him.

At last year’s National Wine Awards, SpearHead earned a seventh ranking among the top 10 small wineries and a sixteenth ranking among the top 25 wineries in Canada. Good wine is to be expected from SpearHead.

Two of these wines are made with Pinot Noir. Grant once remarked, when he was the winemaker at Quails’ Gate, that he thought about Pinot Noir “80% of the time.”

SpearHead, which is a winery he joined several years ago, specializes in Pinot Noir (and does a good job with Riesling, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay). Some 80% of the winery’s 15 acres is planted with Pinot Noir. SpearHead also contracts more Pinot Noir elsewhere in West Kelowna and in Summerland.

This is one of the few wineries making a white Pinot Noir and it was Grant’s idea. He had to deal with grapes from young Pinot Noir vines that, because of the youth of the vines, did not make the cut for SpearHead’s regular Pinot Noirs. Those grapes, however, are excellent for making delicious, fruity whites.

If memory serves, 2019 is SpearHead’s second vintage of white Pinot Noir. There is now a following for the wine.

Here are notes on the three releases.

SpearHead Riesling 2019 ($21 for 579 cases). This is a delicious wine but consider laying it down until we are done with self-isolation. The aromas and the flavours are still restrained but the upside is considerable. It has aromas and flavours of lemon and lime with a hint of minerality and the promise of developing light notes of petrol. 90.

SpearHead White Pinot Noir 2019 ($25 for 437 cases). The pale hue of the wine is misleading. There is good weight and lots of flavour. It begins with aromas of apple and honeydew leading to flavours of peach and melon. A quarter of a bottle overlooked for several days in the refrigerator was even fuller in texture and flavour, suggesting this is also a wine with which to celebrate the end of self-isolation. 90.

SpearHead Pinot Noir Rosé 2019 ($22 for 553 cases). The appeal of this wine begins with the vibrant hue in the glass (in my view, the ideal rosé colour, achieved with a 48-hour cold soak on the skins). The wine begins with aromas of strawberry and raspberry, followed by flavours of strawberry and cranberry. The finish is dry. 90.