Pentâge wine quartet

Photo: Paul Gardner and Julie Rennie

A smart phone with GPS is useful for finding Pentâge Winery’s tasting room although, knowing the imperfections of GPS, visitors might be directed up the very steep driveway from Lakeshore Road.

It can be done. I approached the winery this way a few times before good access was created from Valleyview Road, overlooking the winery. This is one of the most breathtaking winery locations in the Okanagan: the view over the vineyard takes in Skaha Lake and the south end of Penticton.

Here is an excerpt from the latest edition of Okanagan Wine Tour Guide.

Pentâge Winery opened its tasting room only in 2011, eight years after opening the winery. The reason: it took Paul Gardner eleven years to plan and dig the massive 500 square-metre (5,500 square foot) cave from the crown of hard rock commanding this vineyard’s million-dollar view of Skaha Lake. Cool and spacious, this cave accommodates barrels and tanks of wine in a feat of engineering unlike anything else in the Okanagan, except perhaps the Mission Hill cellar. Tours are offered but you can even appreciate the ambiance just by peering through the gigantic glass doors at the front of the cave.

This was a derelict orchard when Paul and Julie Rennie, his wife, were so enchanted with the property in 1996 that they bought it and began planting vines three years later. Julie, the Scots-born daughter of a marine engineer, was executive assistant to a well-known Vancouver financier.  Paul, born in Singapore in 1961, spent 20 years as a marine engineer before tiring of going to sea. “I got caught up in winemaking in the early ‘90s,” he remembers.

Now, he spends most of his time the winery’s two Skaha Bench vineyards, which total 6.5 hectares (16 acres), growing so many varieties – including even Zinfandel - that one vineyard is called the Dirty Dozen. “I would still rather make small lots of interesting wine than big tanks full of wine,” he says. An example of an eccentric but delicious wine was the 2011 Cabernet Franc Appassimento Style where he mimicked Amarone by drying the grapes 58 days before crushing them.

Paul is very much hands on, both in the vineyard and in the winery. In 2019, he even found partners to launch bottling line business.  “I decided it would be a good idea to try to have a bit more control over every aspect of our winemaking,” Paul says. “We can now literally bottle whenever we want – and I know we are using the best equipment we can get.”

The winery now produces about 5,000 cases a year. It is a remarkable kaleidoscope of wines from entry level (under the label Hiatus) to premium. The winery’s three-litre bag-in-the-box Pinot Gris is especially popular with restaurants.

The winery name, a play on the Latin word for five, was chosen after Paul planted five red varieties to make his flagship red, also called Pentâge. The wine is built primarily with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon; small amounts of Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Gamay add complexity and personality.

Here are notes on four recent releases.

Pentâge Roussanne/Marsanne 2015 ($30.43). This is 70% Roussanne, 30% Marsanne. It was fermented in a combination of stainless steel and older oak barrels. The wine presents a golden hue in the glass and an appealing aroma of ripe apricot mingled with vanilla. Rich in texture, it has flavours of citrus, stone fruit and butterscotch, with a long finish. 91.

Pentâge Chardonnay 2014 ($24.35). It is rare to find a mature Chardonnay in any other than a winery’s library portfolio. This is a complex wine, remarkably fresh on the nose and palate. Think of a fine white Burgundy. The wine was fermented in French oak (second fill barrels and puncheons) and was on the lees for four months. Aromas of honey and citrus mingle with light notes of vanilla and ripe peach. On the palate, there are flavours of citrus and toasted nuts. The finish lingers. 92.

Pentâge Gamay Noir 2017 ($20). This is a bold expression of the grape, with aromas of cherry mingled with oak and with layers of cherry and dark fruit on the palate. 90.

Pentâge Fizz Blanc 2019 ($20). The blend is 75% Gewürztraminer, 25% Ehrenfelser. This sparkling wine is crisp and fresh, with aromas and flavours of peach, apple and spice and with active mousse. The wine is slightly off-dry. 90.