Four Shadows Winery's second release

Photo: Wilbert and Joka Borren

These wines represent the second release from Four Shadows Vineyard & Winery, which opened its tasting room at the eastern edge of Penticton in the spring of 2019.

The wines are all made from estate-grown fruit. I would surmise from the volumes that Four Shadows continues to sell some of its grapes while building a following for the brand.

For background on the winery, here is an except from the new Okanagan Wine Tour Guide. The 510-page book was released for $25 at the end of April. The pandemic forced me and co-author Luke Whittall to cancel planned book launch events.

Wilbert and Joka Borren, both immigrants from the Netherlands, are nothing if not industrious. Wilbert was a 20-year-old graduate of an agriculture college when he arrived to work on an Alberta dairy farm. He met Joka in 1990, shortly after she arrived in Canada. In 1993, after the couple married, Wilbert concluded that the rising cost of milk quotas prevented him from realizing a dream of his own dairy. So he bought a hog farm near Lacombe, Alberta. “It took some persuading,” Joka admits.

When they tired of hogs and hard winters, they moved to the Okanagan in 2011, now with four sons, to become grape growers. They bought the bankrupt Mistral Estate Winery and its 4.9 hectares (12 acres) of neglected vineyard on the eastern edge of Penticton. Wilbert made up for his lack of experience by engaging viticultural consultant Graham O’Rourke, co-owner of nearby Tightrope Winery. “I am a farmer,” Wilbert says. “Stepping into the wine business is a new game.”

Within a few years, Graham suggested that Wilbert did not need help anymore. Four Shadows Vineyard—a name inspired by the four Borren sons—was selling quality fruit to such top-flight wineries as Foxtrot Vineyards and Synchromesh Wines. “It was never our intention to start a winery,” Wilbert says. “But then we were selling grapes [to wineries] that were all making good wines. People started to ask why we were not making our own wine.” Once again, they overcame winemaking inexperience by turning to consultants. Tightrope’s Lyndsay O’Rourke made the Four Shadows wines in 2017, and Pascal Madevon, formerly the Osoyoos Larose winemaker, took over in 2018.

The former Mistral tasting room, empty nearly a decade, was professionally renovated: one of their sons is a carpenter, while another, a welder, fashioned the winery’s unique steel signage. Four Shadows opened in May 2019 with five wines, well made and well priced. Cautiously, the vineyard continues to sell some grapes to other wineries. “We are starting small so we can just ease into it,” Joka says. “And we can expand if it goes well.”

Here are notes on the wines.

Four Shadows Riesling Dry 2019 ($23 for 115 cases). Crisp and refreshing, this wine begins with aromas of lemon. On the palate, there are flavours of lemon and lime with a hint of minerality. Even though the wine is drinking well now, another year of bottle age will unlock additional complexity. 90.

Four Shadows Riesling Classic 2019 ($23 for 315 cases). This wine is packaged in an electric blue bottle to stand out on the shelf. There are aromas of citrus. The lively acidity is effectively balanced with 40 grams of residual sugar. The lemon pie flavours fill the mouth and linger on the palate. Think of a fine Mosel Riesling. 91.

Four Shadows Chardonnay 2019 ($23 for 113 cases). This wine, which will be released this fall, was fermented 40% in second year French oak and 40% in stainless steel. Aromas of apple and melon mingle very subtly with oak. The aromas are echoed on the palate. At the time of this review, the wine is clearly this developing. The winery’s decision to release it with almost a full year of age is wise. 90.

Four Shadows Rosé 2019 ($21 for 94 cases). This is 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Merlot, Skin contact of 24 hours has produced a lovely hue, giving the wine great eye appeal in the glass. The aromas recall wild strawberries, leading to flavours of strawberry mingled with cherry. The wine has 18 grams of residual sugar, enough to lift the aromas and flesh out the flavours. Bright acidity leaves the wine with a long and refreshing finish. 91.

Four Shadows Pinot Noir 2018 ($28 for 275 cases). This wine, to be released this fall,  was aged for 10 months in French oak (20% new).  It has aromas and flavours of cherry mingled with hints of mocha and vanilla. The wine’s silky finish gives it a feminine elegance. 91.

Four Shadows Merlot 2018 ($26 for 530 cases). The wine, to be released this fall,  was aged 10 months in French oak barrels (30% new). The wine begins with appealing aromas of cassis and blueberry jam. On the palate, there are flavours of black currant, figs and plum mingled with spice on the finish. The flavours linger on the palate. 91.