IMBZZL: new wines from Laughing Stock

Photo: Winemaker Stefanie Dylla (courtesy Arterra Wines Canada

IMBZZL is a new wine brand that Arterra Wines Canada has released through British Columbia Liquor Stores. The vowel-challenged name is pronounced to rhyme with embezzle. When Arterra’s marketing team ran the name past a focus group (if they did that), I wonder if anyone pronounced it the same way one of my dinner guests did: imbecile. Fortunately, one of the other guests, who is in media marketing, looked at the label and said it was very good. According to Arterra, the name is “a play on imbibe and embezzle.” Whatever your reaction to the label, the three wines are, as Arterra says, “bold, unique and expertly crafted.”

The wines are made by Stefanie Dylla, a winemaker since 2016 at Laughing Stock Vineyards on Naramata Bench, which is now owned by Arterra. Stefanie is a 2015 graduate from the winemaking program at Brock University. “I had lived in BC for seven years before I went to Brock,” she told me a few years ago. “I started in the winemaking program at Okanagan College and finished in Ontario.” After working at a small Niagara winery and doing a harvest in New Zealand, she decided to return to the Okanagan. “It is a little bit harder to make wines in Ontario,” she had discovered. “I was there for two of the worst winters. You are struggling with replanting vines and hoping you get enough growth the next year.” Through Laughing Stock, Stefanie now has access to the significant acres of well-grown vineyards operated in the south Okanagan by Arterra. With these wines, she has done the viticulturists proud.

Here are notes on the wines.

IMBZZL Double Cross Pinot Gris 2020 ($21.49). The grapes for this wine are from Arterra’s Thomas Ranch Vineyards near Okanagan Falls. The free run and lightly pressed juice was fermented cool in stainless steel. The wine is crisp and refreshing, with aromas of citrus and pear and flavours of apple and citrus. Don’t expect complexity: this is simply a clean, focussed wine that is easy to drink. 89.

IMBZZL Ruse Rosé 2020 ($19.49). This is a Syrah dominant rosé with small volumes of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The fruit is from Arterra’s Thorpe and Bull Pine Vineyards near Oliver. Here, the winemaking was complex. Stefanie left the juice on the lees for about 17 days at O◦C, stirring daily. The object was to develop flavour without extracting too much skin colour, a technique now being used in Provence. This wine has the pale hue made fashionable by Provence, while delivering powerfully on the nose and palate. It begins with aromas of raspberry and cherry, leading to a big fruit basket of flavour: cherry, red peaches, ripe apples. There is a hint of white pepper on the dry finish. 91.

IMBZZL Fast One Red Blend 2018 ($23.49). Most of the fruit is from the Bull Pine Vineyard. The blend is 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. The wine was aged in French and American oak for just over 12 months. The wine begins with aromas of cassis and blueberry. On the palate, there are bold, ripe flavours of black cherry, black currant, cedar and chocolate. Long ripe tannins give the wine a long finish. 90.