Amulet releases its newest handcrafted wines

Photo: Winemaker Dwight Sick

Now releasing its second offering, Amulet Wines is a project of winemaker Dwight Sick in co-operation with his friends, Dylan and Pénélope Roche. The wines are made at the Roche winery on the Naramata Bench and can be purchased through either the Roche or Amulet web sites. These are exceptional handcrafted wines. “These wines are singular and focused wines that have taken the last 15 years to conceptualize and create,” Dwight explains on his site. “Grown in some of the best vineyard sites in the Okanagan Valley, our grapes are tended by hard-working hands along with a ruthless attitude to grow quality before quantity. This approach in the vineyard enables a gentle translation in the cellar which produces honest and pure wines that are terroir-driven. Production is extremely limited and we plan to keep it that way.”

A former flight attendant who switched to winemaking in 2004, Dwight was for many years the winemaker at Stag’s Hollow Winery. A few years ago, he became the winemaker at Moraine Vineyards. He continues there as a consulting winemaker and recently took on the same role at Seven Stones Winery in the Similkameen Valley. With the Amulet project, he has paid great attention to the packaging as well as to the wines. “Our initial releases of Amulet wines have featured a medallion on the bottles which is a replica recast of the original hand-struck Gold Angel coin from the Elizabethan era,” Dwight explains. “First appearing in 1470, the coin depicts St. Michael slaying an evil dragon. These types of coins were often given to sufferers of the ‘evil’ by the monarch in ceremonies that were presided over by the clergy. The coins were pierced with holes for a string which were often then draped around the neck and were worn as Amulets of healing or protection to those in its possession.”

On the current release, the medallion is the flip side of the coin, showing the image of a merchant ship. “The inscription on the coin loosely translated reads ‘This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous,’” Dwight writes. He adds that is “perhaps a direct allusion to the new wines themselves.” Here are my notes on the wines, which indeed live up to the medallion.

Amulet White 2019 ($26.09 for 110 cases). This is a blend of Viognier with 12% Marsanne, all from Naramata Bench. The juice, from gentle whole cluster pressing, was fermented cool in French oak (20% new). The wine went through malolactic fermentation and was aged six months on the lees. The wine begins with aromas of stone fruit, spice and honey. Flavours of peach and nectarine wrap around a backbone of minerality. There is a hint of vanilla on the persistent finish. 92.

Amulet Red 2020 ($34.78 for 98 x six bottle cases). This is 50% Grenache, 48% Syrah and 2% Viognier, all from the Naramata Bench. The wine was matured on the lees for seven months in neutral French oak barrels. The result is a juicy wine with lifted floral and cherry aromas. On the palate, there are flavours of cherry, plum and spice. 91.

Amulet Syrah 2019 ($62.52 for 88 x six bottle cases). This is 96% Syrah from Oliver with 4% Viognier from the Naramata Bench. The grapes were allowed a seven-day cold soak before fermentation began with indigenous yeast. After 22 days, the free run wine was drained off and the grape skins were pressed gently. The wine was transferred to French oak barrels (50% new, 50% second use) and matured there for 20 months. In the glass, the wine is as dark as midnight. This is a Syrah with an earthy, brooding personality; and aromas and flavours of fig, prune and pepper. 93.