Maverick: winery in a hurry

Photo: Maverick's winemaker Andrew Windsor

Under its new owners since April 2020, Maverick Estate Winery is in a hurry. It was producing about 4,000 cases a year when it was taken over by Jan Nelson and Andrew Windsor. It produced 6,200 cases in the 2020 vintage and expects to produce about 9,000 cases this fall. “Our goal is to grow to about 15,000 cases,” says Jan, the winery’s president. “So far, we have been able to grow organically. We have not had to go for more capital to our partners. We have been managing to do it just with cash flow and mortgages from the bank. The goal is to grow as quickly as we can without overstressing ourselves or putting ourselves in financial peril. We want to get to 15,000 cases as quick as we can.”

Their partners are Bob and Barb Shaunessy, the former majority owners of Tinhorn Creek until that winery was sold in 2017 to Andrew Peller Ltd. At the time, Andrew Windsor was the winemaker at Tinhorn Creek while Jan was the sales and marketing manager. The backing from the Shaunessys gave them a running start to acquire an established winery with a solid reputation. A producer of quite superb wines, Maverick opened in 2013 with a highway-side tasting room midway between Oliver and Osoyoos. The original owners were Bertus Albertyn, his father-in-law Dr. Schalk de Witt, and their families. Bertus is a South African trained winemaker who came to the Okanagan in 2009. Before opening Maverick, he was the winemaker at Burrowing Owl Estate Winery. He has developed a significant business as a consulting winemaker.

Jan and Andrew are building quickly on their running start. While the previous owners had been selling some of the grapes from the four vineyards Maverick farmed, Jan and Andrew began phasing out the sales contracts after the 2020 vintage. “This year, we are not selling most of our grapes,” Jan says. “We have increased production. I think we will do about 9,000 cases this year, from our estate vineyards and by picking up a little from around the neighbourhood to compliment what we already grow on our sites.” They are also plan to develop two vineyards on a nearby mountainside where Maverick purchased 77 acres this year with two plantable benches. A lower bench will be planted primarily with Bordeaux reds and Syrah. The cooler upper bench will be planted with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. “And we are thinking of planting some Tempranillo and Vermentino there, just for fun,” Jan says. “By the time those two are planted, we will have around 60 acres of producing vineyards. Our goal is to be self-sufficient, if we can be. With grapes in such limited availability, I don’t see it getting easier for us to buy grapes on the market.”

The rapid rise in production is outstripping the capacity of Maverick’s original winery. “This year we will be doing 140 tons of fruit in a place that was typically doing 60 tones of fruit,” Jan says. “It requires a lot of quick flips in tanks and barreling down quickly, so we can use tanks for second and third round.” To relieve the capacity crunch, Maverick is leasing a production facility from nearby Kismet Estate Winery. “It’s basically a warehouse but it was their original winery,” Jan says. “We have leased that so we can produce wine over there while we rebuild here on site.”

Maverick’s tasting room, while architecturally appealing, also provided too small. “In 2019, they apparently had 19,000 or 20,000 visitors- in a tasting room with a table than can seat eight and at a five-meter-long tasting bar. I don’t know how they did it,” Jan marvels. “Once the Covid restrictions came in, we had to pull back on having any sort of crowd at the tasting bar. So we started doing tastings outside on the little patio and inside, in the private room. This year, we built an outside tasting garden that can sit 45 people at a time. It allowed us to offer a different sort of experience to what the Okanagan was offering previously. Going to a tasting bar, stretching out an arm and hoping for a tipple is hopefully a thing of the past.”

Here are notes on current releases from Maverick. The winery expects to be sold out by the end of the year.

Maverick Sauvignon Blanc 2020 ($19.98). This wine is fresh and zesty, with aromas and flavours of lime mingled with herbal notes, along with papaya and passionfruit. 91.

Maverick Cross Road Chardonnay 2020 ($26.98). This is a delicious, fruit forward Chardonnay. It begins with aromas of peach and apple. The full-flavoured palate delivers stone fruit and apple with spicy oak on the finish. 90.

Maverick Provenance Pinot Noir 2020 ($27.98). This wine was aged eight months in two-year-old barrels. The wine is youthfully bright and vibrant, with aromas and flavours of cherry and raspberry. On the finish, there is spice and a hint of oak. 90.

Maverick Bush Vine Syrah 2019 ($29.98). This is a boldly flavoured wine, beginning with aromas of delicatessen meats mingled with black pepper. On the palate, there are flavours of fig, plum and pepper, with an earthy, meaty finish. 92.

b>Maverick Carbonic Syrah 2020 ($34.98). By applying carbonic fermentation to whole grapes, winemaker Andrew Windsor created an unusual but delicious Syrah. The wine is big and lush, due to the soft tannins. There are aromas and flavours of plum and pepper with a touch of licorice on the finish. The slight chilling recommended by the winery gives lift to the freshness of the fruit flavours. 91.

b>Maverick Rubeus 2019 ($24.98). This is a blend of Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. It begins with aromas of blueberry, cherry, plum and spice, which are all echoed in the sweet fruit on the palate. There also are notes of chocolate in the earthy finish of this complex and age-worthy wine. 92.