Three Sisters has grown quickly

Photo: Matt Mikulic, winemaker at Three Sisters

Along with most B.C. winery owners, Three Sisters Winery’s Matt Mikulic feared that the COVID 19 lockdown in March, 2020, would devastate sales. After all, restaurants were shut down and, even if liquor stores remained opened, people were discouraged from doing unnecessary shopping. The consumer response was dramatically different. “Our website sales went through the roof!” Matt remembers. “We always had had a trickle of website sales, but that changed everything. We had to develop proper shipping and packaging. We could not believe how well that went.”

Three Sisters, which made its first vintage in 2014 and opened a tasting room at the outskirts of Penticton in 2016, has just gone from strength to strength. The winery produced more than 10,000 cases in 2020 and nearly 13,000 cases in 2021. That is a long way from the 800 cases Three Sisters in 2014. And that came about because Earlco Vineyards Ltd., the vineyard management company that spawned Three Sisters, had grapes left over that could not find a winery to buy them. As a qualified winemaker, Matt came to the rescue. Earlco Vineyards was established in 2003 by John Lawrence, a chartered accountant who had moved from Calgary to retire to a 14-acre vineyard on the Naramata Bench. The company was named for his three daughters, Emily, Abigail and Rebecca. When his vineyard manager was approached by other vineyard owners to run their vineyards as well, John’s retirement hobby turned into a business. Today, Earlco manages about 400 acres of vineyard.

Matt joined Earlco early in 2013 when the company advertised for a viticulturist. Matt has a degree from Fresno State University and winemaking experience in both Australia and Europe (his father has a vineyard in Croatia). “At Easter 2013, John invited me up to have a family dinner and that was the first time I met Rebecca,” Matt says. Rebecca has extensive experience in wine marketing. The couple hit it off and subsequently married. When Matt and John decided to license a winery in 2014, they named it Three Sisters, both for the Lawrence sisters and for Matt’s three sisters. John’s Naramata property was at the end of a narrow, winding road and was not a suitable tasting room location. But in 2016, they were able to buy the assets of the defunct Stable Door Winery whose vineyard fronted on Munson Avenue, the busy road linking Penticton to Naramata Road. The Three Sisters winery now has one of the most enviable locations on the Okanagan’s busiest wine touring route.

The growth of Three Sisters has been helped by its unique access to grapes from both the winery’s vineyards and from those managed by Earlco. Unlike 2014, grapes now are in short supply because of all the new wineries that have opened in the past decade. “As a viticulture company, we get to plant a lot of vineyards,” Matt says. “We have the plots we really like and we have kept [for Three Sisters]. Of the, say, 400 acres of Earlco Vineyards-managed fruit, we have permanent leases. We have tied into 35, 40 acres of Earlco fruit plus the winery vineyard. The rest is open market to other wineries. Then if there are little plots of varietals we want, we scoop them up before we sell them to other wineries.” The winery has as many as 20 wines in its portfolio, including the premium wines that Matt makes for the “Sisters” series. These are one-off tributes to his sisters and sisters-in-law. The current range includes a traditional method sparkling wine called Rebecca, after the winemaker’s wife.

Here are notes on some of the current selections. Some are sold out but you may have luck finding them in private wine shops.

Three Sisters Sauvignon Blanc 2020 ($19.90). The aromas mingle lime and herbal notes. On the palate, the wine is zesty and fresh with flavours of lime and grapefruit. 90.

Three Sisters Chardonnay 2019 ($22.90). This is a lean, fruit-forward Chardonnay beginning with aromas of apple. On the palate, there are flavours of apple and nectarine. The finish is crisp and dry. 89.

Three Sisters Gamay 2019 ($24.90). Matt builds his Gamay to dark and full-bodied, with a long cold maceration, a cool ferment and a year in neutral oak. This is a generous wine with aromas and flavours of cherry and plum with a touch of spice on the long finish. 92.

Three Sisters Syrah 2019 ($28.90). This is a medium-bodied wine, with pepper in the aroma. On the palate, dark fruit mingles with pepper. 89.

Three Sisters Rebecca 2019 ($45). This is a traditional method sparkling wine made with 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir. The wine has aromas and flavours of apple and lemon, with a touch of brioche on the palate. The active mousse creates a creamy impression on the palate but the finish is crisp and refreshing. 91.

Three Sisters Cane Cut Riesling 2020 ($26.90 for 325 ml). This is a dessert wine that utilizes a technique Matt discovered in Australia. Late in the season, bunches of grapes are allowed to shrivel deliberately in the sun, with the canes cut so that the vines are not feeding the bunches. The object is to concentrate the sugar and the flavours in the grapes, much the same as botrytis does for Sauternes and freezing for Icewine. This wine, lightly gold in hue, has aromas of orange and ripe pineapple that are echoed on the palate. The residual sugar is nicely balanced so that the finish is pleasantly refreshing. 93.