1 Mill Road releases 2020 Pinot Noirs

Photo: Naramata General Store partners Geoffrey Moss (left), Mike Bernardo and David Enns (right). Photo courtesy of NGS.

Two excellent Pinot Noirs mark the 20th anniversary of winemaking by David Enns, the founder (with wife Cynthia) of Laughing Stock Vineyards on Naramata Road in 2003. After selling Laughing Stock in 2017, they started 1 Mill Road, a boutique winery at a property just north of the village of Naramata. They had planted one and a half acres of Pinot Noir in 2013 on what is now called the Home Block. Block Two is a small vineyard close by. Both are managed by Cynthia, as wine grower, and both are planted to Dijon Clone 115.

“When we sold Laughing Stock, we knew we wanted to keep working with this little vineyard,” Cynthia says. “We stare at that vineyard from our dining room table. It is very immediate, more so than at Laughing Stock, the way we experience the vineyard. It is small enough that I have been able to tackle the farming without too much difficulty.” One would think it would have been quite an adjustment, stepping away from a winery that was producing 12,500 cases a year for 1 Mill Road, which produced a total of 481 cases from the 2020 vintage. Those wines are being offered on May 9 to consumers who bought earlier vintages, with a second offering on May 16 (if there are any left).

It is not as if the couple will have nothing to do for the rest of summer except look after the vineyards. David and Cynthia recently became owners of the Naramata General Store, in partnership with restaurateur Mike Bernardo and his wife, Carole Morton. They are reinvigorating the store, which was founded in 1979 to provide the community with groceries, beer and wine. Over the years, hard-to-get Naramata wines, from producers without tasting rooms such as Foxtrot and Coolshanagh, were stocked in the store. The new owners are taking it up a notch or two by engaging Geoffrey Moss, a Master of Wine, to expand the wine program. He will select top-notch international wines and add them to a broader selection of British Columbia wines. Two wine clubs are being launched by the store. The Best of BC Club will offer not just Naramata Bench wines but also wines from new and upcoming producers from British Columbia. The International Gems Club offers premium wines from around the globe. Moss and Bernardo are curating the wines being offered to club members.

Clearly, David and Cynthia will have plenty to keep themselves busy with the 2020 Pinot Noirs are sold out. Cynthia wrote recently: “We have been busy learning about running a general store and all that it entails (Canada Post, Lotto, dog licenses … pretty much everything).”

Here are notes on the wines.

1 Mill Road Pinot Noir 2020 Block Two ($40 for 194 cases). With a concentrated texture, this wine has aromas and flavours of cherry, spice and chocolate. Think of Black Forest cake. 92.

1 Mill Road Pinot Noir 2020 Home Block ($55 for 287 cases). This is a rich, concentrated wine. It has aromas and flavours of dark cherry and ripe raspberry, with notes of spice, including cloves and a hint of chocolate. 93.