Lakeboat Winery opens in Kaleden

Photo: Lakeboat proprietor Tara Mathison

Lakeboat Vineyard and Winery, which opened in July, is the fourth winery in Kaleden. The challenge now is making wine tourists aware of this tiny wine region ten minutes south of Penticton. “We just have to figure out how to get people to know we are here,” says Tara Mathison, Lakeboat’s owner. “Kaleden is one of those places that you just drive by all the time.”

If all it takes is quality wines, Lakeboat will help to raise the profile of Kaleden, a bucolic lakeside village established in 1909 and now bordered with vineyards and orchards. The first winery to open here in 2010 was Krāzē Legz Vineyard and Winery, now operating as SKAHA Vineyard @ Krāzē Legz Winery. (Its tasting is closed this season). Farm Gate Winery, which fronts on Highway 97, has been open about three years. Black Market Wine Co., which decided to base itself on a Kaleden vineyard after operating as a virtual winery for several years, opened its tasting room this spring. Another former virtualk winery, Anthony Buchanan Wines, now has a tasting room in the village (Friday and Saturday by appointment). Lakeboat’s tasting room is open five days a week – Wednesday through Sundays and on holiday Mondays.

I profiled Lakeboat two years before it opened, in The Okanagan Wine Tour Guide which was published in 2020. Here is an excerpt.

Several years ago in the Kelowna airport, Calgarian Tara Mathison encountered a friend, Gordon Haskins, from her time studying law in Toronto. He was now, she discovered, a banker in Kazakhstan and he was in the Okanagan to find a vineyard property for an eventual career change. She agreed to help by tasting wines from nearby producers every time he identified a possible vineyard. (He did find property on the Naramata Bench.) “I think that is how I got sucked into buying a winery,” she laughs, referring to Lakeboat.

It is a little more complicated than that. She has travelled and tasted in many wine regions with her former husband, a developer with a love for food and wine. When she stopped practising law to raise her three daughters, she became involved through his business in renovating houses. In 2016, she purchased a century-old house in Kaleden to renovate. The house was surrounded by the vineyard of Topshelf Winery, a struggling property that was also for sale. Tara bought it in November 2017 – and found she taken on an even more challenging renovation job.

Topshelf Winery had been established by Leonard and Myra Kwiatkowski and got its name because two of their sons had played professional hockey. They bought the Kaleden property in 2008 as a retirement project (Leonard was 60) and opened the winery in 2011. They had taken on more than they had counted on and put the winery on the market soon after Tara bought the heritage house.

The vineyard, she discovered, was neglected. The mildewed grapes of the 2017 harvest had to be destroyed. She hired vineyard professionals to rejuvenate the 1.4-hectare (3 ½-acre) vineyard of Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Merlot. The winery’s new name reflects Tara’s interest in the sternwheelers and sidewheelers that used to ply Okanagan lakes before railroads and highways. “They all had interesting stories,” she says. “I find the history of the lake boats fascinating.”

Recognizing the gaps in her wine industry skill sets, Tara has sought support with the requisite experience. Lakeboat’s general manager is Will Coleman, one of the founders in 2001 of Township 7 Vineyards & Winery, and more recently general manager of Skimmerhorn Winery & Vineyard in Creston. The winemaker at Lakeboat is Mireille Sauvé, whose own label is The Wine Umbrella. Those wines are also available in the Lakeboat wineshop.

Mireille and Will have known each other since they worked the harvest at Hawthorne Mountain Vineyards in 1996. However, Mireille, who was born in Edmonton, came to wine by way of working in restaurants. “I started working in restaurants at 14,” she says. “By the time I was 21 I wanted to take on management positions. Nobody really wanted to hand over their keys to me because I was 21.” Helped by a scholarship from Les Dames d’Escoffier, she attended George Brown College in Toronto and emerged as Canada’s youngest sommelier in 1997. She has subsequently honed her winemaking skills with a mentorship at Hedges Cellars in Washington and with a wine chemistry course from the University of California. She has reciprocated the support of Les Dames by producing wines, starting in 2014, that raise funds for the organization. “It is all encompassing,” Mireille says of wine. “It takes over your whole life. I do get excited about every single glass of wine that showcases terroir. There is a story in that glass that goes generations back and makes that wine what it is. It is the only topic I have discovered in my life that has grabbed me with that interest, that I actually never want to talk about anything else.”

Lakeboat intends to use grapes primarily, perhaps exclusively, from Kaleden vineyards. “My goal with all of these wines is to make them as varietally typical as possible, so that we can showcase the terroir, the sense of place,” Mireille says. “Pinot Gris is the Okanagan’s darling,” she continues. “I want those fresh orchard flavours to shine through. I focus hard on balance when it comes to Chardonnay. I believe in a responsible use of oak. I don’t want to overwhelm the fruit.” Pinot Noir is made in a what she calls a new world style, showcasing fruit. “The Merlot is a nice big bold wine,” she says. “That is close to my heart. Merlot is such an under-appreciated grape variety.”

Here are notes on the wines.

Lakeboat Pinot Gris 2021 ($21.95). This wine is crisp and fresh. It begins with aromas of pear and peach. The palate delivers peach and apple notes. 91.

Lakeboat Chardonnay 2021 ($26.95). The wine presents with a golden hue. Aromas of butter, vanilla and citrus lead to flavours of guava, mango and stone fruit. The texture is rich and the finish is long. 92.

Lakeboat Pinot Noir 2020 ($29.95). The wine begins with aromas of cherry and spice. The silky palate delivers flavours of cherry and plum. 91.

Lakeboat Merlot 2020 ($32.95). The wine begins with aromas of black cherry and cassis. Full-bodied, the wine has flavours of black cherry, blackberry and cassis. Long ripe tannins give the wine a satisfying, juicy texture. 91.

Wine Umbrella Fleur 2019 ($26.95). This is 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 31% Viognier and 9% Muscat. The wine is a delicious bowl of tropical fruits, with aromas and flavours of melon and peach mingled with lemon. 91.

Wine Umbrella Co-Syrah 2020 ($39.95). This is 91% Syrah, 9% Viognier. It begins with aromas of toasty oak, plum, fig and dark chocolate. All that is echoed on the palate, mingled with black cherry and a touch of pepper. 91.