Priest Creek Winery also survived the pandemic

Photo: Priest Creek's Darren and Jane Sawin

The pandemic did no favours for producers which, like Priest Creek Family Estate Winery, opened in 2020 just as many wine tourists stayed home. But this East Kelowna winery and its ambitious owners have begun to gain visibility with a growing portfolio of wines, sometimes aggressively-priced as Darren and Jane Sawin set out to make a mark. Unusual for an East Kelowna producer, the portfolio includes bold Syrahs and Bordeaux blends sourced by Jason Parkes, their consultant, from the South Okanagan. I was able to include a profile of the winery in the 2020 Okanagan Wine Tour Guide which had the misfortune of being published early in the pandemic. The visibility of the book also suffered because planned launch events had to be cancelled. Here is the excerpt about Priest Creek.

Jane Sawin once called husband Darren a “winery stalker.” He began researching the wine business by parking at wineries and counting the tasting room traffic, including how many bottles of wine guests carried when they departed. His interest in opening his own winery came after an unsatisfactory year of selling table grapes from their property in East Kelowna. Aside from home winemaking, Darren was then a wine novice. Born in 1970, he had grown up on a family farm near Big Beaver, a tiny village in southern Saskatchewan. “I had always dreamt of having a ranch,” he says. While he worked as a ranch hand, the dream was financially out of reach. He moved to Calgary, tried selling real estate and then began renovating houses for a portfolio of rental properties. Jane, with an arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan and a diploma in architectural design, applied her project management skills to the rental portfolio.

In 2010 they moved to the Okanagan, where they had previously vacationed, and once again began building and selling houses. “We always wanted to get back to our farming roots and to raising our four kids on the farm,” Darren says. In 2015 they purchased an East Kelowna property with just under a hectare (two acres) of mature Gewürztraminer and about three hectares (7.5 acres) of table grapes. Two years later, having been told they could not grow Pinot Noir, they offered to sell the farm in order to finance another vineyard purchase. Winemaker Jason Parkes was one of the first potential buyers to look at the Sawin property. Subsequently, he bought elsewhere for his own project but he assured the Sawins that they could grow Pinot Noir. (Neighbouring SpearHead Winery specializes in Pinot Noir.) Darren replaced the table grapes while Jason agreed to make to make the Priest Creek wines and mentor Darren in winemaking. The winery is named for a creek at the back of the property. It is believed the creek took its name from the Oblate mission established nearby in 1859 by Father Charles Pandosy, credited with planting the Okanagan’s first vineyard (for sacramental wine).

The winery was under development for three years, during which time Darren and Jane replaced the table grapes with seven and a half acres with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc. The final license inspection occurred on the same day in March 2020 that the pandemic restrictions began. These were eased in time for the winery to open in May with 1,200 cases. Since then, the owners have opened a wine club with about 550 members and have raised production to 3,600 cases. “Darren now takes the lead for all the winemaking, while consulting with Jason Parkes where it’s needed,” Jane writes.

Here are notes on three current releases.

Priest Creek Gewürztraminer 2021 ($N/A for 160 cases). This may be sold out because it is no longer on the web site. This dry Gewürztraminer, made from grapes of 30-year-old vines, begins with aromas of spice, honey and citrus. On the palate, there good intensity of fruit flavours including lychee, ripe pineapple with a delicate hint of candied ginger on the finish. 90.

Priest Creek Pinot Noir 2020 ($38 for 176 cases). This wine, after fermenting in stainless steel, was aged 15 months in new French oak puncheons. The intensity of the fruit flavours – dark cherry, blueberry - soaked up the oak very nicely. The fruit is fresh and the texture is reasonably full. There is a touch of spice on the silky finish of the wine, which won a silver medal at the recent Wine Align Awards. 91.

Priest Creek Syrah 2019 ($53 for 140 cases). This wine was aged 30 months in new French oak barrels. Aromas of blackberry and black cherry lead to flavours of dark cherry and fig. There are hints of cedar and spice on the finish. 90.