Haywire Winery emerges from the brand

Photo: Haywire winemaker Matt Dumayne with Christine Coletta (Jon Adrian photo

With a new six-wine release under the Haywire label, Okanagan Crush Pad Winery has announced a major change in its business. “After years of running a successful custom crush business, we shepherd in a new era and say goodbye to our original business model and name by renaming our production facility to Haywire Winery,” founder Christine Coletta said in a statement. “In its 14-year-history of vintages, Haywire has grown from a tiny virtual wine to the anchor brand in our portfolio, with recognition across Canada and in Europe.”

The winery has several other brands, including Narrative, Free Form and Bijoux+Yukon, but the original Haywire brand dominates the portfolio. The senior winemaker, who joined in 2013, is New Zealand-born Matt Dumayne. The renamed winery has renovated its tasting room and will re-open it in April. As well, a tasting room has been developed on the winery’s 320-acre Garnet Valley property, where planting began in 2013. Garnet Valley is north of Summerland; the valley is parallel to Highway 97, on the west side of mountains. “We made wine on site [in Garnet Valley] from the 2022 vintage and hope to obtain our winery license in fall of 2023,” Christine says.

The winery owes its existence to an impulsive decision that Christine and partner Steve Lornie made in 2005 to buy a 10-acre orchard near Summerland. “We were growing Red Delicious and watery apricots for a year,” Christine told me in a 2010 interview. “The orchard was just a money pit. My husband said if we are going to have a money pit, we had better [grow something] that we can consume at the end of it. So we planted some grapes. Our original intention was just to be grape growers but as we got into it, we realized we had put so much work into the vineyard. We planted it ourselves with a crew. We thought we are this far into it, we might as well dive in all the way into the deep end.”

The first vintage, 165 cases of Pinot Gris, was made in 2009 under the Haywire brand. “It is a haywire thing,” Christine told me in 2010. “I should know better. Haywire is an old Canadianism. It is appropriate for our site, which is an old farm. We never intended to do this, so it is a little haywire.” The winery ramped up production quickly, to 4,500 cases in 2010 and 7,500 cases in 2011, the year that winery opened to the public. Because it was well-equipped, the winery also began offering custom crush services to other aspiring vintners. There are at least a dozen wineries now that got a start at Okanagan Crush Pad.

“There has been quite a lot of controversy around Okanagan Crush Pad, because we are doing publicly what other people are doing quietly,” Christine told me as the custom crush business was being launched. Some Okanagan producers believed that fledgling wineries should be required to invest first in their own vineyards and production facilities. “Steve and I had a meeting with Liquor Control and Licensing last week and there is nothing illegal with any part of what we are doing,” Christine told me.

Her recent statement does not explain the decision to stop making wine for clients. However, the dramatic expansion of wineries over the past decade has generated a number of other producers willing to take on clients until they have wineries of their own. As well, Christine and Steve have a lot more on their plates than they had in 2010. That includes managing close to 150 acres of organic vineyards. They began by transitioning the Switchback Vineyard (the original orchard) to organic production in 2011. All their own vineyards now are organic and, a few years ago, the winery stopped buying grapes that were not grown organically.

Here are notes on the new Haywire releases.

Haywire Pinot Gris 2021 Switchback Vineyard ($29.99). The fruit for this wine was fermented with natural yeast. The wine was aged 11 months in concrete with constant stirring of the lees. The wine begins with aromas of pear and citrus with a bready lees note which are echoed on the palate. 90.

Haywire Chardonnay 2021 ($29.99). The fruit for this wine was fermented in concrete tanks with natural yeast, and aged on the lees. Lightly golden in hue, the wine has aromas of apple and citrus that are echoed on the rich palate. There are layers of fruit on the palate wrapped around a spine of minerality. 90.

Haywire Pink Bub 2021 ($29.99). This wine was made with old vine Pinot Blanc, with a touch of red wine to give it the pink hue. The grapes were whole cluster pressed and fermented and aged in concrete. Secondary fermentation was in a Charmat tank. In the glass, the wine puts on a display of fine bubbles along with a festive pink hue. On the palate, flavours of pink apple mingle with raspberry. The finish is crisp and dry. 91.

Haywire Gamay Rosé 2021 ($25.99). The grapes for this wine were fermented with natural yeast in a combination of vessels – concrete, foudre and stainless steel tanks. It was aged seven months in tank. The colour is delicate with touches of rose petal and bronze. The fruity aroma leads to flavours of strawberry and raspberry. The texture is juicy. 90.

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