Osoyoos Larose launches a wine club

Photo: Osoyoos Larose general manager Michael Kuhlmann

In a move that surely was overdue, Osoyoos Larose Winery has just launched a wine club for the first time. It has been 20 years since this French-inspired Okanagan winery began selling Le Grand Vin, its premium, cellar-worthy, red Bordeaux blend. In that time, almost every other winery in British Columbia has set up wine clubs, often with considerable success. By putting club members first in line for new and collectible releases delivered to the consumers’ doors, many producers have developed, and retained, loyal fans.

Perhaps some of the credit for bringing Osoyoos Larose in line with current wine marketing trends can be attributed to Michael Kuhlmann, who became the winery’s general manager and winemaker last year after several years as the Osoyoos Larose vineyard manager. It could be that Osoyoos Larose did not launch a wine club sooner because there are only two wines in the portfolio: the $60 Le Grand Vin, which can be cellared for 10 or 15 years; and the $40 Pétales d’Osoyoos, also a red Bordeaux blend but made for earlier drinking. The wines are widely available in BC Liquor Stores (including some large format bottles) and in select private wine stores. “Osoyoos Larose launched 20 years ago and quite quickly set the bar quite high,” Michael told me last fall. “We were the leader for quite a while. Now to stay at the top, we need to change.”

In that interview, he was speaking of significant changes planned in the winery’s 80-acre vineyard on a hillside overlooking Osoyoos Lake. But he could just as well have been speaking of the need to become a little sharper in marketing, now that many competitors are producing wines at a quality level comparable to Osoyoos Larose. Especially when the winery’s lack of a tasting room has handicapped its ability to expand its base of customers.

The winery was established in the late 1990s as a 50/50 joint venture between Vincor International and a major Bordeaux producer called Groupe Taillan. Vincor’s object was to bring French expertise in wine growing to the Okanagan and, indeed, to raise the bar. The Osoyoos Larose winery was housed in the back corner of the Jackson-Triggs winery north of Oliver, with its own equipment and its own winemaker, Pascal Madevon, for the first vintages, beginning in 2001. Pascal was so impressed with the potential of the Okanagan that he became a Canadian citizen and, after leaving Osoyoos Larose in 2012, has been one of the busiest consulting winemakers in the valley. Pascal’s successors in the cellar have all been French or, like London-born Michael, have been trained there. One result is that Osoyoos Larose wines have been consistent in style: somewhat reminiscent of Bordeaux but with a clear reflection of Okanagan terroir.

When a white wine is released by Osoyoos Larose, either later this year or next year, it will be made with Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, the leading white varietals in Bordeaux. The winery planted three acres of these vines (along with a bit of Muscadet) several years ago and intends to plant eight more acres this spring on property on the Osoyoos East Bench.

It was impractical to put a tasting room in the original Osoyoos Larose winery, if only because consumers would have had to walk among Jackson-Triggs winemaking equipment to get to where Pascal worked.

Vincor was taken over in 2006 by Constellation Brands, a U.S. based company that was then one of the world’s largest wine producers. When Osoyoos Larose began to drift, Groupe Taillan in 2013 bought Constellation’s stake to own 100% of Osoyoos Larose. It also committed to moving out of the Jackson Triggs winery in five or six years. Trying to site a new winery with a tasting room has proved to be a nightmare. The vineyard, which was chosen by French consultants, is excellently suited for growing fine grapes. But it would have been prohibitively expensive to bring water, sewer and electrical services uphill to the winery, as well as build a road that avoided the town dump just down the hill from the vineyard.

A proposal to build a winery next to the three-acre white vineyard, just beside Highway 97 north of Osoyoos, was vetoed by provincial regulators. Raphaël Merlaut, whose grandfather founded Groupe Taillan, sounded quite frustrated in 2019 as he recounted the search for a winery location. “We invested in this property with the idea we would be allowed to build a winery here, which is not far from the vineyard and which is perfectly located for accessing electricity and water,” he told me. “But the regulations in this part of Canada do not permit us to build this winery here.” As a stopgap, Osoyoos Larose leased a warehouse at the Bordertown Winery, producing and cellaring four vintages starting with 2019. Early in 2021, Osoyoos Larose was able buy a former fruit packing house just at the east side of Osoyoos. It has been renovated for wine production. However, the 2022 vintage could not be made there because the province had not yet approved the winery’s connection with the Osoyoos water supply in time for the vintage.

Meanwhile, Michael Kuhlmann has begun restructuring the vineyard, now certified organic, to deal with the perceived impact of climate change. The vineyard was originally planted between 1998 and 2000. “When they planted the vineyard, they planted for the weather and the climate in 1998. The viticulture of 20 years ago is no longer applicable,” Michael believes. “If you speak to winemakers who were making wine 20 years ago, they would say that the [unusually hot] 2021 vintage is a once in a 30-year vintage. That was not the norm but I think it is going to be like that every two, three years.” When a gradual replanting begins, he would like to switch the Merlot vines, now in the warmest part of the vineyard, with Cabernet Sauvignon, now in a cooler section of the property. He will also use rootstocks that have been developed during the past two decades and are capable to accelerating ripening. He would like to re-orient the vine rows from the original east/west orientation. In blistering hot vintages like 2021, grapes on the south side of rows were at risk of being sunburnt. These changes are designed to allow the vineyard to continuing producing grapes with lots of fresh flavours while keeping the alcohol levels in check.

“We know the type of wine we want to make,” Michael says. “We are not trying to recreate Bordeaux and we are not trying to recreate Napa. This is the Okanagan. For the future of Osoyoos Larose, we are not going to make 15 different wines. That is not what we are here for. What we want to do is showcase this vineyard. We think this area is unique.” Consumers who want to be assured of a ringside seat as Osoyoos Larose evolves should consider joining the new club, which is called La Maison Osoyoos Larose. An annual membership fee of $1,500 gives members three shipments a year, each with six bottles or the equivalent in large formats. Some Le Grand Vin is bottled each year in magnums or double magnums. The shipments will include back vintages of Le Grand Vin. Only club members have access to back vintages. There is free shipping in British Columbia and Alberta and there will be member-only winemaker dinners.

Here are notes on current releases. I have only limited tasting notes on the unreleased 2020 Pétales and the 2019 Le Grand Vin; but with similar point scores.

Osoyoos Larose Pétales D’Osoyoos 2019 ($33.99). This is a blend of 64% Merlot and 36% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was aged 12 months in medium toast French oak barrels from multiple coopers. The wine begins with aromas of cassis and cherries. On the palate, there are flavours of dark cherries, blueberries and black currants. Bright fruit and long, ripe tannins give this wine appeal for current consumption, but with moderate ageability. 92.

Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin 2018 ($53.99). The blend is 64.9% Merlot, 14.2% Cabernet Franc, 12.7% Cabernet Franc, 5.2% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec. The grapes, after crushing, were fermented in stainless steel tanks, with about 25 days of skin contact. The wine was then aged 12 months in French oak (60% new, 40% one year old). This wine is built for aging for 10 to 15 years, with grippy tannins at this stage. Decant the wine for early consumption. The wine begins with aromas of dark cherries, black currant and plum. On the brooding palate, there are flavours of dark fruits, leather, dark chocolate and cigar box spice. 94.