Mirabel takes on the world

Photo: Mirabel proprietors Dawn and Doug Reimer

Think of Mirabel Vineyards as a slice of Burgundy, but in Kelowna. The steeply sloping vineyard has six acres of Pinot Noir, planted in 2006, and 1 ½ acres of Chardonnay planted in 2018. For more background on the winery, here is an excerpt from the 2020 edition of The Okanagan Wine Tour Guide.

In 2005, Dawn and Doug Reimer moved to Kelowna in search of a site for their dream home. The property they bought overlooks a golf course and the city. But the apple trees on the slope spoiled the view for Doug until he planted Pinot Noir (and Chardonnay later). He decided to launch Mirabel Vineyards after several leading Okanagan wineries produced stunning wines from his grapes. “We were waiting to see what this terroir would really produce,” Doug says. “If it produced something we were excited about, then we want to take ownership and put our name on it.” The Reimers are Winnipeg natives. Doug, who was born in 1955, is a member of a renowned trucking family. His father, Donald, started Reimer Express Lines in 1952 with one truck. A successor company, Reimer World Corporation, now employs 3,000 in Canada. “We have always loved wine, but that is not how I got interested in growing it,” Doug says. “When we bought the property, we had such a beautiful piece of property, but we thought we could do more than grow apples and pears. They don’t pay very much, and they don’t look that good.”

To make the wines, with 2015 the first vintage, the Reimers hired consulting winemaker Matt Dumayne and used the custom crush facilities at Okanagan Crush Pad Winery at Summerland. In 2018, when Mirabel licensed a production facility on its vineyard, David Paterson from nearby Tantalus Vineyards was engaged to make the Mirabel wines and direct work in the vineyard. Doug has a singular focus. “We are trying to establish what will be a superior Pinot Noir in all of Canada, and knock down some doors in Oregon as well,” Doug says. “I love Oregon Pinot Noir. I have done extensive travelling in the Pinot Noir areas in Oregon. Maybe that is where our love started. We love the Burgundians as well. I did not want it to taste like Okanagan. I wanted it to taste like ‘world level,’ although people talk of sense of place.”

Here are notes on the wines.

Mirabel Rosé of Pinot Noir 2022 ($N/A for 210 cases). This wine sets out to impress with appealing packaging: a heavy clear bottle with a glass stopper to display a fashionably pale rosé. It begins with aromas of strawberry and watermelon. The flavours surprise with more intensity that the hue suggests: raspberry, strawberry, with an herbaceous note. The finish is crisp and refreshing. 91.

Mirabel Reserve Chardonnay 2021 ($N/A for 375 cases). The fruit for this wine is from the Naramata Bench. The wine was aged 10 months in French oak. This is a delicious wine, with aromas of vanilla and pear that are echoed on the palate, along with flavours of peach and citrus. 94.

Mirabel Pinot Noir Reserve 2019 ($59 for 200 cases). This elegant and harmonious wine is already drinking well but has the bones to age like a complex Burgundy. It begins with aromas of cherry and blackberry mingled with toasty notes. The silky palate delivers flavours of cherry and plum with a touch of forest floor on the finish. 94.