CheckMate's new winemaker releases 2020 Merlots

Photo: CheckMate general manager and chief winemaker Spencer Kelly

Penticton-born winemaker Spencer Kelly has taken over one of the most coveted cellars in the Okanagan, that of CheckMate Artisanal Winery. He replaces Philip McGahan, the Australian winemaker who was recruited from a Sonoma winery in 2012 to launch CheckMate as a producer of premium Chardonnay and Merlot in the family of wineries controlled by Anthony von Mandl. Philip returned to his native Australia for family reasons in December 2020. After several years of long-distance winemaking with CheckMate’s assistant winemakers, Philip decided to stay in Australia at the end of 2022.

“I definitely miss many aspects of working at CheckMate,” he told me in a recent email. “It really was my dream job. Alas, family life intervened.” The 2020 Merlots now being released by CheckMate represent the last Okanagan vintage in which Philip was fully hands on. By happy coincidence, it was one of the strongest Okanagan vintages this century. Philip is now in the King Valley, in Northeast Victoria, as chief executive and chief winemaker of King Valley Wines. It is a contract winemaking facility at Whitfield, in a region that has had several waves of Italian immigrants. “It was Australia's main tobacco growing area and is nestled in the foothills of the Victorian high country,” Philip recounts. “As tobacco declined in the 1970s, the Italian families diversified into grapevines and eventually Italian varieties. It is now Australia's premium region for Italian varietals, which is what we focus on.”

Like Philip, Spencer Kelly brings California winemaking experience to CheckMate, having worked almost a decade at Eisele Vineyard, a Napa Valley winery so highly regarded that there is a waiting list for purchasing its wines. Born in 1985, Spencer’s interest in wine flourished while working in VQA wine stores as he was getting a degree in food sciences at the University of British Columbia. On graduating in 2008, he began his winemaking career in the Similkameen Valley. He interned with Lawrence Herder at the Herder Winery and then became the winemaker at EauVivre Winery, one of Herder’s consulting clients. Deciding he needed more professional training, Spencer enrolled in the two-year viticulture and winemaking program at Fresno State University in California (where Lawrence Herder had also trained), graduating in 2012. Except for working a harvest in Australia’s Coonawarra region, Spencer pursued a winemaking career in the Napa Valley, including eight years at Eisele.

A historic Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard near Calistoga, Eisele has been owned since 2013 by Artemis Domaines, a French company which owns such distinguished producers as Château Latour. “It was a tremendous company but I had always had my eye on coming back to the Okanagan,” Spencer says. “I stayed in touch with friends. When I was made aware of this opportunity [at CheckMate], it seemed like a perfect fit. I could be back in my home region.” He joined CheckMate in January, 2023. “I had managed to keep tabs on things [in the Okanagan],” Spencer says. “I have some friends working in the wine business that I have stayed close with when I was working in California. And I was always coming back once or twice a year, seeing what’s new, and trying wines.”

He was attracted particularly to CheckMate because the winery has access to exceptional vineyards in the South Okanagan. As well, the winery itself has been completely renovated during the last several years. “You are able to work quite well when you have all the necessary tools,” he observes. He does not anticipate the need to change much at CheckMate, where the wines already are among the most elegant in the Okanagan. “We will always take the approach that we will try to improve and get better,” Spencer says. “My approach always starts with spending as much time in the vineyard as possible, and understanding what the different parcels give you.”

The various parcels will give him quite a lot. I have awarded 100 points to four consecutive vintages of the winery’s Little Pawn Chardonnay, made with grapes from a vineyard on Black Sage Road called Jagged Rock. “I was attracted to the focus at CheckMate, which highlights these vineyards that are quite special,” Spencer says. “We will continue down that direction.” I tasted the four Merlot wines just being released in June, with Spencer in CheckMate’s elegant new tasting room. “I think 2020 is the best vintage for the winery,” he says. “Now that I have been here six months, I have tasted everything. 2020 seems to me to have been a pretty exceptional year. It is a vintage where the floor was high. You would really have to mess things up. 2020 was a luxurious year when you could pick when you wanted. Everything got to full ripeness. Consequently, the wines have a density to them.”

Here are notes on the Merlot wines.

CheckMate Silent Bishop Merlot 2020 ($100 for 25 barrels). This wine is made with fruit from three vineyard benches (Oliver North, Golden Mile and Osoyoos West Bench) on the western side of the valley. The wine was fermented with native yeast and had extended skin contact. It was aged 89% in new French oak and 11% in concrete. The wine begins with aromas that include floral notes and cassis. The palate delivers flavours of black currant, black cherry and blueberry mingled with herbs. 95.

CheckMate End Game Merlot 2020 ($100 for 18 barrels). The fruit for this wine is from vineyards on the Osoyoos East Bench and Black Sage Road. Fermentation was with native yeast and there was extended skin contact. It was aged 21 months in new French oak. This wine begins with aromas of red fruits. The palate delivers flavours of black cherry and plum mingled with spice. 94.

CheckMate Opening Gambit Merlot 2020 ($100 for 19 barrels). The fruit for this wine is entirely from an Osoyoos East vineyard right against the U.S. border. Fermentation again was with native yeast and there was extended skin contact. The wine was aged 21 months in new French oak. The wine is full, even voluptuous, in body. Aromas of sage, cassis and cherry lead to flavours of black cherry, with notes of chocolate on the lingering finish. 96.

CheckMate Black Rook Merlot 2020 ($100 for 12 barrels). The fruit for this powerful wine came from the Black Sage Bench. Once again, fermentation was with native yeast and with extended skin contact. The wine was aged 21 months in new French oak. The wine begins with aromas of cassis and blueberry leading to flavours of black cherry, plum, blackberry and spice. The long, ripe tannins give the wine considerable elegance. 97.