Spearhead is about to release two new Pinot Noirs

Photo: Grant Stanley in barrel cellar (photo courtesy Spearhead Winery)

East Kelowna’s Spearhead Winery is about to release two Pinot Noirs from the excellent 2022 vintage. Unfortunately, both are in small volumes (less than 200 cases). Consumers will need to move fast to get them. Like most East Kelowna producers, Spearhead has been struggling with winter damage in recent vintages. Not much wine was produced from the 15-acre estate vineyard in the 2023 vintage. The jury is still out on how severe the vine damage was in January this year and whether many buds even survived the deep cold. Keep your fingers crossed. When he has grapes to work with, Grant Stanley, the winery’s general manager and winemaker, can make very good wines.

The two coming releases include the first releases from a new vineyard, Braided Hill. “The Braided Hill vineyard is our neighbour, across the road,” Grant says. “It is a five-acre vineyard that we helped establish over the last three years. This is the first time we have had the opportunity to taste the juice in the wine. I am really happy the way things are working out over there. Working with new vineyards is always exciting because it is a new terroir and a new clonal mix. We have a great opportunity going forward to have our neighbours all around us with excellent Pinot Noir to choose from.”

The other new release is a single clone – the Pommard Clone – from a Summerland vineyard that Spearhead has worked with for some time. “For many years we have had this clone in our Summerland vineyard and we have been blending it,” Grant says. “This is the first opportunity we have had to show that clone on its own. It is a distinctly Burgundian-style wine – an iron fist in a velvet glove. It has beautiful aromas and textures, and is quite delicious.” He adds: The winter damages in “2023 and 2024 has caused us to go looking for new growers and vineyard sites that are a little less susceptible to frost and winter kill. We have new vineyards coming from Naramata. The Blueberry Hill vineyard from Summerland is in barrel now.”

Here are notes on the wines.

Spearhead Braided Hill Pinot Noir 2022 ($39 for 147 cases). This East Kelowna vineyard was only planted in 2000 with two Dijon clones, 771 and 115. This is the first wine released from it. The quality for a young wine is astounding. The wine was aged 13 months in French oak (25% new). Ruby in the glass, the wine begins with aromas of cherry mingled with oak. On the palate there are flavours of plum, cherry and spice. The texture is lush and silky. 92.

Spearhead Pommard Clone Pinot Noir 2022 ($46 for 185 cases). The fruit is from a Summerland vineyard. The wine was fermented with indigenous yeast and was aged 13 months in French oak barrels (25% new). This is a bold wine that should be cellared to allow it to fully express its aromas and flavours of dark cherry mingled with forest floor. The winemaker rightly calls it an iron fist in a silk glove. 92.