Remembering Naramata winegrower Tim Watts

Photo: Tim Watts (left) with partner Bob Ferguson

Kettle Valley Winery has announced that Tim Watts, one of its founding partners and a pioneer of Naramata Bench winegrowing, passed away on June 27, 2024. “Tim asked for no ceremony to mark his passing, but asked that you share a glass of wine with those that are dear to you,” his partner, Bob Ferguson, wrote in an email. In keeping with that request, I opened a bottle Kettle Valley Malbec 2006, one of about a dozen older Kettle Valley reds in my cellar. These are long-lived wines and, true to my expectations, the wine, while showing its maturity, still is drinking well. A fitting tribute to Tim.

Tim, who is survived by his wife Janet, and their sons, Andrew and Stuart, was born in Victoria in 1958. Graduating from the University of British Columbia, he began working as an exploration geologist. Eventually, he became the senior geologist at the Nickel Plate gold mine near Hedley in 1987. Until the mine closed in 1996, he juggled that position with developing vineyards for the winery.

He had begun making wine in 1980 in his Vancouver apartment, partnering with Bob Ferguson, an accountant and a fellow amateur winemaker. The two had discovered each other’s passion for winemaking after they married sisters. (Bob’s wife is called Colleen). When the partners were frustrated by the difficulty in getting good grapes, Tim and Janet decided to move to Naramata in 1985, planting a test block of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir at their home. When that succeeded, he and Bob developed two vineyard properties near Naramata to support a winery. Bob resigned his partnership with a Vancouver accounting firm and moved to the Okanagan in 1992. The winery was opened four years later and, at the peak of its output, was making 13,000 cases a year. Kettle Valley has scaled back in recent years, especially after illness slowed Tim down.

From the beginning, Kettle Valley made interesting and distinctive wines, including barrel-fermented whites and bold, age-worthy reds in styles setting the winery apart from what was then the Okanagan’s mainstream. “We decided that making a German style of wine was like taking Bibles to Rome,” Tim told me in a 1993 interview. Their timing was very good. The 1988 pullout of most of the Okanagan’s vineyards (to get rid of hybrid varietals) had created a great deal of pessimism about the future of the area’s winegrowing. The partners were able to acquire choice vineyard sites at very reasonable prices. “We were lucky,” Bob told me once. “We had first pick of some of the properties because we were the first ones here. Tim picked some really good sites with great air drainage, good soil conditions, and close to the lake.”

“We were told we were stupid to plant Cabernet Sauvignon,” Tim, who took the viticultural lead at Kettle Valley, told me in another interview. “We were told it would never grow. Then we were told after it grew that it would never ripen. Then we were told maybe it will ripen but it will never be any good.” The Old Main Vineyard was planted in 1990 to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, one of the earliest plantings of Bordeaux varieties on the Naramata Bench. In the end, Kettle Valley grew a full range of Bordeaux red varietals, including Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. The winery’s Old Main Red, a Bordeaux blend, has long been one of the icon wines in the valley.

“For the past four decades, Tim dedicated himself to growing some of the best grapes in the Okanagan and making many exceptional wines,” Kettle Valley said last week. “One of the things I love about this business,” Tim told me once, “is there are so many different things that can happen and so many different directions that you can go; things you can change.” It was a great career. Tim and his partner, Bob, have been great assets to Okanagan winegrowing.

Burrowing Owl: the house of big reds

Photo: Burrowing Owl founder Jim Wyse

Rosé is hardly the first wine that comes to mind when thinking of Burrowing Owl Estate Winery. This has been the house of big red wines for the last 25 years and, judging from the current releases, it still is.

One of those wines is the 2020 vintage of Meritage. I included earlier vintages in my 2017 book, Icon: Flagship Wines from British Columbia’s Best Wineries. Here is an excerpt: The Burrowing Owl red wines are among the biggest in the South Okanagan because they are grown in a sun-bathed vineyard. Winery founder Jim Wyse, a successful real estate developer, began acquiring this Black Sage Bench acreage in 1993. The hybrid varieties that had flourished here previously were pulled out in 1988, leaving just blocks of mature Pinot Blanc. Under Jim’s direction, the vineyard was revived primarily with classic vinifera vines. When the winery was developed, Burrowing Owl retained Bill Dyer, a consulting winemaker from California. He crafted the winery’s house style of big, ripe reds, taking advantage of the terroir’s ability to ripen flavour-packed grapes. The Meritage program began in 2000 with a production of just 248 cases. “The wine was given wonderful reviews,” Jim wrote later, “so that the 2001 vintage was increased to 500 cases.”

When I was working on the book, Jim and his son, Chris, were reluctant to single just one wine in their portfolio as their icon. After all, their wines were all being made to a rigorous standard. Most of the reds are single varietals, with two notable exceptions. Athene has always been a field blend of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon, good enough to stand alone as an icon. The Meritage, however, is full Bordeaux blend, with four or five varietals and with the input of Alain Sutre, a highly-reputed consultant from Bordeaux. It is a red that can be cellared with confidence.

But don’t miss the 2023 Rosé. Burrowing Owl’s is one of the best from the Okanagan this season. “We first produced a rosé wine under the Calliope Wines brand back in 2010, and partly as a result of the experience gained in making a wine of this style, we introduced the Burrowing Owl Estate Winery Rosé to our family of wines back in 2019 and have produced a vintage of it ever since,” confirms Stephen Neumann, the winery’s brand ambassador.

The Calliope brand was launched after Jim Wyse bought the Calliope label from its founders, Ross and Cherie Mirko, when they moved to New Zealand. No doubt, the label caught his eye because Jim is such a bird lover. “The Calliope is the smallest bird in Canada and they are found in the south Okanagan,” Jim’s daughter, Kerri McNolty, told me in a 2011 interview. “They are beautiful and the telltale sign is this iridescent red underneath their throat in the males. The females are quite nondescript. The Calliope concept is to try new varieties we are not producing at Burrowing Owl.” The first rosé was made with Syrah grapes with a touch of Viognier to tweak the acidity and the freshness. The 2023 rosé is made with Cabernet Franc, a varietal arguably better suited for rosé. Here are notes on the wines.

Burrowing Owl Rosé 2023 ($30). The Cabernet Franc grapes for this wine were harvested from Burrowing Owl’s vineyards near Oliver and Osoyoos. The grapes were destemmed and kept in the press overnight to extract color and flavour. The wine was fermented cool for three weeks in stainless steel and aged another three months in stainless steel. The hue is fashionably pale. There are appealing aromas of wild strawberry, raspberry, watermelon and pink grapefruit, echoed on the mouth-filling palate. The finish is refreshing. 92.

Burrowing Owl Athene 2021 ($41). This is a blend 55% Syrah and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, which was co-fermented. The wine was aged 18 months in barrel (75% French, 15% American and 10% Hungarian, with just 23% of the barrels being new). The wine declares itself boldly with aromas of dark cherry, black currant, chocolate and licorice mingled with cedar, all of which is echoed on the palate. The finish is long with a note of spice. 92.

Burrowing Owl Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 ($43). This is a big, ripe wine, reflecting a hot vintage notable for small but flavour-packed berries the vines produced that year. The fruit was fermented in stainless steel and aged 18 months in barrel (85% French oak, 10% Hungarian and 5% American; 17% of the oak was new). The wine begins with aromas of cassis, dark cherry, plum and chocolate, reflected in the flavours of this full-bodied wine. 93.

Burrowing Owl Meritage 2020 ($53). The blend is 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Franc, 8.5% Malbec and 8.5% Petit Verdot. The varietals were vinified separately and aged 15 months in barrel before blending. The blend was aged another three months in oak (92% French). This is an elegant wine, with aromas of black currant, dark cherry, chocolate and cedar. On the palate, the wine delivers mouth-filling flavours of dark fruits. The long, ripe tannins make for a persistent finish. 95.