BC wineries have green light to use imported grapes in 2024

Photo: SpearHead's Grant Stanley (photo courtesy of SpearHead Winery)

Grant Stanley, the general manager of SpearHead Winery in East Kelowna, was in Oregon last week. He was finalizing the purchase of twenty tons of Pinot Noir from Cherry Hill Winery, a boutique producer in the Willamette Valley. “I am looking forward to making Oregon Pinot Noir once again!” Grant told me, referring to working the 2001 vintage in Oregon before joining Quails’ Gate Estate Winery in 2003. “You know I am a Pinot guy,” Grant once told me “I don’t advertise it but with all the different varieties I make, I still spend about 80 percent of my time thinking about Pinot Noir.” He has been at SpearHead since 2018, making such exquisite award-winning Pinot Noirs that SpearHead won the “Winery of the Year” designation at the recent Wine Align National Wine Awards. In this vintage, he is buying Oregon (and Washington State) grapes for the same reason that most other Okanagan and Similkameen wineries are doing the same: because of last January’s devastating week-long cold snap, the vineyards in the two valleys will produce almost no grapes this fall.

The crisis of almost zero wine production this fall was averted last week then the BC government announced major regulatory changes enabling wineries to buy grapes (or juice) from outside the province. The changes include a temporary exemption of the requirement that land-based wineries source at least 25% of their grapes from owned or leased land for wines sold to or through the Liquor Distribution Branch. The government also has granted a temporary waiver to the requirement that wineries must produce a minimum of 4,500 litres of wine a year to retain their licenses. Most critically, the government has agreed that wine made from imported grapes in 2024 will be exempt from the 89% markup that applies to wines made with bulk wine imports. In short, the 2024 wines vinified from imported grapes will be treated like VQA wines. The regulatory changes – some details still need to be worked out – are in effect for one year, beginning April 1, 2025, when these wines will begin entering the market.

“This is a very good stopgap measure for this vintage, to enable us to remain profitable and viable,” says Mark Sheridan, the president of Hester Creek Estate Winery. “When our vineyards bounce back, our local growers will have wineries that are still afloat and can purchase their grapes. But I want to be clear that we are committed 100% to our local growers and to BC grapes long term.” By a stroke of good fortune for BC wineries, there is a massive grape surplus in Washington State because Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, formerly the state’s largest winery, sharply reduced its grape purchases, beginning in 2023. It is estimated there are 10,000 surplus acres of vineyard in the state – about the same as the total vineyard acreage in British Columbia.

It appears many BC producers, gambling that the regulations would be changed, began exploring Washington and Oregon grape sources as long ago as March when the extensive crop losses were becoming evident north of the border. “I was down there in February and lined up our grower in the Horse Heaven Hills after having meetings with a number of suppliers,” says Evan Saunders, the winemaker at Blasted Church Vineyards. “We had everything in place in the week before the Vancouver International Wine Festival [at the end of February]. I have been down to visit with them five or six times since then and will be down again in a couple of weeks for another vineyard tour. I think we have found exactly what we need variety, quality, and partner-wise.”

Photo: Tony Holler of Poplar Grove

He put Poplar Grove Winery in touch with Washington growers. Poplar Grove president Tony Holler moved quickly to tie down fruit sources. “We started this process of looking at importing grapes in February and signed contracts at the end of March,” he said last week. “We have secured a supply; and we are also working with a lot of small wineries. It is difficult for them, as a small winery, to bring grape juice up in small quantities because it is so expensive and so onerous. We have said to our neighbours and to wineries we know: tell us what you need and let us figure it out. We have a group of us involved in this whole process.” Tony describes the Washington State growers as “a fantastic group of people. They have all of the infrastructure to help us. They are being very helpful. Our winemaker [Stefan Arneson] is going down for about a month. He will go just before harvest and stay until the last grapes are harvested. The growers have said they will do what we tell them to do.”

Hester Creek’s Mark Sheridan, an Australian-trained viticulturist (pictured) has been dealing with a grower in Washington’s prized Red Mountain viticultural area since early spring. “We had a contract in place and they were holding the grapes for us. I have been down their multiple times and have had input into how they grow the grapes. We have our own section of their vineyard that they have allocated to us. I have full input as to how they are growing the grapes on that section. All the viticultural inputs are being directed by myself.” He plans to bring in about 850 tons of grapes, all of which will be processed at Hester Creek by its winemaking team. “The reason we chose Washington State is because, for the wine we want to make from these grapes stylistically, that was the closest fit to the style of grapes we would grow here,” Mark says. “We will have a series of wines that we make from Washington State grapes,” Mark continues. “We will be clearly labelling them as Columbia Valley. We polled a lot of our customers, and our customers have clearly told us they have faith in the Hester Creek brand; and they will support that brand, even if it is from Washington State, because they know the reason why we are doing this. We need to have wine to sell so that we can be economically viable.”

That is the overall purpose of enabling land-based BC wineries to do a vintage with imported grapes when the BC vineyards have negligible production this year. Winegrowing has become a major industry in the province, generating $3.75 billion in annual sales, employing 14,000-fulltime workers and attracting about a million tourists a year. Even a one-vintage failure would have a severe economic impact.

“I have heard directly about the impacts we are facing if we leave this sector unsupported at this point,” Roly Russell, the parliamentary secretary for Rural Development, said at last week’s announcement of the changes. “Wineries are facing significant financial difficulties, which is expected to lead to multiple closures and bankruptcies, and potentially hundreds of layoffs of BC workers. There would be cascading economic impacts in these communities, especially around tourism and hospitality. These losses would have significant and lasting impacts in the BC wine industry and on so many other businesses across the Okanagan and the Similkameen regions.”

Clos du Soleil remains confident in the Similkameen

Photo: Clos du Soleil's Michael Clark

In May, Clos du Soleil Winery announced the acquisition and conversion of an organic orchard to a new vineyard not far from the winery in the Similkameen Valley. It is a huge vote of confidence in the future of viticulture in the Similkameen, where many vineyards suffered considerable damage during the last two winters.

The new vineyard has been christened Three Winds Vineyard. Michael Clark, the winery’s managing director and winemaker, wrote: “Situated on the Middle Bench of the Similkameen Valley, within the town of Keremeos and just minutes away from Clos du Soleil’s original Estate Vineyard, this 10-acre property promises to showcase terroir expression and increase the winery’s potential to increase production of award-winning wines.” The winery’s announcement continued: “The majority of the vineyard was planted this spring (2024), with Merlot and Cabernet Franc already in the ground. These carefully chosen varietals are expected to flourish in the vineyard's gently sloped terrain, with both its location and soils ideally situated for grape-growing excellence. The team has, however, chosen to leave a couple of blocks unplanted, allowing them options to experiment with some new varieties that could be planted in 2025.

‘Given the extreme weather our industry has been facing in recent years, presumably as a result of climate change, it is more important than ever that we can be flexible and innovative in our viticultural practices,’ explains Michael Clark. ‘Our development of this vineyard is giving us an opportunity to do exactly that’.” The winery, which was launched in 2006, relied initially on grapes from its 8.5-acre estate vineyard and on purchased fruit. Since 2017, the winery has purchased and developing four additional vineyards, all in the Similkameen.

The winery has continued to have confidence in the Similkameen, in spite of the recent winters. “The two freezes (December 2022, and January 2024) were both particularly hard on vineyards in the Similkameen, in part because our region doesn't have the moderating influence of the large bodies of water that are in the Okanagan,” Michael tells me. “The two freezes have been a blow to us, and to all of our grower and winemaking neighbours in the valley as well, and we have effectively lost two entire crops as a result of this. We have had some vines die, but the good news is that a lot of the vines have survived (more than we initially expected) and we are busy allowing them to recover so that they will be healthy and productive for many years to come.”

“We believe strongly in the future of our valley, and its special contribution to the world of wine, and that hasn't changed at all,” Michael continued. “That being said, we are certainly learning from the events of the last two years, and modifying our viticultural practices to make us as resilient as possible in an environment of extreme weather and climate change. There are a whole range of actions we are taking, and, combined, we think they will ensure a strong future for Clos du Soleil. Just a few examples include modifying our varietal mix at the margin (we will continue to be specialists in Bordeaux varieties, but we will be reducing our exposure to the most cold-sensitive varieties, and leaning more heavily into cold-hardy varieties), exploring opportunities to use own-rooted (non-grafted) vines which will allow for quicker recoveries after freeze events, and looking at various methods for providing added insulation to our vines during the winter, to better protect them from sudden freezes.”

“Winemaking is a very traditional activity,” he added. “At Clos du Soleil we pride ourselves on using traditional winemaking techniques, to produce wines that are classic and elegant. But too much focus on ‘tradition’ can also spell disaster for any business, especially these days, and so we are looking at every method, both in the vineyard, and the cellar, to be able to adapt to changing conditions (changes in the summer, changes in the winter, and changes too in our what our customers want) to be able to provide the very best wine possible. The one thing that will never change is our belief in the Similkameen, and the fact that we want our wines to tell a story about our valley.” He added: “While our vineyards are in recovery mode, the good news is that we still have lots of wine available for our customers. We really encourage people to continue to buy BC wine, to support this industry that has had such a challenging time, and moreover to come and visit Clos du Soleil in person (our tasting room is open seven days a week).”

Here are current releases:

Clos du Soleil Rosé 2023 ($28.90 for 675 cases). This is 100% Pinot Noir. The fruit, from vineyards in Kaleden, was handled very gently. The crushed fruit was soaked under dry ice for four hours, pressed and fermented cool in stainless steel, with oxygen contact avoided. If anything, this pale rosé is overly delicate, with aromas and flavours of wild strawberries and a crisp finish. 88.

Clos du Soleil Béton 2022 ($39.90 for 226 cases). This is 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Cabernet Franc. The wine is a [successful] exercise in fermenting and aging a Bordeaux wine in a concrete tank. The wine begins with aromas of spice and sage, black currant and dark cherry. The palate is rich with flavours of dark fruits mingled with notes of earth and sagebrush. The tannins are ripe but still have some grip. 91.

Clos du Soleil Estate Reserve Red 2020 ($64.90 for 263 cases). This is 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 9% Malbec and 6% Petit Verdot. The wine was aged 18 months in French oak barrels. This is a magnificent red wine, beginning with aromas of cassis, black cherry and blackberry. The luscious palate delivers flavours of dark cherry, plum and raspberry mingled with spice and cedar. There is a long and satisfying finish. The tannins are ripe but will support good aging. 94.

Solvero Wines looks to Oregon, Washington grapes this fall

Photo: Solvero's Alison Moyes (Jon Adrian photo)

On the Canada Day weekend, Solvero Wines opened its tasting room in the Garnet Valley, appealing for visitors not to be deterred by the wine shortage misperception created by the Okanagan’s two recent hard winters. “We are open and we have lots of wine to share,” says Alison Moyes, Solvero’s general manager and winemaker. “That is a message that is getting a bit lost amid all the talk about vineyard damage. The best thing that people can do to support BC wineries is come and visit us.”

It is not that Solvero’s Garnet Valley vineyards, north of Summerland and at a 600-meter elevation, escaped damage when temperatures one week in January got as low as -26◦C. A covering of snow allowed most of Solvero’s vines to survive. They will produce negligible fruit this year but should recover to yield a modest crop next year. Meanwhile, Alison plans to make Chardonnay and Pinot Noir this fall with Oregon and Washington grapes. “I have blocked off some time to go down to Washington and Oregon to look at the possibilities,” she says. “My plan for harvest is to spend three weeks down there, so I can follow the ripeness and manage all of the custom crushing and processing.”

“As a small producer, I did not know if we would have the buying power to go down and make special requests,” she continues. “But because of their grape surplus, I am told you can get pretty much what you want. Obviously, there are different price categories. If we are willing to pay the appropriate price, we should be able to get the quality we need. I am not looking for huge quantities. Chardonnay is something we will run out of quickly. And I would like some Pinot Noir for rosé and sparkling. That being said, it is only if the quality is where we need it to be. We would likely bring in juice, as opposed to trying to bring the grapes here.”

While Solvero made its first Pinot Noir only in 2019, the winery has some inventory to sustain its sales during this difficult period. “We did not start selling our Pinot Noir until its third year,” Alison says. “But we will sell out of most wines.” That is why she is looking to Washington and Oregon vineyards to help her keep wine in the pipeline. “I don’t want to lose the shelf space that we worked so hard to acquire thus far,” she explains. “It takes time and effort to get into places.”

Solvero was established by Matt Sartor, backed by his parents, Andrea and Bob (he is the retired chief executive of the Calgary Airport Authority). Matt has a music degree from Dalhousie University but became passionate about wine while working in a Calgary wine store. After finding a forested property in the Garnet Valley suitable to growing premium cool-climate wines, he began planting vines in 2016. “We now have 16 acres planted in the Garnet Valley and four acres at the Happy Valley site [also near Summerland], where Bob and Andrea live,” Alison says. In 2023 Solvero began contracting Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris from grower David Kozuki, also a premium producer near Summerland. While all of these vineyards are within a short drive of Summerland, each is in a different sub-appellation. Alison plans to release Pinot Noirs from each of these to demonstrate the significant differences in the terroirs.

Born in Ontario, Alison has a microbiology degree from Dalhousie and a winemaking degree from Brock University. Her thesis involved an Okanagan vintage in 2008. That led to her decision to make her winemaking career in the valley. She became the chief winemaker at Stoneboat Vineyards in 2010. She moved to Liquidity Wines in 2015 and joined Solvero in 2021. Passionate about Pinot Noir, Alison was attracted to Solvero by its disciplined Burgundian portfolio: just Pinot Noir (from multiple clones), Gamay Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and sparkling wine. “Having that kind of diversity to play with in the cellar is catnip to someone who is interested in making Pinot Noir,” Matt told me last year.

Alison believes that Solvero will not need to replant more than 15% of its vines. “We are still feeling quite optimistic. Our young vines are pushing a lot of growth from the base. We have good strong suckers at the base to re-establish for next year. We won’t get a crop this year but, if all goes well, we should be able to re-trunk and get back to something close to normal production next year. Maybe 60%.”

Here are notes on two current releases.

Solvero Pinot Gris 2023 ($25 for 458 cases). The wine was fermented cool (12C to 16C) for three to four weeks. The wine was aged three months in a mixture of stainless steel and neutral French oak barrels. The wine begins with aromas of pear, apple and citrus, leading to flavours of peach, pear and a hint of grapefruit. The texture is svelte and polished. The exquisite balance shows the winemaker’s delicate but assured hands in the cellar. 92.

Solvero Rosé 2023 ($25 for 358 cases). This is made with Pinot Noir. The grapes were crushed and given two to three hours skin contact before being fermented in stainless steel. That has given the wine an appealing rose petal hue. The wine has aromas and flavours of raspberry, strawberry and sour cherry, with a crisply dry finish. 90.

Mayhem produces more Anarchy

Photo: Mayhem winemaker Ajay Chavan (courtesy of the winery

Mayhem Wines portfolio of reserve wines, which are labelled Anarchy, has now expanded to four with the release of the inaugural Anarchy Pinot Gris from the 2023 vintage. The name, Anarchy, seems to have been inspired by the Anarchist Mountain Vineyard, the home of Terry Meyer Stone and Andrew Stone. They are co-proprietors of Mayhem with the owners of Meyer Vineyards, JAK Meyer and Janice Stevens. This is a vineyard with a history, recounted on Mayhem’s website:

Location: Located on the east side of Okanagan Valley in Osoyoos, this site is 1,700 feet above the valley floor, experiencing cool mountain breezes in the evening after long hot days. This mountain grasslands area is home to Sage Brush, Antelope Brush and the Western Rattlesnake. Vines: In the 1980's, pioneer and miner by trade, Tony (Anton) Dekleva blasted a "mine-like" reservoir into the side of the mountain and witched three water wells to gain access to water. Born in Prem, Slovenia, Tony arrived in Canada in 1957, and settled in Osoyoos in 1968. He planted roughly 3.5 acres of grapes completed around 1985, of which included an unknown clone of Chardonnay, today known as Dekleva Clone. In 1993 Dekleva sold the vineyard to a German family called the Mauz's, and in 1994, the Mauz family planted an additional 1 acre of Merlot. In 2010, Terry and Andrew purchased the property and called it home for the next 12 years. In 2014 through 2015, together with some help from their neighbour Darryl, Andrew made the decision to pull out some of the Chardonnay and planted a half an acre of Cabernet Franc on the upper bench of the property. Today there are roughly 4 acres planted: 1 acre of Pinot Noir, 1.5 acres of Chardonnay, 1 acre of Merlot and 0.5 acres of Cabernet Franc. For a number of years Terry and Andrew crafted a small amount of wine under the label Anarchist Mountain Vineyards which was sold exclusively to select restaurants and wine stores. The Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are currently both used in production at Meyer Family Vineyards, Terry's brother's winery, and the Merlot and Cabernet Franc are destined for Mayhem's premium label.

Mayhem, which also gets fruit from two Kaleden vineyards and from elsewhere in the Okanagan, produces wines which, with the exception of rosé and Gewürztraminer, do not overlap with the Meyer portfolio. Winemaker Ajay Chavan, who grew up in New Zealand and has an enology degree from Lincoln University in Christchurch, makes the wines at the Meyer property near Okanagan Falls. Mayhem’s tasting room is also near the Meyer tasting room.

Here are current releases.

Mayhem Pinot Gris 2023 ($19.22 for 525 cases). The fruit for this wine is from 21-year-old vines in Kaleden. The wine was fermented in stainless steel, with 17% finishing ferment in seasoned oak puncheons. That likely accounts for the good texture and spice that surrounds the aromas and flavours of pear and apple. The finish is crisp and fresh. 90.

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.