French Door will have wines in its tasting room

Photo: Jason Shull

Any Okanagan winery with Pascal Madevon as consulting winemaker is assured of having excellent wines in its portfolio. French Door Estate Winery is one of Pascal’s clients. Trained at Bordeaux’s top wine school, Pascal came to the Okanagan to make the wines for the Osoyoos Larose Winery, beginning with the 2001 vintage. He hung out his shingle as a consultant after ten vintages at Osoyoos Larose.

Jason and Audra Shull retained Pascal when they developed French Door, their estate winery which they established in 2019 on Black Sage Road, just south of Oliver. They had purchased an existing winery with a seven-acre vineyard, extensively renovating it to develop one of the most attractive tastings rooms on Black Sage. “It is a lovely project,” Pascal told me at the time.

On the website, Jason and Audra explained why they called the winery French Door. “Our family was inspired by the simplicity and quality of French architecture, cuisine and wine during our travels to Provence. We believe the Okanagan valley has a similar uniqueness about it, and we wanted to bring these parallels to life through the way our wine is made and discussed. The symbol of the “French door” is representative of our aspiration to incorporate the traditional aesthetics and values of beautiful Provence into our own backyard, with a modern twist. Our tasting room is encircled by French doors, and each one opens up into a new experience. Whether the doors lead you into our breathtaking barrel room, or onto our one-of-a-kind patio that overlooks the Okanagan valley, you are welcomed by an unspeakable aura that has been created by using the best features of Provence and the Okanagan combined, and this can only be found at French Door Estate Winery.”

The severe cold in January 2024 was especially damaging to the vineyards on Black Sage Road. The estate vineyard at French Door produced almost no fruit this fall. Several acres will need to be replanted next spring. However, Jason was fortunate that he had contracted a 10-acre Osoyoos vineyard which produced both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. As it happened, a number of Osoyoos area vineyards were able to produce modest harvests in 2024 because, at the time of the January freeze, Osoyoos Lake had not frozen over yet. The open water moderated the cold, with the result that most vineyards in the area survived and often yielded crops. “We got lucky,” Jason says. “We will produce enough wine to open our wine shop.

Here are two of the reds the winery may have when you next visit French Door.

French Door Merlot 2022 ($78 for 140 cases). This wine ranks among the Okanagan’s best Merlots, with price that telegraphs the winery’s ambition. Aged 16 months in French oak, the wine is richly concentrated. It begins with aromas of plum, cherry and chocolate. The palate delivers flavours of dark cherry, plum, cassis mingled with black olives and spice. The finish is persistent. 94.

French Door Héritage 2021 ($54). This is a blend of 30% Cabernet Franc, 20% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Malbec, 6% Syrah and 6% Petit Verdot. The wine was aged 16 months in French oak. The wine begins with aromas of cherries and strawberries mingled with hints of spice and chocolate. The palate delivers dark red fruits, chocolate and spice. The finish lingers. 94.

Painted Rock Winery had a 2024 harvest

Photo: Lauren Skinner Buksevics

In a normal vintage, Painted Rock Estate Winery’s Skaha Bluff vineyard yields up to 120 tons of grapes. Because of the devastating January freeze, 2024 was not a normal year. Painted Rock picked just 10 tons of grapes – mostly Chardonnay and some red varietals processed for rosé.

Painted Rock at least had a harvest when many other producers had to import grapes. Credit goes to proprietor John Skinner for choosing a good site in the early 2000’s after a four-year search for a vineyard. The site’s exceptional air flow and its exposure to the moderating influence of Skaha Lake gives the vineyard resilience in hard winters. Painted Rock had an almost normal harvest in 2023 when the less devastating December 2022 freeze reduced the overall production of Okanagan vineyards to about a third of normal. Credit is also due to Alain Sutre, the Bordeaux consultant who has worked with Painted Rock since 2005 (and who has recently announced he is retiring gradually). He had the vineyard adopt methods which drove the vine roots deep, giving them more protection from the cold.

“In December, 2022, when we had that first freeze event, Alain said the roots are so deep that the plants do not even know it is cold out,” recounts Lauren Skinner Buksevics, the winery’s marketing manager and John Skinner’s daughter. “It worked for that cold snap; not quite as well for the next cold snap.” She continues: “We are doing everything we can to ensure production for next year. By harvesting early for rosé, we are giving the plants longer time to shut down. We are not trying to hang fruit into late November. Everything has been off the vine since the end of September. This plants now have a good long time to shut down for winter.”

Painted Rock has 25 acres under vine. All the plants are alive, with the exception of parts of the Syrah blocks, where 2,200 vines will be replanted next year. Syrah is notoriously tender but most producers persist with it because, in a good year, Okanagan Syrah produces some of the best reds in the valley. Painted Rock has a stellar reputation for its Syrah. In addition to Chardonnay and Syrah, Painted Rock’s vineyard has all the major Bordeaux red varietals. At least two clones of each varietal are grown to afford more blending options to winemaker Gabriel Reis.

“It is a funny story about how he got those clones in the first place,” Lauren said during a recent presentation to a North Vancouver wine club. “The Bordelaise are not fond of handing out their best clones. When he was doing his planting strategy, viticulturists told John which were the best options for clones. He went to a broker in Bordeaux and said he needed all of these. The guy said, sure, no problem. But I can’t get you that clone but I can get one that is almost as good. My dad said he was not doing ‘almost as good’. He said he wanted exactly what he as ordering. He was told he could not because the nurseries give them initially to first growth producers … and it goes down in the hierarchy. And Canada is way down on the hierarchy. So dad, who is a very stubborn man, asked for the name of the nursery contacts. His course of action was to go and bribe them.” That worked one time only. Painted Rock can no longer get those vines from French nurseries. John Skinner solved that issue by having vines propagated in the Okanagan from the premium clones already established in his vineyard.

Painted Rock wines are made exclusively with estate-grown grapes, which is why the winery is not importing any grapes this year. “We are 100% estate,” Lauren says. “We never co-mingle anything. We never buy fruit. Even in these years, we are not going to buy fruit; we are not going to do anything in Washington or Oregon. I respect the wineries that need to do that for viability. We are lucky that our plants are alive. But I said at the beginning that my dad is uncompromising when it comes to making a decision and sticking to it. He spent four years looking for the property. I don’t think he could find grapes elsewhere to make what he is passionate about.”

“My intention in the last couple of years was to stall the release of our reds,” Lauren continued. “You have 2021 reds in front of you. They are still young wines that are built to age. We are just releasing the 2021 Red Icon now. That is intentional. That is a good thing when I am looking down the barrel of not having a 2024 vintage. That I have some held back gives me some wiggle room to make sure we are always serving our long-standing customers, and not running out of anything too quickly.”

Here are notes on four Painted Rock wines that she poured for the wine club tasting.

Painted Rock Chardonnay 2023 ($44.99). This attractive Chardonnay has aromas and flavours of citrus, apples and stone fruits with a well-integrated hint of spicy oak on the finish. 92.

Painted Rock Cabernet Franc 2021 ($54.99). The winery has a three-acre block of this varietal. The fruit was picked mid-November, 2021, a hangtime allowing full flavour development. The wine was aged in French oak barrels for 18 months. The wine begins with aromas of herbs, spice and dark cherry. On the palate, there are the classic brambly flavours of this varietal. The tannins still have a bit of grip. This wine will age superbly. 92.

Painted Rock Syrah 2021 ($49.99). The summer of 2021 was unusually hot, leading to very ripe fruit and a wine in this case that has 15.6% alcohol. Once again, the concentrated flavours and rich texture along with good acidity balance this wine. The wine was aged 18 months in oak (80% French, 20% American) of which 30% was new. The wine begins with aromas of violets, cherries and white pepper. The palate delivers a medley of dark fruit flavours, including fig, plum and cherry with a hint of pepper and spice. 93.

Painted Rock Red Icon 2021 ($79.99). The blend is 41% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Franc, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Malbec and 8% Petit Verdot. The wine was aged 18 months in French oak (30% new). The wine begins with a cornucopia of aromas: cherry, blueberry, cassis, hint of chocolate and spice. The concentrated texture delivers flavours of dark fruits. There is a persistent and polished finish. 96.