Poplar Grove begins releasing library wines

Photo: Poplar Grove's Tony Holler

Poplar Grove Estate Winery has begun to open its library of its best red wines both for tastings and for purchase. This reflects a decision a decade ago by owner Tony Holler to hold back – to quote the winery – “a significant amount of our age-worthy wines each year and release them for sale a decade later.”

Perhaps it is just a coincidence that the program is being launched in the year when Poplar Grove, along with most Okanagan wineries, has been striving to survive a year without a significant quantity of Okanagan grapes. To be sure, Poplar Grove has sourced grapes from Washington State to make what are expected to be topflight wines. But they may not be wines destined for the wine library. The wines currently being offered from Poplar Grove’s library are 120 cases each of Merlot 2014, Merlot 2020, Cabernet Franc 2014 and 2020 and Legacy 2018, the winery’s flagship Bordeaux blend. The tastings will demonstrate how age-worthy these wines are.

I included Legacy in my 2017 book, Icon: Flagship Wines from British Columbia’s Best Wineries. My notes covered nine vintages of Legacy from 2004 to 2012 which I tasted with winemaker Stefan Arnason while researching the book. All the wines, with one exception, were drinking well at the time. I recommended drinking them within 11 or 12 years of the vintage. In hindsight, that was conservative. A well-cellared BC red wine might well be kept 15 or more years.

The exception was the Legacy 2004. In that vintage, and perhaps in the vintages on either side, Poplar Grove (and other wineries) used synthetic closures to avoid the tainted natural corks that were a problem at the time. Unfortunately, synthetic closures proved unsuitable for long-term aging. In my book, I say this of the 2004 Legacy: the wine has “aged prematurely” and was “hard and dried out.” Subsequently, Poplar Grove has finished its wines either with natural corks (the quality of corks has improved dramatically) or screw caps.

Tony Holler was already a wine collector when he bought Poplar Grove in 2007. Tastings with great French producers had convinced him that serious wineries would maintain wine libraries, allowing consumers to experience properly aged wines. He delayed starting a wine library at Poplar Grove until 2014, when the winery’s production had grown large enough that some wines could be set aside. In 2021, the winery moved the growing quantity of library wines into a new warehouse with temperature and humidity controls. Now those wines age in optimal storage conditions.

The inaugural Library Collection wines are available for purchase at the winery or through intimate tastings at the winery itself. “Every fall moving forward, Library Collection wines that were deemed worthy of cellaring 10 years ago will be released, alongside the current year’s vintages,” the winery says. Here are notes on two of those wines.

Poplar Grove Merlot 2014 ($82.52). The blend is 88% Merlot, 5% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec. The wine was aged 21 months in French oak. There is a hint of brick to the dark hue of the wine. It begins with aromas of cassis and dark plum, leading to flavours of cherry and dark fruits with a touch of spice on the finish. The tannins are long and polished, with a structure that should give the wine another five years before it peaks. 95.

Poplar Grove Merlot 2020 ($34.70). The blend is 95% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Cabernet Franc. The wine was aged 21 months in French oak (20% new). The wine is bold and intense, beginning with aromas of plum and blackberry leading to flavours of black cherry, blackberry and red currant with a hint of spice on the finish. The long, ripe tannins give this wine the ability to age at least to 2035. 94.