Terravista releases its 2024 Albariño

Photo: Terravista's Dallas and Eric Thor

The first wine from the 2024 vintage has just been released by Terravista Vineyards: an impressive sparkling Albariño made with imported grapes.

The search for those grapes also turned up a number of vineyards in Washington and northern California that are growing Albariño and a sister Spanish white varietal, Verdejo. Terravista has Canada’s first plantings of those varietals. The hard freeze in January 2024 wiped out the harvest – but not the vines, which should be able to produce again next year.

Terravista, located high on the Naramata Bench, was opened in 2011 by Senka and Bob Tennant. They had been founders of Black Hills Estate Wine and, after the sale of that winery, found they were not quite done with growing wine. They were inspired to plant Spanish varietals. When they were ready to retire a second time, they sold the vineyard to Eric Thor, a former technology executive in Vancouver, and his wife, Dallas. “One of our strengths is making Spanish varietal wines,” the Naramata winery noted in its October newsletter. “We’re known for our Albariño and Verdejo, planted first in 2008 at Lone Hand Ranch. Plantings were expanded to Naramata Outlook Vineyard in 2021.” By that year, Terravista had 19 acres of vineyard. The business was on a roll until the freeze knocked back those vineyards.

“After a challenging winter freeze, our 19 acres of vines have yielded less than 1% crop—an almost unheard-of reduction,” the winery wrote in its newsletter. “While this would shake any winery, we’ve chosen to use this moment to dig deep into what we do best. At Terravista Vineyards, our focus has always been on producing something different, something off the beaten path—wines that speak to the vineyards that grow them. In this pivotal moment, we’ve doubled down on our commitment to these distinctive wines by embarking on an exciting new journey called Proyecto Terruño – Spanish for the “Terroir Project.”

Terravista’s Eric Thor and his winemaker, Nadine Kinvig, researched the most celebrated Albariño sites in the Pacific Northwest and contracted grapes from several of them. The sparkling Albariño is made with fruit from the Grand Island Vineyard in the Clarksburg American Viticultural Area (AVA) in California. They also bought Albariño grapes from two vineyards in Ancient Lakes AVA of the Columbia River Valley. “Spanish Castle is a vineyard like no other,” the winery writes. “Surrounded by dramatic rock features and set in a dry, arid landscape, this site allows Albariño fruit to develop incredibly rich, deep flavours. Each time we have been there this year, we have been captivated by the vineyard’s beauty and unique terroir.Just recently, Eric personally traveled to the site to collect the handpicked fruit—delivering it to our winery where Nadine has begun crafting this very special Albariño. The flavours are already stunning, and we are excited to see how these deep, complex notes develop into the finished wine.” Evergreen Vineyard is the other vineyard from which Terravista has sourced grapes. “Evergreen Vineyard, located in Washington’s Ancient Lakes AVA, offers a cooler climate at a higher elevation,” the winery reports. “This vineyard produces Albariño with a distinct, acid-driven profile, full of fresh citrus and stoney complexity. Eric was on-site [in October] for the harvest, coordinating an early morning pick and carefully transporting the fruit back to our winery.”

“Through these visits,” the winery wrote, “we have worked closely with growers, visited, tasted grapes, analyzed sample data and called hand picks of the Albariño. We can’t wait to push the boundaries of what Albariño can be - showcasing side-by-side wines, perhaps a blend and highlighting the unique expressions of each vineyard while experimenting with various winemaking techniques, vessels and aging. This project offers a rare opportunity to taste Albariños grown in these distinct regions—a true exploration of terroir.” Terravista hopes to resume grape production next season from its two Naramata vineyards. “The Albariño vines did very well in both freeze events,” the winery says, referring also to the freeze in late 2022 that reduced the crop in the 2023 vintage. “There was reduced crop in 2023 and then a minuscule number of clusters in the 2024 harvest which we hand picked. Nadine co-fermented those grapes with the small amount of Verdejo. That might turn out to be roughly 25 cases of wine off our 19 acres. Overall, the plants survived and will hopefully recover and be fruitful next vintage.”

Judging from the quality of the sparkling Albariño, Terravista’s Terroir Project should yield very interesting wines from the Washington vineyards. Here is a note on the first 2024 wine, along with notes on two other recent releases.

Terravista Sparkling Albariño 2024 Proyecto Terruño ($35 for 334 cases). This Charmat method sparkling wine is fresh and vibrant. It begins with aromas of citrus and pears and delivers big mouthful of citrus and kiwi fruit flavours to the palate. The finish is crisp. 90.

Terravista En Terre Sparkling Brut 2022 ($45 for 75 cases; sold out). This elegant is a blend of 69% Pinot Noir and 31% Chardonnay. Made in the traditional method, it was 16 months en tirage. There is a delicate note of brioche in the aroma leading to flavours of apple and orchard fruits, with a crisp dry finish. 90.

Terravista Figaro 2023 ($33). This is a blend of 89% Chardonnay, 8% Viognier and 3% Marsanne. The Chardonnay is from a Kaleden vineyard. This is an unusual blend for Figaro which, in previous years, has been made entirely with white Rhône varietals. When those suffered in the 2022 freeze, the winery found Chardonnay. It may be different from previous Figaro wines but it is very good. A portion of the Chardonnay grapes was fermented in concrete and a portion was fermented in neutral oak. The other two varietals in this wine are both from Naramata. The wine begins with aromas of apple, cantaloupe and stone fruits. It delivers a luscious bouquet of fruit to the palate, including nectarine and apple. This is such an appealing wine that it took discipline not to finish the entire bottle right away. 92.