Hester Creek releases reds from the Epic 22 vintage

Photo: Hester Creek winemaker Mark Hopley (courtesy of Hester Creek)

Hester Creek has nicknamed the Okanagan’s 2022 vintage as Epic 22, underlining the splendid quality of one of the best growing seasons ever in the valley. Most wineries and most commentators agree with that ranking.

2022 “will go down in history as one of the most challenging yet productive years on record,” writes Cassidy Keens, the winery’s public relations and events coordinator. “The extended growing season that year led to a longer harvest, with each grape carefully handpicked. Thanks to the addition of new vineyards, our overall yield was nearly 30% larger than we had originally anticipated. This larger fruit yield remained on the vine longer than usual. Just as we approached the end of [harvest], an unexpected three feet of snow fell on November 2. As a result of this heavy snowfall, the grape skins began to raisin slightly and concentrate, enhancing the flavour intensity, structure and colour of the wines. These wines reflect the personality and uniqueness of this particularly outstanding vintage.”

She continues by quoting Mark Hopley, Hester Creek’s winemaker, on his assessment of the winery’s flagship red wine, called Garland in tribute to winery owner Curt Garland. “This vintage of Garland is the finest we have ever crafted,” Mark says. “It has amazing concentration of fruit while remaining elegant.”

The downside of the late harvest of 2022 is that many vines were not yet fully dormant when a sharp frost swept over the valley. The resulting damage to fruiting buds and vines significantly reduced the 2023 harvest. Then, to make matters worse, a really hard freeze in January 2024 eliminated about 95% of that year’s crop. Mark Sheridan, Hester Creek’s president, was among the first of the Okanagan vintners to travel to the Columbia Valley in Washington State in March, 2024, nailing down grapes for Hester Creek’s 2024 vintage. “We met with from seven sub-AVAs (American Viticultural Areas), learned their stories, analyzed their growing practices and built a partnership to import the best grapes possible,” the winery writes. Hester Creek often had first choice. “Each block was chosen with absolute discretion for the varietal, location, growing practices and quality of the fruit.”

The winery has been releasing wines from what it calls its Columbia Collection. There are seven or eight wines, two of which are reviewed here. I reviewed four of them earlier this year; I repeat those scores to indicate the consistent quality of the wines. Hester Creek has not yet reported on how its Okanagan vineyards are doing this year, but I would infer from what other wineries are saying that the vines have rebounded with generous crops. Hester Creek has every intention of returning to making VQA wines when the B.C. vineyards support that. Here are notes on recent releases, including some Epic 22 wines.

Hester Creek Riesling 2024 ($24.99). The grapes for this wine are from the Ancient Lakes AVA. Harvested by hand, the fruit was delivered by temperature-controlled trucks to Hester Creek’s crush pad the same day. The wine was fermented cool for 20 days and aged in stainless steel for five months before being bottled. It is a juicy wine, with aromas and flavours of peach, grapefruit and green apple. 90.

Hester Creek Rosé Noir 2024 ($27.99). The fruit, clone 777 Pinot Noir, was sourced in the Ancient Lakes AVA. The grapes came to Hester Creek in refrigerated trucks and, on being crushed, had three hours of skin contact to extract the delicate hue that presents in the glass. The wine was fermented cool for 20 days and aged four months in stainless steel before bottling. The wine begins with aromas of wild strawberries, leading to delicate flavours of strawberry and raspberry. 90.

Hester Creek Pinot Gris 2024 ($19.99). 90.

Hester Creek Sauvignon Blanc 2024 ($19.99). 90.

Hester Creek Viognier 2024 ($23.99). 91.

Hester Creek Rosé Cabernet Franc 2024 ($22.99). 88.

Hester Creek Old Vine Cabernet Franc 2022 ($29.99). This wine was aged 18 months in barrels (75% French, 25% American). The wine begins with aromas of blackberry and raspberry which are echoed on the palate, along with notes of chocolate. The intense flavours lead to a persistent finish. 93.

Hester Creek Syrah 2022 ($29.99). The grapes in this wine were co-fermented with Viognier. The wine was aged 14 months in oak (60% American, 40% French). The wine begins with aromas of blackberry, dark cherry and black pepper. The wine is rich in texture, with flavours of plum and cherry mingled with deli meats. 91.

Hester Creek The Judge 2022 ($49.99). This is a blend of 47% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% each of Petit Verdot and Malbec. The wine was aged 14 months in French oak. The wine begins with aromas of dark cherry and cocoa, leading to flavours of dark cherry and black currant with hints of tobacco on the lingering finish. 92.

Hester Creek Garland 2022 ($64.99). The blend is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 9% Petit Verdot and 4% Malbec. The wine was aged 24 months in French oak. A hint of oak comes through on the bold palate as cedar, mingled with cloves and dark fruit. The palate delivers rich flavours of plum, dark cherry and cassis. The long, ripe tannins mark this as a wine with good aging potential. 95.

Pentâge Winery reaches into a deep inventory

Photo: Paul Gardner and Julie Rennie

At Penticton’s Pentâge Winery, Paul Gardner and Julie Rennie grow 19 varietals in the 15 acres of their two vineyards on a bench overlooking Skaha Lake. It enables them to offer quite interesting blends alongside distinctive single varietal wines.

Over the years, the winery, which opened in 2003, has built up an inventory of well-cellared wines, as the vintages reviewed here suggest. Not many producers still are able to offer wines from the 2018 vintage unless it is a library release. The deep inventory appears to be pulling the winery through the production losses in the 2024 vintage due to the January 2024 freeze. Fortunately, the Pentâge vineyards are likely to produce a reasonable harvest this fall.

“Out in the vineyard, things are developing beautifully,” Julie wrote in a recent online post. “The vineyard is looking healthy this season, with a heavy crop load developing across most blocks. To ensure optimal ripening and preserve quality, our vineyard crew is currently fruit thinning — a vital step that balances yield to promote phenolic development and flavor concentration in the fruit. This week, we’ve started to see veraison in the Gewürztraminer and Gamay — an exciting milestone where the grapes begin to ripen, bringing us one step closer to harvest. It’s shaping up to be a promising vintage, and we look forward to seeing how it unfolds as the season progresses.” So are this winery’s many followers. Here are my notes on four recent releases.

Pentâge Roussanne Marsanne Viognier 2019 ($30.43). This is 50% Roussanne, 30% Marsanne and 20% Viognier. The wine was aged 11 months in French oak puncheons and barriques that were three or four years old. It is a terrific wine, beginning with honeyed aromas of guava and citrus. The rich palate delivers flavours of ripe peach and apricot, with a persistent finish. 92.

Pentâge Cabernet Franc 2022 ($30.43). Grown in a top vintage, this wine was aged 15 months in French oak (25% new). Dark in hue and full-bodied, the wine begins with aromas of blackberry, dark cherry and spice. On the palate, flavours of plum and dark cherry are mingled with notes of chocolate and oak. 92.

Pentâge Pinot Noir 2020 ($30.43). This wine was matured 18 months in French oak barrels and puncheons (30% new). This is a masculine style of Pinot Noir, dark in colour, firm in structure. There are aromas and flavours of dark cherry mingled with spice and oak. 88.

Pentâge GSM 2018 ($34.78). The blend is 47% Grenache, 43% Mourvedre and 10% Syrah. Each varietal was aged in oak barrels (20% new) for 15 months. The wine won a gold medal last year in a national competition, deservedly so. Aromas of dark fruits and pepper just bound out of the glass. On the palate, flavours of cherry and raspberry mingle with subtle notes of pepper and oak. 94.

Church and State sparkling wines medal at Decanter

Photo: Church & State winemaker Arnaud Thierry

Church & State Wines recently trumpeted its success at the Decanter World Wine Awards for its sparkling wines: two silver medals and one bronze. That is a rigorous international competition. It is a credit to any winemaker to come away with medals, an notably to Arnaud Thierry, the winemaker at Church & State.

Arnaud, who joined the Okanagan winery in 2018, was trained in Champagne. It is logical, then, that the winery’s sparkling wines are well made. The 10-acre vineyard near Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island grows Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, grapes that are dedicated to sparkling wine.

Church & State, which also has 85 acres of vineyard and an elegant tasting room on Black Sage Road in the Okanagan, originated on Vancouver Island in 2002 as Victoria Estate Winery. The struggling winery was acquired two years later by tax lawyer Kim Pullen. At the recommendation of his consulting winemaker at the time, Californian Bill Dyer, he moved production to the south Okanagan a few years later rather than transporting grapes to Vancouver Island. The Brentwood Bay vineyard was reserved for varietals best suited to the cool climate and for sparkling wines.

Pullen sold the winery in 2017 to Sunocean Wineries and Estate, a Vancouver company owned by a low-profile Chinese businessman. The new owners were able to add the experienced Arnaud to their team shortly after he had moved from France to the Okanagan with his wife, Caroline Schaller, then the winemaker at Osoyoos Larose. There is a brief biographical note about Arnaud on the winery’s website: “Our winemaker, Arnaud Thierry joined the team in late 2017. He was all but born into winemaking having spent much of his youth amidst the vines of Bordeaux. His interest in biology and biochemistry, as well as a desire to understand the art of viticulture, led him to study enology in Champagne for several years. This, coupled with a love of nature, cuisine, and diverse flavors brought to life by wine brought him deeper into the world of winemaking.”

“The winemaking is quite simple and traditional,” Arnaud told me in 2021. “I am very attracted by tradition, and the respect of the fruit. Winemaking is very classic: a good expression of the fruit and freshness in the whites; and volume, fruit and spice in the reds. I want to have the varietal specificity of the grapes each time.” I have reviewed his table wines on several occasions and have always been impressed. Recently, the winery sent me the three sparking wines in its current portfolio.

Decanter scores were 89 points for Blanc de Gris, 88 points for Gris de Noir and 88 points for Blanc de Blanc, the bronze medal wine. Here are my notes. I was more impressed with the Blanc de Blanc and the Blanc de Gris than the Decanter judges, but then I was not judging a table full of sparkling wines.

Church & State Blanc de Blanc 2018 ($33.99). Made with Chardonnay from one of the winery’s Black Sage Bench vineyards, this traditional method sparkling wine spent 30 months on the lees in the Brentwood Bay cellar. The wine presents in the glass with fine, active bubbles and a light golden hue. It has aromas of brioche mingled with citrus, leading to flavours of apples and lemon. 92.

Church & State Blanc de Gris 2019 ($32.99 for 770 cases). A traditional method sparkling wine made with Pinot Gris, this aged in bottle at least 12 months. Pale yellow in hue and showing fine bubbles, the wine has aromas that begin with a hint of brioche and goes on to notes of pear. On the palate, there are flavours of stone fruits. 90.

Church & State Gris de Noir 2021 ($33.99 for 241 cases). This wine was made with Brentwood Bay Pinot Noir. It presents with a light blush and aromas of raspberry. The wine, with active bubbles, shows a playfully fruity flavour profile of red fruit. 88.