Frind surprises with a Foch rosé

Frind winemaker Corrie Krehbiel

One of the few varietals to survive the Okanagan’s 2024 winter and produce grapes was Maréchal Foch, the winter-hardy French hybrid. In the grape pull-out after the 1988 harvest, most growers pulled out Foch, replacing it with various vinifera varietals deemed to make better wines. Only Quails’ Gate Estate Winery (and a few others) retained a significant acreage. Since 1994, Quails’ Gate’s Old Vines Foch has enjoyed a cult following.

Nearby Frind Estate Winery, which opened in 2019, planted a six-acre block of Maréchal Foch in the flat terrain that leads to the lakeside winery. The winery site once was the home of former Premier Bill Bennett. Winery owner Markus Frind bought the historic property in 2017. Recognizing that the low-lying area was an obvious frost pocket, Marcus planted Foch.

The happy result: Corrie Krehbiel, Frind’s winemaker, had a harvest from the flat in the fall of 2024. She made a commendable rosé that is 94% Foch. It is the first rosé from that varietal that I can ever recall tasting. Wines like this may go some way to reviving Maréchal Foch as a varietal worthy of its place again in the vineyards of the Okanagan. To give some perspective on the grape, let me quote from my 1998 book, Chardonnay and Friends, which profiled the 40 major wine varietals then growing in the Okanagan.

“French plant breeder Eugene Kuhlmann (1858-1932) was the creator of this and of several other hybrid varieties, most of which now have been phased out of vineyards in France and North America. The variety is named for a French hero of World War One, Marshall Ferdinand Foch, commander in chief of the Allied armies in 1918. (An apparent admirer of French leaders, Kuhlmann also created another blood-red variety that was named Léon Millot after a prime minister.) Like the other hybridizers of his day, Kuhlmann created new varieties by crossing native American vines with European vines in a search for productive and disease-resistant varieties. Georges Masson, an Ontario wine writer in the 1970s, wrote that Foch “makes a good wine resembling a French Burgundy.” The comparison to Burgundy, which is made with Pinot Noir, may have been inspired by the vaguely similar earthy aromas and smoky note in the finish of a Maréchal Foch wine. Other flavours include plums and spice.

“Foch was among the French hybrids that were imported to Ontario and New York State just after World War Two by wineries and growers searching for hardy, productive and disease resistant varieties that could make better wine than the North American varieties then being grown. (Almost no one then believed that the classic vinifera would survive in eastern North America.) While Foch had already been named in France, most varieties generally arrived bearing only the hybridizer’s number, such as Seibel 9549, and had names assigned to them by the wine industry in the early 1970s. The significant red hybrids besides Foch were De Chaunac, Chelois, Baco Noir, Chancellor and Rougeon. De Chaunac and Chelois largely have been dropped because the wines are light and uninteresting. The others, while less important than they once were, are hanging on or, in the case of Foch, making a comeback. As recently as 1985 Foch had accounted for a quarter of British Columbia’s grape harvest. But most of the vines were pulled out after the 1988 vintage, leaving Foch at less than two per cent of the crop. ‘To my way of thinking, that is just ridiculous,’ said Jeff Martin [the winemaker at Quails’ Gate at the time]. ‘I looked at the records for the hybrids we purchased in the 1980s. The grapes were immature. The problem was not the variety -- it was grape-growing and winemaking.’ In the early 1980s yields of ten to twelve tons an acre were common, three times the yield now demanded of those vines in the Quails’ Gate vineyard. In the 1990s the variety generally is grown more carefully.”

At the time the book was written, at last 10 wineries in British Columbia were releasing wines made with Foch. I w0uld be surprised if more than five have it in their portfolio now. However, the way the varietal handled the 2024 freeze could restore a bit of the varietal’s profile. Most of the wines in the Frind profile are made, and well made, with premium vinifera varietals and that is not likely to change, however successful the Foch rosé is. Here are notes on three current Frind releases.

Frind Rosé 2024 ($22.99). The 94.2% Foch in this wine is supplemented with 3.4% Cabernet Franc, 1.4% Pinot Noir and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes were picked deliberately for rosé. The grapes were whole-cluster pressed, fermented cool and aged nine months in stainless steel. The wine presents with a vibrant hue. There are aromas of cherry and raspberry leading to engaging flavours of red plum, strawberry and pomegranate. The finish is long and refreshing. 90.

Frind Premier Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 ($39.99). This wine includes 8% Petit Verdot and 1% Merlot in the blend. The wine was aged 13 months in French and American oak. It is a big, ripe wine from a hot vintage. It has aromas of cassis, dark cherry and plum which are echoed on the palate. The long ripe tannins give this wine good body and a long finish. 91.

Frind The Premier 2023 ($44.99). This is a blend of 68% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Tannat, aged 14 months in French and American oak. It is a bold, dark wine with aromas of plum, black cherry and blueberry. The palate delivers dark fruit flavours with a long finish. 93.