Photo: Winemaker Seth Jex in the Fort Berens cellar (credit Brad Kesselman)
With the release of 2025 white wines (and a rosé), Fort Berens Estate Winery also announces that Seth Jex has moved up to head winemaker from assistant. He takes over from Alex Nel who has returned to his native South Africa.
Seth, who spent the previous five years as the assistant winemaker, is a 2019 graduate of Brock University, where he earned a certificate in Enology and Viticulture to complement a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the university of Northern British Columbia.
He has made wine in 11 harvests, both in New Zealand and South Africa as well as Ontario, Washington State and in British Columbia. He joined Fort Berens in 2019.
In the frost-devastated 2024 vintage, Fort Berens (like many B.C. wineries) sourced grapes in Washington State. Seth was sent to Washington that spring to meet growers and select vineyards. He returned in the fall as the onsite winemaker, creating the Here & There collection of wines that were finished at the Lillooet winery. His Here & There Chardonnay 2024 was a top-scoring Chardonnay among the replacement wines that B.C. wineries made.
A versatile talent, Seth has worked with the winery’s farm manager to enable Fort Berens to be certified for sustainable winegrowing. He has also served as assistant tasting room manager.
As well, he is the founder in 2021 of Lillooet Cider Co., which makes small batch ciders with Lillooet-grown fruit.
In the 2025 vintage, production recovered at the two estate vineyards at the Lillooet winery and at many of the Okanagan vineyards also supply Fort Berens.
“Our estate vineyards were in great shape going into the 2025 season,” writes Heleen Pannekoek, the chief executive at Fort Berens. “Our vineyard remained very happy and healthy and we ended up with 90% of a normal harvest of healthy grapes. … We believe this vintage is one of our best vintages, exceeding our outstanding 2022 vintage. Our 2025 whites and rosé have great aromatics, more body and great longevity.”
Here are notes on the wines, which were made jointly by Seth and Alex.
Fort Berens Pinot Gris 2025 ($23.99 for 1,500 cases). The winery sourced grapes from vineyards in Lillooet, Lytton and Oliver. The crushed grapes had four hours of skin contact and were fermented at 11 degrees and with dry ice to minimize oxygen contact. The wine was aged four months on the lees. It begins with aromas of citrus, apple and quince leading to flavours of pears and stone fruits. 91.
Fort Berens Riesling 2025 ($23.99 for 1,900 cases). The fruit for this wine is from the winery’s estate vineyards at Lillooet. The crushed grapes were given 12 hours of skin contact and were then fermented cold in stainless steel. Ferment was stopped, leaving just enough residual sugar to balance the acidity and give the wine a rich note on the palate. Aromas of lemon and lime lead to a fruit salad of flavours, including lime, apple and apricot. The finish is crisp and refreshing. 92.
Fort Berens Chardonnay 2025 ($24.99 for 1,000 cases). Half of the fruit was from the estate vineyards; the rest from vineyards at Summerland and Savona. Some 30% of the grapes were whole-cluster pressed and then fermented with natural yeast in French oak barrels, and aged there for four months. The other 70% were destemmed, crushed and cold-fermented in stainless steel and left on the lees four months. The two lots were blended and bottled. The wine is lightly oaked, with aromas and flavours of apple and peach. 91.
Fort Berens Small Lot Grüner Veltliner 2025 ($25.99 for 433 cases). Made with estate-grown fruit, this is one of the best examples ever of this Austrian varietal that I have tasted from a B.C. winery. Some of the credit, winemaker Seth Jex says, is a new yeast strain the winery was able to secure for the 2025 vintage. “That has made all the difference,” he says. The grapes are from one of the estate vineyards at Lillooet. Some 70% of the crushed fruit was allowed four hours of skin contact while the remainder was whole-clustered pressed. Fermentation was long and cool in stainless steel and with minimal oxygen contact. The wine has a terrific aromatic beginning with aromas of lime and kiwi fruit and flavours of green apple. The finish is crisp. 93.
Fort Berens Rosé 2025 ($23.99 for 1,400 cases). This wine is made with four estate-grown reds (Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon), all given about 12 hours of skin contact to extract the rose petal hue. This is a dry and somewhat austere rosé with aromas of strawberry, raspberry and pomegranate which are echoed on the palate along with a touch of cranberry and watermelon. 89.
Fort Berens Late Harvest Riesling 2025 ($20.99 for 395 cases of 375 ml bottles). The winemakers took advantage of the abundance of the Riesling crop to make this wine, which is not produced every year. The wine is made from estate-grown Riesling that was allowed to hang late in the season until there was with some raisining of the fruit. The wine begins with aromas of honey, raisins and tangerines. The palate is rich with flavours of baked apple, raisins, honey and lime. The exquisite balance gives the wine delicate sweetness and a long finish. 93.
