Mission Hill releases its premium Terroir Collection

Photo: Courtyard at Mission Hill

This summer, Mission Hill Family Estate has launched an additional tier of premium wines to bring its portfolio to seven tiers.

Called the Terroir Collection, these are limited production wines that are, or will evolve, to single vineyard wines over time.

“The idea is more than just do a single vineyard wine,” says Mission Hill winemaker John Simes. “It is trying to go beyond that and have wines that have distinctness about them, from the particular geography they come from combined with different sort of winemaking.”

There are six varietal wines in the initial release, with plans for future releases of Cabernet Franc, Viognier and a “heritage” Chardonnay from the same block of grapes that anchored Mission Hill’s 1992 Chardonnay.

The wines, which are available at the winery and to the wine club, are priced aggressively, reflecting the quality of the premium grapes that are utilized and the elaborate winemaking that is involved. The quality of the wines is, to revert to the cliché, totally world class.

“All of these wines are made to be at a premium level,” John says. “The work in the vineyard is pretty much the same for all of them. We set the blocks up specifically at the start.”

The grapes in Mission Hill’s top rung Legacy tier – Oculus, Compendium, Quatrain, Compendium and Perpetua – come from vineyards that also produce most of the Terroir Collection wines. The top three per cent of Mission Hill’s grapes are used in these wines.

“It shows we are maturing as a company,” John contends. “We have got a very good group of people, both in the vineyards and in the winery. To layer this amount of complexity, there is a significant increase in the amount of work you have to do everywhere. It’s a lot of work to get a project up to this level.”

The volumes typically are around 500 cases for each wine. “They are not toy wines,” John says. “They will be quantities that are available. They will be wines that will be offered through our wine club, but they are not tiny volume wines, nor up in the thousands of cases.”

Wine club members should be particularly excited by John’s reprise of the legendary 1992 Chardonnay.

John (right) arrived at Mission Hill in the summer of 1992 from New Zealand, where he had trained and worked with one of that country’s largest wineries. He immediately began familiarizing himself with the vineyards of Mission Hill’s growers. (Mission Hill had no vineyards of its own at the time.)

He was struck by the quality of Chardonnay at one vineyard south of Oliver. He rushed through an order for 100 new American oak barrels. When the grapes arrived, he crushed them in a gentle basket press and fermented the wine in barrel. He made about 3,000 cases.

That 1992 Grand Reserve Barrel Select Chardonnay won the Avery’s Trophy as the top Chardonnay at the 1994 International Wine & Spirits Competition in London. This was almost certainly the first credible international award for a British Columbia wine. It did a lot to launch the reputation of Mission Hill and of the Okanagan.

Mission Hill now owns vineyards throughout the Okanagan. In 2012 Mission Hill proprietor Anthony von Mandl bought the former Domaine Combret winery, now relaunched as CheckMate Artisanal Winery. At the same time, he bought the adjacent vineyard, the source of that 1992 Chardonnay.

“We think the clone originated in California,” John says. “It has quite a high acidity for Chardonnay – not really high but a little higher than some of the other clones. It has a slight Muscat note to the clone but it is not a Muscat clone. It is quite intense and distinctive. It is a very good clone.”

In fact, in 1997 and 1998, Mission Hill got cuttings from that block, now called the Heritage Block. After having them grafted by an Ontario nursery, the vines were planted in another Oliver vineyard that Mission Hill calls Lone Pine. A Chardonnay from that vineyard is one of the eventual three Terroir Series Chardonnays that are released or planned.

Here are notes on the new Terroir Selection wines as well as on the current Legacy Series releases. There are 25 cases of wine in a barrel.

Sunset Ranch Unoaked Chardonnay 2012 ($40 for 76 cases). This is the Mission Hill vineyard in Osoyoos that grows some of the winery’s best fruit, including the grapes for Perpetua, the winery’s top Chardonnay. This Unoaked Chardonnay expresses great purity of fruit in the citrus aromas and flavours with exquisite mineral notes as a backbone. The wine also has good weight on the palate. 91.

Lone Pine Chardonnay 2012 ($40 for 19 barrels).  “I aimed at a style that has a more noticeable oak character,” John says. About 35% of the wine was fermented in a combination of new and one-year-old barrels; the rest in stainless steel. The well-handled oak serves as a frame for bright spicy and citrus aromas and flavours. This is a very elegant wine. 92.

Southern Cross Sauvignon Blanc 2012 ($30 for 19 barrels). The fruit is also from Osoyoos. The grapes were left on the vine to achieve high level of ripeness, giving the wine a rich texture with subtle flavours of grapefruit. A portion of this wine was barrel-fermented and aged on the lees to acquire that texture. 90.

Brigadier’s Bluff Rosé 2012 ($30 for 223 cases). Some of the same premium Merlot grown for Oculus was set aside to make a top drawer rosé. The grapes were picked at optimal ripeness and flavour (alcohol is 13.8%), given skin contact and then fermented in stainless steel. This is a rosé with power and concentration; with aromas and flavours of cherry and strawberry. The finish is dry but there is enough residual sugar to flesh out the texture. The wine is beautifully packaged in a clear bottle that shows off the brilliant hue. 92.

Crosswinds Syrah 2011 ($50 for 13 barrels). This is a firm, ageable Syrah, with flavours of plum and black cherry, with spice and white pepper on the finish. 90.

Splitrail Merlot 2011 ($50 for 13 barrels). This is a big, concentrated, brooding Merlot. It starts with glorious cassis aromas, leading to flavours of black currant, coffee and cola. 91.

Perpetua 2011 (Sold out). This wine has a premium package as elegant as the wine. Just over 20% of this wine is fermented in new French oak; the rest is fermented in stainless steel. “Perpetua is a wine where you almost don’t notice the oak,” John says. “It is part of the wine but it is much more subtle and integrated. And Perpetua is a single vineyard wine, just from the vineyard in Osoyoos.” The citrus aromas are touched lightly by oak. On the palate, the citrus and apple flavours are vibrant, fresh and complex, with a fine mineral backbone. 93.

Quatrain 2010 ($60).  This is 40% Merlot, 20% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 30% Cabernet Franc. The combination makes for a generous, even juicy, wine with flavours of vanilla, black cherry and black currant. 92.

Compendium 2010 ($60). This is 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Franc. It has the firm texture that suggests great longevity. It has flavours of black currant, dark chocolate, dark coffee, liquorice, mint and cedar. 91.

Oculus 2010 ($100). This is 51% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon and 23% Cabernet Franc. This is such a complex wine that it is a challenge to find appropriate descriptors. It begins with aromas of spicy oak, tobacco and cassis, going on to flavours of black currant, plum and espresso coffee. The tannins are long with just enough grip to give the wine longevity in the cellar. 95.

Backyard Vineyards gets a well-deserved second look

Photo: Backyard Vineyards winemaker James Cambridge

Wine reviewers are no different from other consumers: if a producer’s wines put us off, we stop paying attention to that winery.

After all, there are 200 other wineries in British Columbia to choose from.

About three years ago, samples arrived from Backyard Winery in Langley that were disappointing. I seldom review wines like that.

There are two types of wineries that make truly mediocre wines. One lot never get better and occasionally go out of business, so what is the point of writing about them?

 The other type learn from mistakes, so it is just a matter of waiting for them to come around. Making good wine is not rocket science.

I knew Backyard was coming around last year when the winery hired James Cambridge as its winemaker. Perhaps for the first time in its history, Backyard had an experienced winemaker in house. It is time to revisit the winery.

This is a winery with a history. It opened in 2002 as Glenugie Winery to make wine from a five-acre block of Pinot Noir. The portfolio was rounded out with grapes and/or wine purchased from the Okanagan. I recall tasting a good sparkling wine called Christina. The other Glenugie wines have faded from memory.

Both founder Gary Tayler and his wife, Christina, died in 2008. The Tayler family sold the winery to Ewen Stewart, a real estate developer.

The winery needed to be rebranded, so Ewen hired Bernie Hadley-Beauregard, a top notch marketing consultant in Vancouver. Bernie has come up with such inspired winery names and labels as Blasted Church and Dirty Laundry.

He suggested several names to replace Glenugie. The initial choice was Neck of the Woods Winery, with Backyard Vineyards reserved for a second winery that now seems indefinitely delayed. Neck of the Woods did not catch on with consumers and the name has been parked in favour of Backyard. The winery, after all, is in Vancouver’s back yard.

I never understood why the initial releases under the Backyard and Neck of the Woods labels were underwhelming. The winery was getting consulting advice from both Harry McWatters and winemaker Tom DiBello. I suspect that the winery was unlucky with the quality of Okanagan grapes and/or bulk wine it purchased.

That is not an unusual problem for wineries separated from the vineyards by two or three mountain ranges. A winery needs a regular season-long relationship with growers to get reliable fruit.

When I recently visited Backyard, I learned that James Cambridge has just been in the Okanagan, meeting with growers. One of numerous visits during the season. That’s a very good sign and something I would expect from as seasoned a winemaker as he is.

An Ontario native, James is a graduate (top of the class) from Niagara College’s enology and viticulture program. In Ontario, he worked both with Henry of Pelham Winery and Creekside Winery.

Coming to the Okanagan, he has made wine at Summerhill Pyramid Winery, at Le Vieux Pin and LaStella Wineries and, prior to Backyard, at Fort Berens Estate Winery. The 2012 Riesling he made for Fort Berens won a Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Excellence.

He took over at Backyard for the 2013 vintage. The wines from 2013 are good. He probably finished the earlier vintages and those wines, with one exception, are also solid. All are very well priced.

James also let me taste two promising barrel samples – an elegant 2012 Reserve Syrah and a really excellent 2012 Reserve Cabernet Franc. Keep an eye out for the release of these wines.

Located in a spacious building, Backyard welcomes visitors in a tasting room with the civilized atmosphere of a warm neighbourhood pub. There is food service and an appealing gazebo large enough to handle 50 people under its oak-beamed roof. 

Here are notes on the current portfolio. Prices shown are retail; wine club members get an attractive discount.

Backyard Vineyards Nosey Neighbour White 2013 ($14.99). This is a good value blend of Pinot Gris, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Gewürztraminer, made in an easy-drinking style. It has aromas and flavours of lime, nectarine and mango. 88.

Backyard Vineyards Riesling 2013 ($18.99). James clearly has an affinity for Riesling. This wine has collected gold medals at three major wine competitions this year (so far). A well-balanced wine, fermentation stopped naturally, leaving 10 grams of residual sugar. That seems to pop the lovely notes of lemon and lime in the aroma and on the palate. The finish is crisp and refreshing. 90.

Backyard Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2012 ($16.99). The wine begins with aromas of grapefruit and sage, leading to flavours of lime and guava. There is an herbal note on the finish. 88.

Backyard Vineyards Pinot Gris 2013 ($15.99). Backyard has a vineyard near Abbotsford just coming into production. This wine has about 5% Fraser Valley Pinot Gris, with the rest from Osoyoos. This wine begins with aromas of pear and melon. On the palate, the wine is generous in texture with flavours of pear and apple. It has a crisp finish. 90.

Backyard Vineyards Gewürztraminer 2013 ($17.99). Here is a wine with a gold and two silver medals in international competitions. The wine begins with aromas of lychee, spice and sage. It is full on the palate, with flavours of lychee, melon and fig. 90.

Backyard Vineyards Merlot 2011 ($16.99). This soft, mouth-filling wine has aromas and flavours of vanilla and black currant, with a peppery note on the finish. 89.

Backyard Vineyards Syrah 2011 ($21.99). This wine has gained three silver medals in international competitions. Made with grapes from an  Osoyoos vineyard, it is a bold, dark wine with aromas of black cherries and plums, leading to flavours of plums and prune. There is an appealing earthiness on the finish, along with a hint of pepper. 90.

Backyard Vineyards Meritage 2011 ($19.99). This is 44% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc and 22% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine also has silver medals from three international competitions. Maybe I tasted an off bottle but I don’t see it. I found the wine too hard to have much appeal. I would certainly urge decanting. 87.

Backyard Vineyards  Nosey Neighbour Red 2012 ($14.99). This is 44% Merlot, 43% Syrah, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Cabernet Franc. I like this much better than the Meritage, especially at the price. It is a juicy red with ripe flavours of black cherry and black currant. 90.

Argentina's Haarth winery is Canadian-owned

 Photo: Haarth winery's Terry Martens

In 2009, Maple Ridge businessman Terry Martens, 55, was persuaded to invest in a winery in Argentina.

As it turned out, his prospective partner could not come up with his half of the money. Terry found himself one of that handful of Canadians with an Argentina winery.

The winery is Haarth Organic Wines, an old family winery near San Rafael with a century-long history. Haarth once owned perhaps 2,000 hectares of vineyards and more than two dozen bodegas. It had fallen on hard times after the death of the scion of the family.

However, Terry and his erstwhile partner were able to pick up the Haarth’s family’s original winery, a lovely bodega with a small country in and 20 hectares of vines.  It is run entirely by the Martens family but Terry would still like to have a partner.

The Haarth vineyard includes some old Bonarda vines, a red variety sometimes overshadowed by Malbec. Terry believes it is a variety on the rise. “Bonarda is becoming well known and talked about,” he believes. “People say that is the next Malbec [in popularity]. I think they are right.”

Terry came to wine through business. Raised on an Alberta farm, he went on to get degrees in mechanical engineering. That led to a long career working with Caterpillar as a designer and trouble shooter on mining equipment. He continues to consult internationally to operators of mining equipment, even during the months he spends at the winery.

“A lot of mining companies will call me and I will do consulting,” he says. “Everything I do, I can do from the winery. I just need a good internet line.”

During his career, he spent so much time on South America that he and his family are comfortable speaking Spanish. It was in Chile where he acquired a taste for wine.

“There were some wonderful wines around and they were so cheap,” he remembers. “When I went down to South America, I never drank wine. But I got tired of beer, and you can only drink so much scotch. Wine was a great alternative.”

When he became interested in investing in Argentina’s wine industry, Terry and his former partner looked at about a dozen opportunities. They kept coming back to Haarth because of the mature vines in its vineyard. Some of those vines are believed to be almost 90 years old, capable of delivering rich and deeply flavoured wines.

Terry has completed the transition to organic viticulture that had just been started by the former owners at Haarth. The winery, which is producing about 12,500 cases a year, has a portfolio of both organic and non-organic wines.

There is a good demand for organic wines, Terry believes, if they are well-made. “One of the biggest hurdles we have had to overcome is that organic wines of the past haven’t been very good,” he says, somewhat controversially.

He has had numerous comments from consumers claiming they can drink Haarth wines without the headaches that other wines sometimes give them.

The Haarth wines are being distributed in both the United States and in select Canadian markets. In Western Canada, Terry’s son, Peter, operates an agency called Natural Wines & Spirits that distributes the wines through private wine stores.

Here is a diversion about the varietal called Bonarda in Argentina. According to Wine Grapes by Jancis Robinson et al, the proper name is Douce Noire. It was widely grown in eastern France and may have originated in Piedmont in Italy, although the Italian Bonarda is a different grape.

Douce Noire – can you picture that on the label of a bottle of wine? – exists under various names, including Charbono in California.

In Argentina, according to this book, Bonarda “generally produces good-value fruity quaffing wines, although if allowed to ripen fully, there is more quality potential than is generally realized in the bottle …”

Here are notes on some of the current organic releases.

Haarth Malbec Rosé 2013 ($15). This is a full-bodied and full-texture rosé with a dark hue and with a fruit bowl of flavour – cherry, plum and strawberry. 89.

Haarth Bonarda 2011 ($19). This is a concentrated red with flavours of plum, black currant and prune. There is liquorice, a touch of tobacco and graphite on the finish. The latter is probably a reflection of the minerality the old vines are pulling up from deep in the soil. 89-90.

Haarth Malbec 2011 ($19). This is the classic Argentina Malbec, with aromas of cherry and strawberry and bold flavours of blueberry and black cherry and long ripe tannins. 89.

Haarth Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 ($19). This is a firm but elegant wine with aromas and flavours of black cherry, black currant and blackberry, nicely framed with spice and vanilla from the barrels. 90.

Haarth Tempranillo 2011 ($14). This wine is not organic wine but it is tasty nonetheless. It has aromas and flavours of red and black currants with spice and vanilla on the finish. 88.

Kamloops emerges as a gateway to wine regions

 Photo: Barrel cellar at Privato Vineyard & Winery

Businesswoman Maatje Stamp-Vincent, who operates Tastefull Excursions, the first wine touring company based in Kamloops, is pitching this interior city as a new gateway to British Columbia wine country.

With a 13-passenger Mercedes-Benz van and a second on order, she is making a serious bet on her contention that Kamloops has a strategic location at the intersection of four highways – the TransCanada, the 97, the Yellowhead and the Coquihalla.

“If you build it, he will come,” is the famous line in the movie, Field of Dreams (referring to a baseball player). Unlike the movie,  this is not fiction. The wineries have been built.

There is a significant string of wineries now across the central interior from Lillooet to Salmon Arm. The driving distance turns this into a two-day wine tour, with an overnight in Kamloops. If you have not been in Kamloops recently, you will be pleasantly surprised to discover that many of the hotels and motels have been updated superbly in the last year or two. You will also discover a number of good restaurants. One recommendation: Terra Restaurant on Victoria Stree in downtown Kamloops.

For want of a better tag, let’s call this the Thompson Shuswap wine region. We begin the tour at the magnificent new winery and tasting room of Fort Berens Estate Winery in Lillooet.

The winery, which was launched five years ago by Rolf de Bruin and Heleen Pannekeok (right), has until now used the facilities of various Okanagan wineries to produce wine.

This fall, Fort Berens will be working in a fully modern winery with a capacity to make 12,000 cases. Rolf and Heleen plan to produce 6,000 cases this fall and grow with subsequent market demand for their wines. The winery’s original 20-acre vineyard, planted with six varietals, is in full production. Another 20-acre plot is being readied for planting, beginning next year.

This summer, Fort Berens also hired an energetic team of South Africans, graduates of that country’s top wine school. Megan DeVillieres is the viticulturist and Danny Hattingh, her partner, is the winemaker (left).

Fort Berens has established credibility for its wines, with numerous gold medals and with a Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Excellence this year (for a Riesling). This is a tasting room well worth the visit.

Our notional tour then heads east through Cache Creek and the 15-year-old Bonaparte Bend fruit winery. Unfortunately, the winery did not open its excellent bistro this year (staffing issues) but the wines have numerous fans. When I was recently signing books in the Discover Wines VQA store in Kamloops, a book buyer enthusiastically recommended the Bonaparte Bend Saskatoon berry wine.

The tour might then take a dog leg to Ashcroft. There, in the middle of ranch country is Left Field Cider Company. In fact, the Garthwaite family who own the cidery also operate a major ranch. If you can’t manage the visit, check the Left Field web site to see where the ciders are available. They are very tasty.

There are four wineries in or near Kamloops. Sagewood Winery, on the north side of the Thompson River and east of the Lafarge cement plant, opened last month.  So far, I have been unable to visit this winery, which claims to be on the oldest commercial vineyard in the Thompson River valley (planted in 2005).

The cement plant shares a long south-facing bench which comprises a promising viticultural area. In 2008 Ed and Vicki Collett (left) began planting a kilometre of so west of the cement plant for their Harper’s Trail Estate Winery. They grow 24 acres of grapes and have just completed a new winery and tasting room. Previously, the wines have been made at Okanagan Crush Pad by Michael Bartier, who continues as their consulting winemaker.

The third winery with vines on that bench is Monte Creek Ranch Estate Winery. This is a winery with vineyards on either side of the Thompson River. A winery is currently under construction on the south side. The tasting room is scheduled to open in the spring of 2015. The 2013 vintage wines were made by consultant Eric von Krosigk. Monte Creek has also hired Michael Alexander (right), a young Calgarian who is finishing his winemaking studies at Niagara College and who will make the 2014s under Eric’s tutelage.

Both Monte Creek and Harper’s Trail have history behind their names. Harper’s Trail is named for Thaddeus Harper, the 19^th Century rancher who ran the 40,000-acre Gang Ranch in this area. The Colletts plan to decorate their 900-square-foot tasting room with a few longhorn skulls.

Monte Creek is a tiny community beside the highway east of Kamloops whose moment of fame occurred in 1904. That was when the notorious Bill Miner pulled off his last train robbery at Monte Creek. Bill Miner images and references are all over the labels of the wines.

The Monte Creek vineyards are planted primarily with Maréchal Foch and with Minnesota hybrid varieties –Marquette, Frontenac Noir, Frontenac Blanc, Frontenac Gris, and La Crescent. This is a first in British Columbia. These varieties were developed in Minnesota and Wisconsin to be exceptionally winter hardy. That is the reason why the owners of Monte Creek planted them in Kamloops, where winters can be brutal for vinifera grapes.

However, the sun-bathed slope on the north side of the river, just below a mountain known locally as Lion's Head is being planted with Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer and Cabernet Franc. Those varieties have survived five winters at the Harper’s Trail vineyard and make superb wines there.

Privato Winery and Vineyard, the fourth Kamloops winery, began sales in 2012 and also has a new wine shop. Privato is on the west side of the North Thompson River, about half an hour’s drive north of downtown Kamloops. The premium wines are well worth the drive.

John and Debbie Woodward (right), the owners of Privato, began planting their four-acre vineyard in 2010 with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling. Winter damage forced some replanting. Meanwhile, they have contracted Okanagan grapes for their wines which are made with the help of New Zealand-trained winemaker Jacqueline Kemp.

Most of the wineries near Salmon Arm benefit from the moderating effect of Shuswap Lake. But they all played it safe by planting hardy, early-ripening varieties. Maréchal Foch is the primary red at Celista Estate Winery, Recline Ridge Vineyards, Sunnybrae Vineyards, Ovino Winery and Larch Hills Winery. The leading white varietals here include Ortega, Siegerrebe and Madeleine Angevine.

These varietals, along with the Minnesota hybrids, are not the mainstream varieties found in the Okanagan, which is why wine tours in the Thompson Shuswap are full of novel tastings.

On my recent visit to this region, I ran out of time to re-visit the Salmon Arm wineries. However, Graydon and Maureen Ratzlaff, owners of Recline Ridge, brought two of their wines to a winery dinner in Kamloops.

Recline Ridge Siegerrebe 2012 ($18.90) is a textbook example of this variety, which ripens early and which delivers lovely spicy tropical fruit flavours. 90.

Recline Ridge Hummingbird’s Kiss 2012 ($21.90 for a 375 ml bottle). This wonderfully-named wine is a delicious late harvest Optima with a touch of Bacchus. 89.

Here are notes on other wines you could taste on this tour.

Fort Berens Chardonnay 2013 ($19.99 for 602 cases). This wine is from grapes grown in the estate vineyard in Lillooet. About 30% was fermented and aged in French oak and the rest was fermented in stainless steel. The aromas and the flavours are fresh and fruit-forward, with notes of citrus, peach and lychee. There is a hint of minerality on the spine. 90.

Fort Berens Pinot Noir 2012 ($25.99 for 475 cases). The winery grows five clones of Pinot Noir in the Lillooet vineyard. The vines ripened well in the excellent 2012 vintage, producing a medium-bodied wine with 13.5% alcohol. The wine, which was aged in French oak for 12 months, has aromas and flavours of cherry, raspberry and spice. 88.

Fort Berens Merlot 2012 ($25 for 197 cases). The grapes for this wine are from the Sundial Vineyard, one of the oldest and best vineyards on Black Sage Road. This is a new varietal for Fort Berens. Rolf hopes that the 2014 can be made with estate-grown grapes. This wine, with 12 months oak aging, begins with appealing aromas of cassis and blueberry. The palate is juicy, with flavours of  black currant, cherry and chocolate. 90.

Fort Berens Cabernet Franc 2012 ($26.99 for 482 cases). Seventy percent of the grapes are from the Lillooet vineyard; the rest are from Black Sage Bench. The wine already has four awards (gold, silver and two bronze). The wine has aromas and flavours of blackberry, black currant and blueberry, with a savoury note on the finish. 91.

Fort Berens Meritage 2012 ($28.99 for 844 cases). The grapes here are 40% from Lillooet and 60% from the Sundial Vineyard. The blend is 72% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. The wine was aged in French and American oak for 12 months and is just being released after nine months of bottle age. The wine begins with aromas of dark fruit and sage. On the palate, there are flavours of black currant, with spice and age on the finish. 90-91.

Harper’s Trail Pinot Gris 2013 ($18.90 for 830 cases). This wine begins with appealing aromas of anise, figs and melon, delivering layers of melon and citrus flavours and a spicy finish. The texture is juicy. 90.

Harper’s Trail Chardonnay 2012 ($19.90 for 392 cases). This is a bright Chardonnay with a touch of oak framing the citrus and mineral flavours. There is a hint of cloves on the finish. 89.

Harper’s Trail Gewürztraminer 2013 ($16.90 for 182 cases). This wine begins with aromas of spice and rose petals, leading to intense flavours of grapefruit and lychee and a spicy finish. The wine has a full and juicy texture and is balanced to finish dry. 90.

Harper’s Trail Field Blend White 2013 ($14.90 for 344 cases). This is an assemblage of Pinot Gris, Riesling and Chardonnay which are fermented separately and then blended. Juicy and slightly off-dry, the wine has refreshingly fruity flavours of apple, melon and peach. The finish has a zesty hint of lime. 90.

Harper’s Trail Pioneer Block Dry Riesling 2012 ($19.90 for 450 cases). The winery likes to call this its Rheingau-style Riesling. It is an intense wine with notes of petrol in the aroma and flavour along with citrus flavours. The bracing acidity is balanced with residual sugar so that the wine is almost austere. This is ageworthy. 90-91.

 Harper’s Trail Silver Main Block Riesling 2012 ($19.90 for 513 cases). This is the winery’s Mosel style Riesling, with just 8.5% alcohol. But this also is a wine with intensity and flavours of lime, grapefruit and peach. The 25.4 grams of residual sugar are balanced with fresh acidity. The off-dry finish lingers. 91.

Harper’s Trail Late Harvest Riesling 2012 ($20.90 for 445 cases of 375 ml bottles). The 55.4 grams of residual sugar give this dessert wine ripe and concentrated flavours of apple and lime. The sugar is so subtly balanced with acidity that the sweetness on the finish is refreshing. 91.

Harper’s Trail Rosé 2013 ($18.90 for 117 cases). This is a Cabernet Franc rosé with a touch of Pinot Gris. There are aromas and flavours of strawberry and raspberry with a dry, spicy finish. 88.

Privato Silvio’s Chardonnay 2013 ($25 for 2,844 bottles). This is a crisp and refreshing wine designed to showcase the great purity of the fruit, which is from a vineyard in Kaleden. It begins with aromas of peaches, leading to flavours of apple and citrus. 88.

Privato Chardonnay 2012 ($30 for 2,076 bottles). By using French oak barriques (only 20% new) to age this wine for seven months, the oak aromas and flavours subtly frame the tangerine and apple flavours. The oak also imparted an appealing creaminess to the texture. 90.

Privato Pinot Noir 2011 ($35 for 4,320 bottles). The silky texture of this wine developed nicely during 18 months aging in French oak. The wine has a sensuous aromas and flavours of cherry and strawberry, with lingering spice on the long finish. 91-92.

Two more female winemakers in the Okanagan

Photo: Blasted Church's Mark Wendenburg  promotes his assistant

Two more female winemakers have been named by Okanagan wineries – one by a promotion and one by recruitment.

Blasted Church Vineyards of Okanagan Falls has elevated assistant winemaker Elaine Vickers to winemaker. She will continue to work with mentor Mark Wendenburg, the winery’s other winemaker.

Township 7 Vineyards and Winery of Penticton has lured winemaker Mary McDermott from Andrew Peller Ltd.’s Trius Winery in the Niagara Peninsula. She takes over from Brad Cooper who has moved further up Naramata Road to Serendipity Winery.

In a news release, Blasted Church co-owner Evelyn Campbell said this of Elaine Vickers (below):

“A well versed winemaker, Elaine's career began in the vineyards of Vincor's Jackson Triggs project. Elaine joined Blasted Church in 2010, and shortly thereafter started her diligent apprenticeship training with Mark. Together, they helped recruit, train and build an accomplished winery team.

“Elaine is a Masters of Science graduate from the University of Victoria. She also holds a Graduate Diploma in Oenology from the University of Adelaide. While some might poke fun at Elaine's methodical, calibrated, and always nerdy scientific mannerisms, everyone tips their hats to her crafty, strategic, take-no-survivors kind of hyper-competitiveness. Elaine's the type of competitor who'll break a bone in a game of Ultimate Frisbee. We kid not.”

Township 7 general manager Mike Raffan calls Mary McDermott (below) “a rising star with impeccable credentials and extensive expertise in premium wines.”

She is a graduate of Ryerson University who acquired an interest in wine during several years of exploring world wine regions with her husband, a chef. That led her to work as a sommelier in Monk McQueen’s Fresh Seafood and Oyster Bar in Vancouver. Returning to Ontario, she worked as a sommelier at the at Cave Spring Cellars restaurant at Jordan while finishing her Bachelor of Science in Oenology and Viticulture at Brock University.

She started her winemaking career at Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Stratus Vineyards as cellarhand and then became assistant cellarmaster at Cave Spring Cellars. In 2010, Mary joined the Andrew Peller premium winery group in Niagara - Trius Winery at Hillebrand, and Thirty Bench.  Her Chardonnay wines in recent vintages have won major national and international awards.

She says that her real labour of love turned out to be the sparkling wine. Trius has a major sparkling wine program. She will use those skills in a significant expansion of the sparkling wine program at Township 7.

Township 7 was acquired earlier this year by a major silent investor. The winery’s news release about Mary’s appointment suggests that the new owner intends to plough new capital into the winery.

The release says: “At Township 7, Mary’s vision for the winery entails boosting the sparkling wine production and expanding the small lot, fine wine program with additional single vineyard designate offerings, where she will be working closely with the viticulture team on the estate vineyards and with their long time growers on the Black Sage Bench, in Okanagan Falls, and in the Similkameen Valley. In the cellar she will augment the premium oak barrel program with upgrades to large oak barrique fermenters for the 2014 harvest, with more improvements planned in the vineyard and winery on the horizon.”

Inniskillin's Sandor Mayer returns to Hungary

Photo: Winemaker Sandor Mayer

After just over 25 years in Canada, Inniskillin Okanagan winemaker Sandor Mayer is returning to his native Hungary in September.

The decision, which has been under consideration for several years, is strictly family related. “My parents are in Hungary,” he says. “My father is 87. I would like to be close to them when they need help.”

He describes the decision as giving back. “When I started my career, they helped me a lot to study winemaking and viticulture,” Sandor says. “They supported me in the school. My father has a small vineyard. I will certainly be involved in that. While he has relatively good health, we are going to do some things together.”

Sandor has good winery contacts in Hungary and plans to pursue opportunities there.

He leaves a considerable hole in the Okanagan’s winemaking talent pool. At times, the weight of his contribution has not always been fully appreciated, perhaps because of his low-key personality and – unusual for a winemaker – his lack of ego. Among his peers, he is highly respected.

Sandor was born in 1958 in the Hungarian village of Jánoshalma. He began making wine with his father when he was 14. He spent four years studying horticulture and viticulture at a technical high school and moved on to college for a bachelor’s degree in enology and viticulture in 1981 from the University of Kecskemét.

After three years of mandatory service in the army, he took over an advanced position in the Central Research Station at Kecskemét in 1984 and worked with a leading Hungarian grape researcher. Two years later, he took a job as a vineyard manager in the Lake Balaton region in central Hungary.

When neither the salary nor the opportunities were adequate, he and his wife, Andrea (a graduate of the same university) slipped out of Hungary in 1987 to work in Austria’s Burgenland wine region.

An uncle in the Okanagan sponsored their emigration to Canada in 1988. It was not a propitious time to find work in his field because few jobs were available. 1988 was the year when two-thirds of the vineyards in the Okanagan were pulled out because the hybrid varieties then being grown were judged too mediocre to compete with the wines from California after the free trade agreement took effect.

However, Sandor found a short-term vineyard management job in 1989 with Boucherie Mountain Vineyard, the predecessor to Quails’ Gate Estate Winery. There, Sandor’s knowledge of making wine from botrytis grapes triggered the creation of one of the Okanagan’s great dessert wines, the Quails’ Gate Totally Botrytis-Affected Optima.

Botrytis is a fungus also known as noble rot that, in the right weather conditions, dehydrates grapes and concentrates the flavours and the sugar. The fungus flourishes in misty mornings followed by dry afternoons. It is rare in the Okanagan, where the weather is dry and where, when it rains near harvest, growers take measures to prevent rot of any kind. The vineyard at Quails’ Gate is near the lake and parts of it are susceptible to botrytis. Quails’ Gate founding president Ben Stewart thought it was nasty rot until Sandor arrived.

“I remember in 1989, when I started at Quails’ Gate, picking some botrytis-affected grapes on New Year’s Day,” Sandor told me in 2003. “I made a Tokay type of wine. It turned out to be a very good wine, but in those days, no one knew about botrytis-affected wines in the valley. In fact, they would throw out those berries during the harvest because they were rotten. And Ben did that for four or five years until they realized what a treasure they had on their hands.”

In 1990 Sandor found one of the few permanent jobs then available in the valley: replanting the 23-acre vineyard for Okanagan Vineyards south of Oliver. The vineyard was a failed winery which had been taken over by Alan Tyabji. The vines had all been pulled out in 1988.

Before it could be replanted, Sandor cleared away a tangle of trellis wires, posts, vines and waist high grass. A fire to deal with grass and dead vines burned out of control. Quick work by the Oliver fire department bailed Sandor out.

Against “expert” advice, the Dark Horse Vineyard (as it came to be called) was planted entirely to vinifera, with Cabernet Sauvignon being especially successful. 

“Imagine!,” Sandor marveled in a 2007 interview with me. “We committed for Cabernet and it just worked out fine. In fact, if I recall, the first crop was picked in 1993; on the third year, Cabernet produced a decent crop. Since then, we have never had a bad vintage except for 1999. It was a cool fall. But still, we were able to produce a decent wine from the Cabernet. In 1999, we had two frosts – one in September, one in early October.”

He regards planting Dark Horse Vineyard and making wines from it his greatest accomplishment in the Okanagan, far greater than some of the many awards his wines have won. "Everybody wins medals," he says modestly.

Okanagan Vineyards was acquired in 1996 by Inniskillin Wines, one of the stable of wineries owned by Vincor, then Canada’s largest wine company. Subsequently, Vincor developed about 800 acres of vineyard in the south Okanagan. These included small blocks of varieties that were experimental in the Okanagan, such as Zinfandel.

Sandor was assigned to make the wines from these varieties for what Inniskillin Okanagan called its acclaimed Discovery Series.  It played to one of his strengths: in Hungary, he made many experimental wines to prove up new varieties. The Discovery Series was launched in the 2002 vintage with the Okanagan’s first Zinfandel. The program grew to include varieties such as Malbec, Tempranillo, Chenin Blanc, Roussanne and Marsanne.

 “We would like to try the potential of these varieties,” Mayer explained in one interview. “Different wines for wine enthusiasts and wine lovers. If any of these do not perform well in the future, we will drop them, and bring another one into the group. It is an evolution. The most important is the wine quality.”

Sandor’s return to Hungary at this time also may have been spurred when Constellation Brands (which took over Vincor) closed the aging Inniskillin winery last winter. It is now used by Constellation’s viticulture team.

Both Inniskillin’s production and the tasting room have moved to the Jackson-Triggs winery north of Oliver, no doubt changing the winemaker’s duties and responsibilities.

Throughout his Okanagan career, Sandor has been generous with other winemakers who sought to tap his expertise.

 “Anybody who asks me, I will answer,” Sandor told me in a 2002 interview. “It’s no problem. If they ask me, I help and try to bypass for them all the failures they could go through. I don’t mind because it is not a competition for me at all. Making top quality wine is not just one or two pieces of information. It is the art of the whole thing. I cannot copy anybody and they cannot copy me.”

He goes back to grow grapes in Hungary but retains great pride in the Okanagan. “I am taking back with me the biggest respect for the Okanagan Valley, and I will tell my colleagues about this region,” he promises.

The concrete wines at Okanagan Crush Pad

Photo: Concrete fermenters made by Italy's Nico Velo

During the past three years, Okanagan Crush Pad Winery has made a huge investment in concrete tanks for fermenting and aging wines.

In 2011, a year after opening, the Summerland winery installed six California-made concrete eggs, each with the capacity of 2,000 litres.

Last year, the winery added eight 4,400-litre concrete tanks made by Nico Velo, a manufacturer in Italy. Nico Velo has also supplied concrete tanks to the Italian winery of Alberto Antonini (below), the consultant who recommended the use of concrete to OCP.

Alberto was on hand three years ago when the eggs arrived and explained his advocacy of concrete rather dramatically.

“Concrete is a nice environment,” he said. “When you smell an empty concrete tank, you smell life. You smell something which is important for making a premium wine. If you do the same with a stainless steel tank, you smell nothing. You smell death. To me, the making of premium wine is about life, it is not about death.”

Several other Okanagan wineries have installed some concrete eggs in the past two years. None has made a more extensive the commitment than OCP has made to this winemaking technology.

Concrete tanks are an example of the old becoming new. Before stainless steel was invented (about 1913), it was routine to find concrete tanks (sometimes glass lined) as well as large wooden vats in most wineries. Rust-resistant stainless steel tanks became ubiquitous because they are far easier to clean and, if desired, to sterilize than wood or concrete.

However, the advocates of concrete believe that the risks around cleanliness can be managed – and the benefits in wine quality are worth taking the risk.

“Pretty much everything in the Haywire portfolio is now in concrete,” says Matt Dumayne, one of the winemakers at OCP. Haywire is the winery’s major brand.  

He explains the perceived benefit of fermenting and aging in concrete: “What we have found in the last couple of years is that it really enhances creaminess, mouthfeel and texture.” He also believes that the wines express the terroir better.

Last year, he did three trial lots of Chardonnay – one in barrel, one in stainless steel and one in concrete.

“The barrel ferment [wine] was obviously quite oaky with glycerol in the texture,” Matt (left) found. “The stainless steel [wine] was very varietally focused, very fruit driven on the nose, with strong acidity, but very linear. The one fermented in concrete seemed to decrease varietal typicity a little bit but the enhanced structure and mouthfeel was far superior to the stainless, I thought.”

OCP has now begun releasing wines “raised” in concrete, leaving consumers to decide whether or not these are better than wines raised in stainless steel or barrels.

The British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch is on board. The LDB ordered 1,000 cases of Haywire White Label Pinot Gris. This is OCP’s biggest sale yet to the LDB. The wine will be available in many liquor stores for the next four months.

Here are notes on current Haywire wines.

Haywire White Label Pinot Gris 2013 ($19.90). In general, white label signifies wines made from grapes grown for Haywire by contracted vineyards. This wine displays the textural generosity of a wine raised in concrete. It is juicy on the palate, with refreshing acidity and with aromas and flavours of citrus and pear. The finish is dry. 89.

Haywire Sauvignon Blanc 2013 ($22.90). The grapes are from a Summerland vineyard managed by OCP. Matt says the wine “is 100% native ferment [with wild yeast] in concrete. It is very different – 100% Sauvignon Blanc but it has a lot of funk to it.” I am not quite sure what funk might be. I find tropical fruit aromas with flavours of lime and grapefruit. The wine shows some mineral notes but the texture again is juicy and the finish is crisp. 90.

Haywire Switchback Vineyard  Wild Ferment ($29.90). This is 100% Pinot Gris but the varietal has been omitted from the label. The winery is trying to establish its organic Switchback Vineyard as a stand-alone brand.  Think Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which does not put the varietal on its label either. This is a richly textured wine with aromas of honeysuckle and herbs and flavours of pear and citrus. The finish lingers. 92

Haywire Rosé 2013 ($19.90). This is not yet released because the winery believes in giving its rosé wines some bottle age. This is made with Gamay Noir. The wine was fermented and aged six or seven months in concrete eggs. Once again, the texture is juicy, with aromas and flavours of strawberry and cherry. The finish is dry. 90.

Haywire White Label Pinot Noir 2012 ($22.90). This is also available in the LDB. The grapes are from the Secrest Vineyard near Oliver, a vineyard with which OCP has a long-term contract. This wine was fermented in stainless steel and aged in neutral oak barrels, preserving the delicacy and the charm of its aromas and savoury cherry flavours. The texture is silky. 90.

Haywire Baby Bub NV ($13.90 for a 375 ml bottle).  This summer wine is a bit of a teaser, with the release of 300 cases for sale at the winery and to restaurants. This is a traditional method sparkling wine, 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot Noir. A Syrah dosage has given it an appealing rose hue. It is a cheerful and juicy sparkler with lively flavours of strawberry, a summer wine that has been flying of the shelf at the winery. 88

A vintage-dated big brother, simply called Bub, is still aging in bottle. The winery made 1,200 cases in the 2013 vintage, along with another 100 cases of “Ancient Method.” That is a bone dry sparkling wine, made without the usual additional of sugar because the wine is allowed to finish bottle fermentation just with its natural sugar.