Tinhorn Creek on the Golden Mile sub-appellation

Photo: Tinhorn Creek Vineyards

  

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards president Sandra Oldfield was a leader in the successful initiative to create the Golden Mile sub-appellation in 2016.

The irony is that Golden Mile might not appear on many of Tinhorn Creek’s labels because this winery also has a 100-acre vineyard, the Diamondback Vineyard, on Black Sage Road.

Two of the most recent releases, the 2Bench White and the Syrah, are made with fruit from both Tinhorn’s Golden Mile vineyard and its Diamondback Vineyard. Hence, the term 2Bench (there is also a red), since the grapes come from two benches.

The winery’s efforts on behalf of the sub-appellation may benefit its peers, however, if consumers begin looking for wines from that designation.

In its media kit, Tinhorn Creek includes some useful background on the sub-appellation.

The 50-acre Tinhorn Creek Vineyard is in the Golden Mile Bench sub-appellation.

The Golden Mile Bench starts at Fairview Road in Oliver and extends south to Road 13. Although this area measures longer than a mile, it was first referred to the “Golden Mile” in the mid-1940s as it gained its reputation for its rich farmland.

In the late 1910s, the area was divided into plots for soldiers to farm upon returning from World War I. An open irrigation canal (“the Ditch”) that was completed in 1929 between Vaseux Lake and Osoyoos turned the arid land into a lush area suitable for ground crops and tree fruits in the mid-1930s.

At the same time an old mine site reopened and the area enjoyed an economic boom. The reputation of this farming community combined with the area’s history of gold and silver mining led to the area’s name “Golden Mile.” The area became a highly desirable viticulture site beginning in the late 1960s when vineyards were first established here.

The Golden Mile Bench is located on a bench above the valley floor, and the elevation makes it significantly warmer than the valley floor. These features also help the vineyard escape damaging spring and fall frosts. The Tinhorn Creek vineyard site enjoys the early morning sun exposure. By late afternoon, the sun dips behind the hills, providing cool summer evenings [and] allowing grapes develop their exquisite flavours.

To the west of the vineyards lies the Thompson Plateau. The sun goes behind this ridge early in the day relative to the other side of the valley. The vineyard can be in shade as early as 17:00 in the summer months, making it a cooler, slower ripening area. The downward slope of the vineyards provides good airflow and, mainly due to water drainage, varietals ripen differently uphill versus downhill.

The soils on the Golden Mile Bench consist primarily of rocky clay loam soil, characteristic of the Golden Mile Alluvial fan. In fact, the stone archway above the winery entrance was constructed with rocks from the Gewürztraminer vineyards. These heavier soils are more difficult to plant due to the large number of rocks; but the soil holds moisture longer, so less irrigation is required.

Additionally, less fertilizer is needed due to high nutrient content and vines grow more vigorously in these conditions. As a result, the vineyard team does shoot removal and leaf thinning during the summer to keep the fruit exposed to the sun and to ensure the vine is in balance.

The previous owners planted Pinot Noir in 1989, Merlot between 1989 and 1991, and Kerner and Chardonnay in 1990. Today, there are eleven varieties of grapes planted at this site including Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Syrah, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

Here are notes on the current releases. Note the three are Oldfield Series wines, as Tinhorn Creek designates its reserve tier.

Tinhorn Creek Oldfield Series 2Bench White 2015 ($19.99 for 1,500 cases). This blend is 29% Chardonnay, 27% Sauvignon Blanc, 26% Viognier, 13% Sémillon and 5% Muscat. The wine’s lovely aroma of tropical fruit is immediately appealing. The nose is followed by almost honeyed flavours of passionfruit and cantaloupe. The opulence and the richness on the palate create the impression of slight sweetness even though there is almost no residual sugar, just luscious fruit flavours. The creamy texture is modified by the backbone of the Viognier. 93.

Tinhorn Creek Merlot 2014 ($20.49 for 9,105 cases). The varietal has long been one of Tinhorn Creek’s most popular reds. This release reflects a fine ripe vintage that produced a concentrated, full-bodied Merlot with ripe, juicy flavours of spicy black currant and black cherry. 90.

Tinhorn Creek Oldfield Series Cabernet Franc 2013 ($31.99 for 520 cases). Aged 18 months in barrel and one year in bottle, this has matured to a wine of elegance. It begins with spicy aromas of dried cherries and raspberries, leading to flavours of spicy red fruit with a hint of vanilla on the finish. 91.

Tinhorn Creek Oldfield Series Syrah 2013 ($31.99 for 762 cases). Remarkable effort went into the making of this sultry wine. Before the wine had completed fermentation, it was pumped into older barrels to complete malolactic fermentation. The wine was then left on its lees for 18 months to mature in barrel. Then it was bottled and aged another year before release. Consequently, the tannins are soft and polished. The wine begins with an earthy and smoky aroma mingled with rare steak and pepper. On the palate, there are flavours of plum, blackberry and licorice with a light touch of black pepper. 92.

Lawrence Herder in memoriam

Photo: Lawrence Herder

Lawrence Herder, the California winemaker who helped launch many of the Similkameen Valley’s best wineries, is reported to have died on September 3 at the age of 49.

He was found unconscious during a hunting trip, but not from a gunshot wound. The coroner has not yet determined the cause of death. 

 Lawrence had been working in vineyards in Paso Robles after the closure and ultimate sale of Herder Vineyards near Keremeos.

His winemaking career in the Okanagan spanned nearly a dozen years, starting in 2002 with a two-vintage stint at the Jackson-Triggs winery and concluding with the 2013 vintage at Lang Vineyards.

During that period, he started his own Similkameen winery twice. He worked for or consulted with Road 13 Vineyards, Stoneboat Vineyards and Perseus winery in the Okanagan; with Seven Stones Winery, Orofino Vineyards, Clos du Soleil Winery and Eau Vivre Winery and Vineyard in the Similkameen. And he started planting a vineyard just east of Keremeos that, after he sold it, became Kettle Valley’s Great Northern Vineyard.

Born in 1967 in San Diego, Lawrence was 14 when he tasted his aunt’s amateur wine at his family’s dinner table. “I was so enthused with it that I went into the attic and fired up a winemaking kit we had,” he told me in 2002. He continued to make wine from both fruit and grapes. “I was quite popular as a teenager,” he laughs.

Ultimately, he enrolled at Fresno State University to learn winemaking professionally.  “Anybody can become a winemaker,” he told me. “But the advantage of having the training about chemical defects is to know what to do when something goes wrong.” 

After working briefly for other wineries, Lawrence established his own winery on a 32-acre (13-hectare) vineyard near Paso Robles in 1995. “You get your MBA on your first project,” he described the experience. Having committed so much to a large vineyard, he run out of money just as the vines were starting to produce. He managed to find a buyer and retreated to Burnaby to help his wife, Sharon, manage a family-owned printing company.

The job bored him and he was soon looking for winemaking opportunities here. When he had moved to British Columbia, his settler’s effects included most of the equipment needed to outfit a small winery. He canvassed British Columbia wine regions carefully. “I looked all over Vancouver Island,” he says. “I went so far as to write a paper comparing the Cowichan Valley to Burgundy or to Paso Robles.” His controversial conclusion: “You’re never going to grow world-class wine on the island.”

The Oliver area in the Okanagan had the right soils and climate but the cost of vineyard land with water rights deterred him. He did not want to overextend has resources again.

But the Similkameen Valley was underexploited. In 2002, he bought a small plot near Cawston and planted vines. “I am much more comfortable to start with a small piece of property and develop the winery’s business,” he said. “My objective is to show the potential of big, ripe reds.”

Herder Vineyards opened in 2004 with wines made from purchased fruit. The Cawston vineyard was ill-suited for big red varieties. The vineyard, now owned by Eau Vivre, now grows primarily Gewürztraminer.

Lawrence sold the property to Eau Vivre’s current owners in 2007, having found a far better vineyard site for big reds on Upper Bench Road. Then an orchard, this rocky terroir became the site of the relocated Herder Vineyards. The large three-storey house on the property was modified to become both a winery and a tasting room.

Here, he began to craft the powerful reds that developed a good reputation for Herder Vineyards. The flagship was a wine called Josephine, a Merlot-anchored blend first made in 2006. The last release was from the 2010 vintage.

Herder Vineyards was listed for sale in 2013 after the Herder marriage fell apart. Sharon, now his ex-wife, ran the business for several years while looking for purchasers.  Late in 2014, Corcelettes Estate Winery, which opened the year before on a small Cawston vineyard, acquired the property and relocated to the Herder winery.

Charlie Baessler, the winemaker and co-owner of Corcelettes, briefly considered rejuvenating the Josephine label but has opted instead for the continued development of Corcelettes labels already in the market. His prestige red is a Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah blend called Menhir.

Nevertheless, the rising profile of Similkameen Valley wines is a remarkable legacy of Lawrence Herder’s time in the valley.

Hillside Estate Winery: one of the Naramata originals

Photo: Hillside Estate Winery

Hillside Estate Winery, which opened in 1990, the same year as Lang Vineyards, is one of the two original wineries on the Naramata Bench.

Hillside’s first wine shop was part of a modest farm bungalow. Some element of that is still incorporated in the current structure, now one of the most in-your-face wineries on Naramata Road.

There is an interesting story about the current building on the winery’s website. To save you a bit of time, I am reproducing it here:

Hillside was the first winery designed by architect Robert Mackenzie back in 1997; he later designed others including Burrowing Owl, Red Rooster, Cedar Creek and Nk’mip. It took 2.5 years to build the current winery building which now dominates the view along Naramata Road.

The building’s style is taken from a gristmill design. Not only is the 72-foot tower architecturally stunning, but it is also functional. It acts as a ventilation shaft that helps to cool the winery cellar in the hot summer months. The tower and the cellar are connected by a door at their base and by opening the door we can circulate the warm air up and out of the cellar through the tower.

Hillside is a timber-frame building with all of its 85,000 board feet of white pine originating from a single stand in northern Saskatchewan (the lumber was milled in a specialty mill just outside of Prince Albert.). The four dark Douglas fir beams that hold up the roof and Upper Patio of our Bistro are the only B.C. lumber in the winery; they were logged off Vancouver Island in the late 1800s and previously supported the roof of the Acklands Hardware Warehouse on Granville Island in Vancouver for almost 90 years. In their lifetime these beams have survived at least three warehouse fires.

During the construction of the new building many round rocks were excavated from the hillside. Instead of removing the rocks we chose to use them in Hillside’s building and landscaping. We created a sturdy 22-foot high by 3-foot thick wall in our cellar which keeps it at the optimum temperature for making wine year-round. The excavated rocks were also used to build a graceful and impressive arch at the base of our tower topped by Amphictyonis, the Greek goddess of wine, health and longevity (known as Meditrina by the Romans).  Her male counterpart Dionysus (Bacchus in Rome), the god of wine and cheer, surveys our Bistro from his home there between the wine racks. 

The winemaker in charge of this cellar is Kathy Malone (left). Born in New York, she has chemistry degree from the University of Victoria. She came to Hillside in 2008 after a long career at Mission Hill Family Estate Winery.

She has put her stamp on Hillside, making wines of refinement and predominantly with grapes from Naramata Bench vineyards owned or contracted by Hillside.

Here are notes on current releases.

Hillside Muscat Ottonel 2015 ($24.99). This delicately floral and spicy wine is arguably Hillside’s signature white. The fruit aromas and flavours range from tropical to peach. An almost imperceptible few grams of residual sugar lift the aromas and flesh out the texture. 90.

Hillside Gewürztraminer 2015 ($21.99 for 1,243 cases). This is a dry and spicy wine with good intensity on the palate. There are aromas and flavours of lychee and grapefruit, with an herbal note on the finish. 91.

Hillside Viognier Reserve 2014 ($23.99 for 227 cases). A complex wine was achieved with slow fermentation in stainless steel for 80% and barrel fermentation in French for 20%. It begins with aromas of apricots and peaches, leading to flavours of apricots. The texture is full and rich. 91.

Hillside Pinot Gris Reserve 2014 ($23.99 for 284 cases). Sixty-eight percent of this wine was fermented in barrels that were two to four years old. The barrel portion was left on the lees for four months, with stirring every two weeks to craft a rich texture. The wine has remarkable aromas and flavours of pear and mango. 92.

Hillside Pinot Noir 2012 ($24.99 for 528 cases). This wine, with aromas and flavours of cherry and strawberry, shows notable firmness in the texture, which bodes well for its aging ability. 89.

Hillside Gamay Noir 2012 ($24.99 for 508 cases). This variety can rival Pinot Noir in a portfolio; and it does so here. Give some credit to fruit from vines that were planted in 1984. The wine is muscular and earthy, with spicy berry aromas and flavours. 90.

Hillside Syrah 2013 ($29.99 for 413 cases). There is a whiff of white pepper mingled with berry aromas. On the palate, the dark fruit flavours are mixed with notes of pepper, tobacco and coffee. 90.

Hillside Syrah 2014 ($29.99 for 900 cases). From a slightly warmer vintage, this wine has even more power than the previous one. The aromas include black pepper, plum and vanilla, leading to flavours reminiscent of deli meats. 91.

Hillside Cabernet Franc 2012 ($24.99 for 505 cases). Here is a rare example of a wine that includes non-Naramata fruit (28% from Black Sage Road). The wine has the classic brambly aromas of the variety, leading to flavours of raspberry and cherry. Twelve months of barrel-aging (18% new) polished the long ripe tannins. 90.

Hillside Merlot 2012 Hidden Valley Vineyard ($24.99). This is one of three single vineyard Merlots, made each year in small volume, to showcase the Naramata terroir. This wine has aromas and flavours of black currants and black cherries, with a juicy and concentrated texture. 91.

Hillside Merlot 2011 Gjoa’s Vineyard ($24.99). This is a remarkably complex Merlot, especially since 2011 was a cooler vintage. The flavours here certainly are ripe, with a core of sweet cassis flavours and with polished tannins. 92.

Hillside Merlot 2011 Dickinson Vineyard ($24.99). There are savoury flavours here, with bright notes of red fruit and a hint of tobacco. The grower restricted production to 2.9 tons an acre, compared with 3.9 tons in each other vineyards, an achieved fully ripe flavours with good concentration. 90.

Hillside Mosaic 2012 ($39.99 for 398 cases). This is Hillside’s flagship red. The blend is 48% Merlot, 20% Malbec, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. This is an elegant wine, aged sixteen months in French oak (36% new). There are aromas and flavours of cassis and black cherry, with a hint of chocolate and cedar on the finish. This wine has not yet been released. 93.

Bordertown celebrates winning an LG Award of Excellence

Photo: Bordertown's Mohan Gill 

Early in September, Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon will be at Bordertown Vineyards, just north of Osoyoos, to present one of the 2016 awards of excellence in wine.

It is a remarkable achievement for Bordertown, which opened just 16 months ago. It is not unprecedented, but it certainly is rare, for a new winery to win this award with a wine from its initial vintage. Beginner’s luck? I don’t think so. The scores on the wines below suggest they are well grown and well made.

Bordertown is owned by an energetic agriculture entrepreneur named Mohan Gill. Born in India in 1976, he came to the Okanagan with his parents in 1993. “March 10, 1993,” he says with striking precision.

“I went to Oliver Secondary School,” he recounts. “Then I started working.” It seems he has never stopped working. He bought his first orchard (with an older brother) in 1996. He took other opportunities to expand until he and his brother today operate 110 acres of orchards in the Okanagan.

To accelerate his business, he began delivering his own fruit to Vancouver buyers in 1999 with his pickup truck. He turned over fruit delivery to another agency in 2007 but he still packs cherries, peaches and apples under his own brand. His customers include several major retailers.

Mohan dipped his toe into viticulture by planting two acres of grapes in 2005. A quick study, he was comfortable enough with grape growing that he expanded to 20 acres in 2007.

As he had done with tree fruits, he has continued to increase his vineyard holdings. He now grows 38 acres of grapes at two Osoyoos vineyards and another 50 acres in a Peachland vineyard. He has been selling grapes both to major Okanagan producers and to smaller producers, including Mark Simpson of B.C. Wine Studio. Mark was one of the people who encouraged Mohan to expand into winemaking.

Encouragement also came from Jason Parkes, the winemaker at First Estate Winery in Peachland, who launched the winemaking at Bordertown before turning the cellar over to consultant Daniel Bontorin.

In its debut vintage in 2013, Bordertown made close to 3,000 cases of wine. Bordertown’s production has jumped to about 10,000 cases, transforming Osoyoos’s newest winery into one of its largest as well. Mohan also continues to sell grapes to other producers.

“On this property I am growing five different varieties: Chardonnay, Riesling, Muscat, Gewürztraminer and Viognier and Pinot Gris,” Mohan says, referring to the vineyard near the winery. He also has Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Gris and a young block of Grüner Veltliner.

The Peachland vineyard, a cooler terroir, is planted primarily in white varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Riesling.  He also grows Pinot Noir there.  As a result, the winery offers an extensive portfolio.

Here are notes on Bordertown’s current releases.

Bordertown Vineyards Pinot Gris 2015 ($19) The wine begins with aromas of peach and apple. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied with layers of tropical fruit flavours, leading to a persistent finish. 90.

Bordertown Vineyards Pinot Blanc 2014 ($19). I have not changed my mind about this wine since a previous review; and I was pleased to taste it again at the winery. It is encouraging to see an excellent wine from a variety sometimes overlooked by consumers. The wine has aromas and flavours of apples. It is crisp and fresh on the palate with a dry finish and with good minerality. 90.

Bordertown Vineyards Muscat 2015 ($22). This wine begins with a delicately floral rose petal spice on the nose, leading to an exotic mix of flavours ranging from Asian pear to Mandarin orange. The wine has a classic note of ginger on the finish. 91.

Bordertown Vineyards Grüner Veltliner 2015 ($22). This is the great Austrian white variety that has gained a foothold in the Okanagan of late. So far, Bordertown is just one of four BC wineries with the variety. The wine has aromas of melon, green apple and pineapple which are echoed on the palate. A good mineral backbone adds to the weight of this crisp and dry white. 91.

Bordertown Vineyards Gewürztraminer 2015 ($20). This wine has aromas and flavours of lychee and grapefruit with a spicy finish. 89.

Bordertown Vineyards Riesling 2014 ($19). Tangy with bright acidity, this wine is packed with lemon and lime flavours. The finish is dry. 88.

Bordertown Vineyards Living Desert White 2015 ($18 for 1,200 cases). This is a blend of 63% Pinot Gris, 27% Riesling and 10% Orange Muscat. The wine begins with aromas of new-mown hay mingled with pear and apple. This is echoed on the palate. The wine is crisp, with a dry, spicy finish. 90.

Bordertown Vineyards Chardonnay 2015 ($N/A). The wine begins with aromas of tangerine and apple, leading to cantaloupe and pear, with a light buttery note on the finish.  89.

Bordertown Vineyards Chardonnay 2014 ($27). This wine was fermented and aged eight months in French oak. That and full malolactic have given this wine the richness of a California chardonnay. It has aromas of oak mingled with marmalade. On the palate, there are opulent flavours of marmalade, with notes of butter and toasted oak on the finish. 90.

Bordertown Vineyards Living Desert Red 2013 ($25). This wine won a Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Excellence. It is a blend of 75% Cabernet Franc and 25% Merlot. The lots were aged in new and used French oak barrels. A very subtle hint of oak mingled with aromas of blackberry and black current. On the palate, there are savoury flavours of red and black fruit, with a touch of fig and dark chocolate on the finish. 92.

Bordertown Vineyards Cabernet Franc 2014 ($24). Here is a wine with the structure to age and to develop the bold and brambly flavours. The savoury notes on the finish seem to reflect terroir; the same spicy/sandalwood notes are in Living Desert Red. 90.

Bordertown Vineyards Syrah 2014 ($30).  The wine begins with aromas of plum and black cherry. On the palate, there are flavours of figs, black cherry, leather and chocolate with notes of black pepper on the smoky finish. 92.

Rocky Creek's Wild Blackberry for a Duchess?

  

Photo: Mark and Linda Holford

Recently, another Vancouver journalist copied me on correspondence he had had with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

He has gotten into the habit of sending her a birthday card, having discovered that the Royal Family often responds with a card of thanks. This year, he included a gift, a copy of my 2011 book, John Schreiner’s BC Coastal Wine Tour Guide.

The Duchess replied that she would study the book (as unlikely as that seems to me).

A gift with more impact would be been a bottle of blackberry “port” – considered by many as the iconic wine produced on Vancouver Island. I believe the Royals have been known to enjoy a drop, although probably not fortified blackberry wine. So for next year, I would recommend sending a bottle of Rocky Creek’s Wild Blackberry.

To fill in some background, here is an excerpt on this Cowichan Valley winery from my Tour Guide.The olive trees planted here in 2010 are the latest step on Mark and Linda Holford’s remarkable career path from Sarnia’s refineries to artisanal wine growers on Vancouver Island.

Mark Holford, who operates this winery with wife Linda, is the third generation in his family to make wine at home. In 2005, he realized a long-held dream when he turned winemaking into his profession.

 “Ever since I was in my early teens, I helped my dad make wine,” Mark recounts. “He did a lot of amateur winemaking and my grandfather in England did a lot.” That skill made him popular at university when he agreed to make wine and beer for his friends as well. It dawned on his that this “could be something I could do as an occupation.”

Born in Deep River, Ontario, in 1968, Mark is a chemical engineer with a master’s degree in environmental engineering. He met Linda in Calgary, her hometown, when he was completing a co-operative studies assignment with an oil company. She is an engineering technologist with management skills gained in the oil industry. They spent two and a half years in Sarnia where Mark worked in the Shell petrochemical plant.

“But we always wanted to come to Vancouver Island,” says Linda. “When we were in Calgary, we wanted to get a job [here] and an opportunity happened first in Sarnia.” In the fall of 2001 Mark and Linda were vacationing in Victoria, where Linda’s retired parents lived, when he found a position at the pulp mill at Crofton. They bought a home nearby in Ladysmith. Plans for a winery were put on hold because there was no room for a vineyard on their suburban street. Then they discovered they could get a commercial license and make wine with purchased grapes. Rocky Creek opened in 2005, making 600 cases with grapes from a vineyard at Chemainus and with purchased wild blackberries. Their first release was a port-style blackberry wine – which also won the winery its first medal.

Linda and Mark, who continues to work as an environmental consultant, soon figured out that small wineries are more profitable with a land-based license (because government takes much less in taxes and charges). In the winter of 2008 they moved to a three-hectare (7½-acre) farm in the Cowichan Valley, on a property almost back to back with Venturi-Schulze Vineyards.

In their own Cowichan Valley vineyard, they had planted Maréchal Foch, some of Valentin Blattner’s Swiss hybrids, and almost a hectare (2½ acres) of blackberries. The cultivated blackberries are required by the regulations for land-based wineries, however ridiculous it is to plant more blackberries, given the abundance of wild blackberries on Vancouver Island. Mark has made a trial lot of sparkling blackberry wine and expects to increase that production.

It will be a few years before Rocky Creek can make olive oil. Five trees were planted in 2010 (Mark and Linda already had two). “After we make sure they survive our winters in Cowichan Bay, we will get more,” Mark says. “We would like a small grove of 30-40 trees.  Production is not likely for at least five years.” 

Here are notes on current releases.

Rocky Creek Winery Siegerrebe 2015 ($20). This wine begins aromas of honey, pear and spice. On the palate, it tastes of lime, grapefruit and lychee with an herbal touch on the finish. The finish is crisply dry. 88.

Rocky Creek Winery Pinot Gris 2015 ($20). A short amount of skin time has given a pale salmon hue and accentuated the fruity aromas.  On the nose, there are notes of peach, ripe pear and ripe apple. It has tangy citrus flavours and a crisp, dry finish. 88.

Rocky Creek Winery Robin's Rosé 2015 ($20). Made with Pinot Noir, the wine presents in the glass with a strawberry pink hue. On the palate, its crisply dry with flavours of strawberry and cranberry.  This is modelled successfully on the rosés of Provence. 90.

Rocky Creek Winery On The Mark NV ($20). This is a blend of Cabernet Foch and Maréchal Foch, with a touch of Tempranillo. The wine has smoky aromas along with black currant and blackberry; this are echoed on the palate, along with notes of cherry and spice. 88.

Rocky Creek Winery Wild Blackberry NV ($25 for 500 ml). This Port-style wine (16% alcohol) was a double gold winner this year at the All Canadian Wine Championships. It has intense aromas and flavours of blackberries and is rich on the palate. 91.

Poplar's Grove's take on summer drinking

Photo: Poplar Grove winemaker Stefan Arnason

In its current releases, Poplar Grove Winery celebrates the season with six wine that have the fresh and fruity appeal summer dining attracts.

It is a touch ironic that five of these wines were grown in 2015, one of the hottest summers in the Okanagan, but are being consumed the subsequent year when summer has been so reluctant to come.

It is not the end of the world. Restaurant patios switch on the propane heaters while the rest of us slip on sweaters. Cool weather is no reason to stop enjoying wine.

One of the first wineries on the Naramata Bench, Poplar Grove was founded in 1993. Several years ago, it moved from its original location to a mountainside vineyard. The new winery is sited to give it a dramatic view over the city of Penticton and Okanagan Lake.

The view is especially appealing for patrons of The Vanilla Pod restaurant, which shares the facility with Poplar Grove’s elegant wine shop and barrel cellar.

The secret is that most of Poplar Grove’s winemaking takes place 100 yards or so down the hill, in the big metal-clad building that also houses Monster Vineyards and its tasting room.

Monster Vineyards was founded in 2006 and now makes about 5,000 cases a year. The mandate here is the production of value-priced wines. Stefan Arnason, the winemaker for both Poplar Grove and Monster, crafts sophisticated and ageworthy wines for the former and accessible wines for the latter.

Here are notes on his recent craftsmanship.

Poplar Grove Pinot Gris 2015 ($17.30). Here is a textbook Okanagan Pinot Gris. It begins with aromas of apples and citrus, leading to flavours of pear and nectarines. The wine is crisp and refreshing on the finish. 90.

Poplar Grove Blanc de Noirs 2015 (Sold out). This sophisticated dry rosé is made with 40% Malbec, 38% Merlot and 22% Syrah. The juice was bled from tanks of those reds without much skin contact, a common technique also called saignée. The wine was fermented coolly to capture the fruity aromas and flavours. The wine has aromas of strawberries, leading to flavours of strawberry, rhubarb and raspberry. The almost imperceptible touch of residual sweets is balanced with brisk acidity, giving the wine a tangy finish. 91

Poplar Grove Chardonnay 2015 ($19.05). The wine begins with aromas of tangerine and apple, leading to lush flavours of cantaloupe, ripe pear, and guava. Twenty per cent of this was fermented in French oak and the wine was aged lightly in oak. The fruit flavours remain front and centre with a toasted nut flavour punctuating the finish. 92.

Monster Vineyards Rosie 2015 ($19.90). The wine is made with juice from Malbec, Merlot and Syrah grapes with little skin contact. This refreshingly effervescent pink wine begins with fruity raspberry aromas. On the palate, the layers of flavours of raspberry, strawberries and watermelon are intriguing, leading to a spicy finish with a hint of red licorice. The wine is balanced toward a crisp, dry finish. 90.

Monster Vineyards Rosé 2015 ($15.90). Another saignée rosé, this is 54% Malbec, 28% Merlot and 18% Syrah. Slightly off-dry, this is a big mouthful of cherry and strawberry flavours. 90.

Monster Vineyards Monster Cabs 2013 ($19.90). This is 42% Cabernet Franc, 34% Merlot and 24% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a juicy, fruit-forward red, soft in texture. It has flavours of black cherry, blueberry and vanilla. 88.

Tasting River Stone wines with visitors

Photo: River Stone's Ted Kane

Once again this summer, a neighbour had a house guest from New York who knows wines and is curious about British Columbia wines.

Once again, we organized a tasting for him and several other neighbours around an interesting Okanagan winery. Last year, it was Moon Curser Vineyards of Osoyoos. This year’s choice was River Stone Estate Winery of Oliver.

It is a privilege for a wine reviewer to taste and rate these wines in the company of knowledgeable palates who bring other insights to what is in the glass. On this evening, I benefitted from the assistance of five other palates. Several of the tasters now want to buy some of the wines they have tasted.

For background on River Stone, here is what I wrote in John Schreiner’s Okanagan Wine Tour Guide.

Like any serious wine lover, Ted Kane would like to taste Cheval Blanc, a legendary Bordeaux red with an astronomic price tag. The difference between Ted and the rest of us is that he has the grapes to make a wine in that style. Cheval Blanc is primarily a blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, which Ted grows along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot. “This site is great with Cabernet Franc,” he says of his vineyard. “At some point, I am going to make a Cabernet Franc Merlot blend, just to see what it can do. I like that Cheval Blanc idea.”

He worried – needlessly, as it turned out – that there might be no more good vineyard sites available before he and his wife, Lorraine, then a medical student, bought this riverside property in Oliver in 2001. Born in Edmonton in 1962, Ted was so focussed on wine growing that he grew grapes in a greenhouse there just to learn how. They moved to Oliver in 2002, planting a three -hectare (seven-acre) vineyard while Lorraine, now the mother of three, began a family medicine practice.

River Stone’s well-drained property has ideal slopes to the south, the southeast and the southwest. The vineyard is planted in the French tradition, in the proportions Ted wanted for Corner Stone, the Merlot-dominant flagship blend that the winery launched with the 2009 vintage. “My Bordeaux blend is transitioning a bit,” he says after experience gained in subsequent vintages. “My blend is still Merlot driven but Cabernet Franc is equal to or greater than the Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Cabernet Franc does better on my property than Cabernet Sauvignon.” Recently, he grafted Petit Verdot onto a small block of Cabernet Sauvignon, not so much for viticultural issues but to grow all five Bordeaux reds for the 450 or so cases of Corner Stone made every year.

River Stone’s wines all are estate grown, with the minor exception of Splash!, the refreshing summer white that includes Viognier from a neighbour.  “The vineyard is where it starts out and what carries us from season to season,” Ted says. “The best grapes make the best wines. I wanted to see where that was going to take us.”

River Stone Pinot Gris 2015 ($19.90). One member of our tasting group (a Francophile when it comes to wine) said this wine, with its ripe flavours and slightly warming alcohol, reminded him of Alsace. That is a high compliment, considering that Alsace produces benchmark Pinot Gris wines. This wine begins with aromas of peach and cantaloupe, leading to flavours of pear. It is a generous wine with good weight and with a dry finish. 90.

River Stone Sauvignon Blanc 2015 ($19.90 for 117 cases). Our Francophile taster compared this to Sancerre in style, with its herbal notes on the nose and palate, along with flavours of lime and lemon. There is also a flinty note on the finish. The wine has so much power in the glass than one wants to call it “thespian.” 92.

River Stone Malbec Rosé 2015 ($19.90 for 215 cases). This is a dark-hued rosé with intense and luscious flavours of raspberry and cherry. The winemaking technique sets out to extract colour, red berry aromas and flavours by letting the grapes (60% remain whole) to cold soak on their juice for 24 to 48 hours. After pressing, the wine is then fermented in stainless steel. This is a robust rosé (13.8% alcohol) that calls for salmon on the grill. 90.

River Stone Cabernet Franc 2014 ($27.90 for 150 cases). This is a bold and rustic (in a positive way) red, with brambly red fruit aromas. There are flavours of blackberry and black cherry with a touch of plum and tobacco and subtle notes of oak. 90.

River Stone Stones Throw 2013 ($24.90). The blend is Merlot (78%), Cabernet Sauvignon (11%), Petit Verdot (7%) and Malbec (4%). One might think of this as a little brother to Corner Stone, except for the lengths the winemaker goes to in making it. The grapes are essentially fermented as whole berries (only 20% are crushed) after three to five days of cold-soaking. The berries are fermented in small totes and tanks to increase the juice to skin ratio. The finished wine ages 14 months in French oak (33% new). The wine begins with aromas of black currant, vanilla and tobacco, leading to smoky, brooding flavours of plum and black currant. Our tasters attributed the brooding note to the Petit Verdot in the blend. 91.

River Stone Corner Stone 2012 ($31.90 for 339 cases). This is Merlot (57%), Cabernet Sauvignon (21%), Cabernet Franc (14%), and Malbec (8%). The winemaking protocol is similar to that for Stones Throw. The wine’s 18 months in French oak (33% new) and further time in bottle has polished the tannins and added flesh to the texture. Dramatic aromas of plum, cassis and vanilla lead to flavours of black cherry, coffee and chocolate. While this is drinking well now, it will just get better with another five years in the cellar. 94.