The story of Wild Goose is a story that speaks to the tremendous changes that the British Columbia wine industry has experienced in the last 20 years. It is a story that begins with the ratification of the NAFTA and GATT free trade agreements and the government sponsored vine replanting programs in the late 1980’s. Adolf Kruger, founder of Wild Goose, was one of the original advocates for legislative reform in the province, and was involved in convincing the BC government to allow small wineries to develop in the province and start producing fine wine.

Soon after these initial meetings with politicians, Wild Goose was founded as a winery in June of 1990. At the same time, both the B.C. Wine Institute and the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) were formed, precipitating the development of high quality wine in the province.

In the beginning, things were small: Wild Goose’s first vintage was a mere 600 case production of Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Foch (a grape used in their dessert wine). In these early days not many in the province had ever tasted a B.C. wine, and it was the efforts of wineries like Wild Goose that started forging the inroads for B.C.’s now much larger wine industry. A few restaurants began picking up the wines, along with Broadway Wine Cellars, and the cascade effect continued from there.

Of course, as demand grew, so did production, which now sits at almost 10 000 cases a year. And, as with any new industry, in time the market started getting crowded, with consumers becoming used to a vast selection of B.C. wines at both restaurants and stores, mostly of the private variety. Now B.C. is pushing almost 200 wineries and, I think, is starting to reach the limit of their development in the current regulatory environment. The next push will be to start making wines that compete with the best international wines – and, even to have enough pride and brand recognition to start exporting wines and diversifying the market.

Wild Goose’s philosophy amongst all this growth has always been to attend to the vines, and to ensure that the quality of their fruit was never compromised. Roland Kruger, general manager, believes that while the industry is young, and that it has much to learn, it should also be proud of what it has accomplished in the last 25 years. His motivation seems to derive from the passion he has for the vines, for the history of the winery, and for the winery’s customers. That seems like a good combination to me.

Now, in the vineyard Wild Goose takes an approach that could divide some of the more hardcore wine geeks out there. Those looking for biodynamics, dry-farming, and other ‘natural’ wine growing practices should not look to Wild Goose. Instead, Wild Goose uses moderate irrigation and fairly comprehensive vineyard management. Of course, grape growing is no easy task, but I do wonder what could be accomplished with dry-farming and a more robust approach to some of the teachings of biodynamics. Now, I don’t believe every wine should be biodynamically produced – but I do believe that wines should be produced with an overall philosophy about the “organism” of the vineyard and its environment. Taking the whole and the context into account is essential, in my opinion, for honest wine.

I do think that Wild Goose is producing good quality wines for the price, as I shall discuss below. But I also think that the quality of their fruit suggests that the wines could get even better. I would be excited to see the development of Wild Goose into one of the wineries that helps put B.C. on the international map – but there is still work to be done before that can happen.

Wild Goose itself is comprised of three vineyards. The first is at the winery itself, located 3 kilometres south of Okanagan Falls. The second is on the banks of the South Okanagan River and is known as the “Mystic River” Vineyard. This vineyard has a hotter growing season. Next to the Mystic River vineyard is the newly planted Secrest vineyard.

The Okanagan Falls vineyards, where the Riesling is grown, are comprised of a combination of glacial soils and light clay. The Riesling is grown on a southern slop that allows maximum sun exposure. The large stones that line the rows of the vines give the vineyard its name of “Stoney Slope”.

The wine – Stoney Slope Riesling 2008 – had a nose of stone, mineral, peach, and lime. Its palate was off-dry, but more on the dry side than the sweet side, again with lime, citrus, petrol, and some mineral. This is very solid riesling, being crisp and clean, and with good aromatics. There is also a good dose of complexity on the mid-palate. This is pretty much what I want a solid BC riesling to taste like at this price. Well done.

Very Good
$20

The Gewurztraminer is grown on the flat, clay loam area of the Okanagan Falls vineyard. The plants are trained to the pendulum bow training system and produce very low yields.

The 2008 Gewurztraminer had a nose of lychee, peach, nectarine – basic Gew aromas, nothing more or less. Ther eis good aromatic depth here, although the wine is lacking a bit of complexity. The palate is off-dry, with a tart mid-palate. Overall it is soft and floral, with tastes of peach and lychee. A simple quaffing white that will work on a hot summer day, with simple Thai or other spicy asian food. Is this revelatory or exploring territory in the variety that is unique and interesting? No. But it is the right kind of wine if you are looking for an above average wine at a reasonable price at a restaurant or for a party.

Very Good
$19

The Mystic River Vineyards have soil consisting of sandy clay and pea gravel that is very fertile. The vineyard currently consists of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer.

The Mystic River Vineyard Pinot Blanc 2008 was fairly pale, but the aromatics are there with gooseberry, gravelly mineral, a touch of funkiness (somewhat like a SauvBlanc), peach, and nectarine. The palate is a bit on the sweet side, but it also has tons of tree fruit – nectarine, peach, apricot all predominate – somewhat like the Okanagan in the summer. I like the clean minerally finish. This is not incredibly complex, but it is clean and good and I can feel comfortable recommending this wine to the average wine drinker. For me, while I appreciate the dry clay and citrus like finish, overall this is a bit sweet. The thing that makes this stand out more is its more complex range of aromatics than is the norm for BC Pinot Blanc.

Good+
$19

The remaining basic bottling of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Merlot are made with purchased fruit.

I tasted the Pinot Gris 2008, which I found to be very aromatic with rich banana, denser/sweeter tropical fruit, and maybe some pear. The palate presented pear and banana, but it was also a bit overly alcoholic. This is made in a more Alsatian style, but is on the sweeter side of off-dry but not cloying. It’s a more one-dimensional wine and if you don’t like sweet overly rich fruit you will probably not like this wine. It’s not finessed but it’s pretty well balanced for the price. This is more what I expect from BC at this price point and it is good quality wine for a fair price (vs. the Hester Creek, which I could not recommend to anyone). BUT, with food this really improves, especially with seafood (I had it with seafood stuffed ravioli with chunks of fried chorizo and it was great).

Good+
$19

The only red wine of the line up I tasted was the Merlot Reserve 2007 and it smells like fake coffee and cough syrup, and old cured salami – this was horifyingly bad on the nose, which is very surprising given that I ended up finding this to be above average for BC merlot. I think it just needs some decanting and the aromatics will improve. The palate is a lot better than the nose – coffee, chocolate, and black fruit. Kind of like coffee crisp is a glass. Simple, but with a decent mid-palate acidity.  The palate is SOOOO much better than the Hester Creek merlot. It’s drinkable and fine, but it’s also not great wine, a great value or a special find. But, it’s pretty nice to see merlot grown in a style more appropriate for BC. It’s just a shame that the ripening of the grape can’t get far enough to allow for nice aromatics. There’s something non-ideal about the fruit in this wine. That said, I think with time, experience, and more experimentation this could be a very nice merlot at this price point.

Good+
$25

One big problem with these wines is that they really all taste the same. There is a huge lack of varietal distinctiveness, which comes not just with careful tending of the vines, but also acute attention to terroir and vinification. That said, I think that Wild Goose puts tremendous effort into their wines and I would never slag them for lazyness or taking the easy path – I do think, though, that they are young and do not have tremendous knowledge or tradition to work from yet. While these wines are good for the price, they also need to push for more distinction and varietal correctness. Otherwise, their aromatics will all be too similar to be anything more than a summer sipper.

My impression of Wild Goose is that this is a true family winery, with a great tradition that is sure to continue in the future. The wines are priced very well, and offer good quality fruit and clean flavours. What I would love to see from Wild Goose in the future is even more improvement in vineyard practices, and perhaps even an attempt at making a higher end white from either Riesling or Gewurztraminer, while maintaining their basic thrust of good quality affordable wine. Given the quality of the fruit here, I think there is great potential – but I do think that more knowledge, learning and an open mind could help push Wild Goose to that next level. Right now, this is a solid “good value” B.C. winery.

I have two more B.C. wineries to profile, but do not yet have their wines to review. So I will move on to another spotlight and then return to the remaining B.C. profiles when I have access to the wines. Cheers.

*Full disclosure: I received these wines as samples.

Roots, origins – the great Odyssean questions. To compliment my recent article in Palate Press on BC’s wine industry, this article will look at the international influences of British Columbia’s wine styles. British Columbia does not have the same historical links to the European wine making tradition as many other regions in the “New World,” many of which saw grapes sailed over by European colonists from their “home” territory in Italy, Germany, and, mostly, France. The caché of French wine meant the potential for successful business endeavors for many colonists of the so-called “New World,” so these grape types have become the most important internationally.

However, BC’s wine experience with the famous vitis vinifera varieties from Europe began a lot later than most New World regions, with government sponsored replanting programs in the 1980’s responding to the new free trade agreements with the United States. BC’s relationship with European wine, therefore, is somewhat of a newly minted influence as winemakers in the province over the last 30 years have tried to discover what lessons are best learned from which Old World regions. This has been a diverse process and different wine makers have developed different philosophies in this respect. As a lead up to my Olympic themed articles profiling small BC wineries, this article will explore the most important international influences on BC wine production so we can start getting a sense of both the styles of wine that influence BC wine production and the unique directions that British Columbia may take its wine in the future. As much as the Olympics is a celebration of a kind of pre-discovered nationalism, BC’s wine growers are still in the process of trying to find a sense of place and a unique style of expression. To me, it’s these sorts of efforts to explore the meaning of place and tradition that gives our home significance. I’ll leave the dogmatic nationalism for the official sponsors.

Most of the regions that have been influential on British Columbia are cooler climate regions in Northern Europe, particularly those in Germany, Alsace, Burgundy and Friuli. Because of its worldwide brand dominance, Bordeaux has also been a significant influence in BC. In order to contextualize my future profiles of BC wineries, I will look at what it is about these regions that seems to be influencing winemakers here in British Columbia.

1. Germany

In some ways the most important “spiritual” influence on Canadian wine, with their famous dessert Eiswein (Icewine), which of course is what put Canada on the wine map to begin with. Now the connection extends much deeper with the importance of Riesling to BC’s now rising dry-wine star. While most of Germany’s exported Rieslings have been off-dry or sweet, the local appetite for Riesling is for the Trocken, or dry style of wine. Fermented longer and with higher alcohol, global appetite for these steely and mineral driven wines is now increasing.

While BC still predominantly produces Rieslings that are off-dry, some of the best producers are now emulating the Germans’ more palate challenging dry styles. These wines tend to focus on aromatics, clean lines, and a tremendous ability to pair with a diverse range of cuisines, from Thai to sushi. Riesling’s outstanding ability to pair with Asian and asian-influenced cuisines is particularly suited to British Columbia’s food scene, which, of course, is driven by massive pan-asian influence. In some ways, German Riesling is brought home in BC with its marriage to some of the best Asian food in the world.

2. France – Alsace

Alsace itself is a challenging place to sum up in a single style or movement. However, if we can focus on anything it is the fragrance of Alsatian wines, from Pinot Blanc to Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. Those intensely fragrant lychee-styled Gerwurztraminers have clearly influenced many wines in BC. While many in Alsace are making off-dry wines with considerable residual sugar, there are also those who produce very dry styles.

When it comes to BC, so far the predominating influence has been the success of the Alsatian off-dry style. Viscous and aromatic, these wines are easy to appreciate by those craving a little sweetness (as many new wine drinkers do). However, current market trends suggest that sweet-styled white wines are losing favour to the drier styles, so expect BC to start moving more towards the style of producers such as Trimbach and away from those of producers like Zind-Humbrecht or Weinbach.

Alsace is also the home to the most prolific use of biodynamics in France. While yet to catch on fully in BC, some of the better wineries here are starting to take notice of this practice and are adopting some of its techniques. While climate makes it extremely difficult to be fully biodynamic in BC, I have no doubt that many of the best wineries are going to start (if they haven’t already) paying more and more attention to the natural wine movement and what they can learn from it.

3. France – Burgundy

Burgundy is, of course, home to the world’s greatest Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. While only a foolish winery in BC would try to recreate Burgundy, the importance of these two grapes to the British Columbia wine scene should not be underestimated. In some ways these wines have become both the holy grail and the great failure of many a BC wine maker, who seek to produce ‘noble’ wines of distinction, often without the terroir or experience to back it up.

However, while the best wineries won’t seek to emulate Burgundy, the spirit of expressing a sense of place in something delicate, noble, and ageworthy is (and will continue to be) an important motivator for BC wineries. Much emphasis here is put on the aromatic white wines that I discussed above, and for good reason. However, I now also believe that with the right philosophy, boldness, and spirit for experimentation, that some select sites in BC will be able to produce excellent Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with a unique sense of being from BC rather than elsewhere.

Forget the styles of Pinot Noir that try to emulate a California blockbuster wine, or the Chardonnays that taste like they’ve been drowned in coconut and vanilla custard – those are wines that are trying to be like somewhere else. The best BC Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs will not shy away from the challenges of our climate and soils. They will rarely, if ever, be perfect. And, they will never be Burgundy. But, such wines certainly have the potential to be high quality, local, artisanal products.

4. France – Bordeaux

Bordeaux’s influence on BC is a bit of a bug-bear for me. Most of the super-premium blends you see such as Oculus or Note Bene seek to reproduce a big Bordeaux blend. This is not easy to do in BC as most Cabernet and Merlot here cannot ripen the same way it can in Bordeaux, California, and even Washington. That said, it is possible to gather together enough ripe grapes to make the occasional super-cuvée. But, my question is, are they worth it?

To me the biggest influence Bordeaux has had on BC is in BC’s attempt to mimic the prestige market of Bordeaux. Lower your yields, sort your berries very carefully, slam on some glitzy name and packaging and out comes an $80 wine. Never mind that most of the vines in BC are still very young, or that BC just doesn’t have the length of ripening season to get proper aromatic complexity out of its Cabernet and Merlot based blends.

Undoubtedly, some of these wines do taste good; however, they also don’t tend to taste like anywhere. It is this lack of personality that tends not to excite me, even if a wine is decent.

Again, as with any claim I make, I remain open to be proven wrong.

5. Italy – Friuli

Friuli is probably an afterthought to many BC wine drinkers, and even wine makers. However, Friuli has been an influence on BC simply because not all Pinot Gris (or Grigios as the Italians say) have to be on the sweet side of things. Friuli, as opposed to Alsace, tends to make leaner, sharper, and cleaner Pinot Grigios, although the wines retain the intense aromatics.

While not a lot of wineries are emulating this style yet, as mentioned above, I think this will become a more important influence in the future and that, if it does, Pinot Gris in BC will start to get a lot more interesting.

I hope this little relay lends some context to the BC winery profiles that I will be writing in the next couple of weeks. I’m also curious to hear your comments – what wine regions and styles do you think are most influential in BC?