I appreciate how Le Vieux Pin prints considerable detail on their label, including soil type, tons per acre, suggested ageing, and even sub-regions. So far there are no legally established sub-appellations in the Okanagan Valley and so it is basically impossible to know where the fruit used in a particular wine has come from if the winery does not disclose that information. Very few wineries are even using all estate fruit or all fruit grown in the sub-region in which the winery is located.

While Le Vieux Pin does use fruit from around the valley, I applaud their transparency in labeling exactly where it came from. In this case, that means the Black Sage Bench, an area with more moderate sunlight than its neighbour the Golden Mile. The soils here are sandy, like the majority of soils in the Okanagan, and as such drain pretty quickly. This means irrigation is needed in most places, and the wines tend to be pretty fruity.

This is, true to its place, a fruity wine. It captures the great aromatics of Viognier and the voluptuous texture of Roussanne and offers good depth and balance. The fruit here is much higher quality than normal for these varieties, probably because of the lower cropping, and I thought this was an excellent example and shows great potential for the future of the Rhone program at Le Vieux Pin.

Very Good
$35 at the Winery

This entry level Pinot Noir is a quaffing wine, but quite a tasty one. It is very fruity with rich cherries and strawberries, but maintains good freshness. The tannins and alcohol give the wine a bit of an overbearing weight in the mouth considering the freshness of the fruit, but so long as you don’t mind a heavier texture in your pinot, you will likely still enjoy the experience. I do find the alcohol a bit unbalanced in the finish and the wine is pretty straightforward so you shouldn’t get into this expecting a lot of complexity. But, this isn’t what the wine is about anyway; and I suspect the balance and texture will improve with another year of bottle age. This is, rather, a good easy going BC Pinot that is definitely worth a look. On my taste-o-meter it scores above many wines you can buy for the same price.

Very Good
$25 from the winery

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.

Road 13 used to be known as Golden Mile, but have since rebranded. Their labels are certainly a lot snazzier than before, but the question remains how their wine has weathered the change. As with many Okanagan vineyards, Road 13’s owners Pam and Mick Luckhurst started the winery fairly recently (in 2003) and did so simply as a change of pace and a new challenge.

The winery is located six kilometres south of Oliver, BC and has three vineyards (Castle, Home, Rock Pile), with a total of about 34 acres. The production is pretty big for a BC winery, sitting at 15,000 cases, divided into three tiers ranging from “honest John” blends to the mid-range “Road 13” label and finally to the premium “Jackpot” wines.

Winemaker Michael Bartier explains the winery’s philosophy: “We’re on a mission. It starts with our terroir, focusing on the land, the site and the soil profile. Our viticulture practices then guide the wines to express their natural growth and characters.” Many wineries say this, but few can deliver. Further, “terroir” might be the most overused word in the marketing of wine – sort of like the greenwashing of wine. The real question is, what is the winemaker’s philosophy of terroir. It’s one thing to say that “we want to express terroir” – it’s another to have a sense of art and philosophy about how to do so. Now, I’m not saying Road 13’s winemaker doesn’t have these ideas at all, I just would like a little more details on what they are.

In fact, Michael does reveal a bit of his philosophy and passion when he waxes about the future of BC wine:

Okanagan Valley winemakers have historically made wines that emulate those from Australia, California or Europe. I think we have gained enough confidence over the last decade to start creating wines that are expressions of the Okanagan Valley. To me this means wines with the aromas of the Okanagan … flavours such as tree fruits, peaches, cherries and sage.

While I don’t know if I can call those aromas specifically Okanagan, I do believe that BC does have the potential for a distinct aromatic profile (beyond that of under-ripe Cabernet Sauvignon) – and I appreciate Michael’s push for a unique Okanagan sense of aroma.

Now, let’s not forget that owner Mick Luckhurst spends plenty of time in the vineyard hand-pruning and tending to the vines. I appreciate an owner who takes a direct interest in his or her vines – and not just the end product. As I’ve been ranting on about again and again, wine is an organic process encapsulated in a bottle of liquid. If you neglect that process then you lose the soul of the final product.

Winemaker Michael Bartier affirms this approach when he says “We all firmly believe that the effort that takes place in the vineyard is reflected in the final wines. As a result, we place paramount importance on quality viticulture practices.” Yes, and yes. This is the right attitude, and it likely explains why Road 13, while still having some growing pains, is, in my opinion, absolutely moving in the right direction.

I also like that Bartier is experimenting with oak in the winemaking process. He is not content simply to rest on the laurels of a particular cooper, or simply by relying on 100% new French Oak (which is oh so common in the prestige cuvees). Rather, Bartier maintains a robust program of experimentation, trying Hungarian oak for example, or various coopers and toast levels with different varieties.

Let’s talk a little about climate and soils here. As I’ve mentioned before, the microclimate of the southern Okanagan is quite arid, but also sports a very short growing season, with serious heat spikes in the summer and potential frost in the fall. However, the southern Okanagan is warm enough to grow some of the varieties that would not be as successful in the north. The three vineyard terroirs vary somewhat, with the Home vineyard having humus on top of rock, the Castle vineyard having hard rock interspersed with fine clay, and the Rock Pile vineyard having gravel and rock topped with 12 inches of humus.

The Jackpot wines, which I will be reviewing below, are from all estate fruit blended from the various vineyard sites. Let’s taste some wine.

2007 Jackpot Chardonnay

The nose on this was pretty classic for chard, with apple, quince, pear, butter, toast and some mineral elements. The complexity here was definitely beyond many BC chardonnays. The palate provided tropical notes with a standard butter/caramel quality. The acidity is solid, and is definitely not flabby in the way we wine geeks love to hate. But, this is also basic new world style chardonnay – nothing more, nothing less. It’s well made and totally drinkable, but if you hate that classic new world style you will not like this wine.

But, what I can say is that after tasting a bunch of California chards priced at $30-$40 in this market, that this wine stands up to many of them. No, it will not be comparable to those great wines that you’ve sourced out for these prices, but it is comparable to its average competition from the new world (which I would add I think is generally overpriced). With a little more work and experience, though, this could become as good as the Meyer chardonnay.

Very Good
$35

2006 Fifth Element

This is a classic Bordeaux blend with the basic five varietals of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. The colour on the wine was a moderate brick red. The nose revealed greenness immediately, but that is to be expected for most Bordeaux blends in BC. I also got coffee and chocolate, but I found the phenollics fairly forced, with definite green bell pepper underlying everything. I don’t know why so many people go for wines made from these grapes in BC – you aren’t going to get anything spectacular and are just feeding money to silly projects!

The palate presented more green bell pepper, jalapeno, and coffee. While this is somewhat underripe, Road 13 is not trying to shy away from this the way I thought Hester Creek was. This wine is more honest than what a lot of producers are doing, and, I think this is very drinkable despite the fact I don’t think these varieties should be grown in BC. What do I like about the wine? Well, the acidity is pretty forward and the palate is clean. There is a short finish right now, but also reasonable balance. This is not my kind of wine, but I can see how some would appreciate this and I do think it is pretty approachable for an Oakanagan Bordeaux Blend – I just wish people clued in to the fact that it’s really hard for wine makers to do the right thing here. Nonetheless Road 13 seems to be doing what they can with these tough varieties.

Good+
$36

2007 Jackpot Pinot Noir

Here we have a big new world style Pinot Noir, which is very similar to the Golden Mile Pinot that I had and enjoyed many years ago (the first BC wine that I liked). There is tons of bright dark red cherry, spice, and chocolate here. I almost find a strawberry-rhubarb jam-like quality to the wine. Simple but modern, bright, and easy drinking. I do think this is expensive for the quality, but it is better than many many BC pinots. Its biggest problem is that it is somewhat innocuous – and it doesn’t rise to the level of the Meyer pinots.

Good+ to Very Good
$35

2007 Jackpot Syrah

Well I recently learned that syrah plantings are growing faster than any other variety in the Okanagan, and if the quality of this wine is any indication then I can understand why. The nose here is very meaty, gamey, funky, and coffee laden. The palate a mélange of sweet red fruit, some herbs, earth, coffee and chocolate with a game based backbone. This is extremely solid Syrah with a nice acidic lift from mid-palate to finish. The clean bright fruit with subtle oak provides a very presentable wine. The big caveat here, though, is that at about $5 more you can get an absolutely outstanding world class syrah from central California or a lesser-known French appellation in the Languedoc or Rhone. And, those wines will give you a sense of terroir, whereas this wine is really just about providing easy to appreciate and simple fruit flavours with no real depth.

However, in time, I think that this syrah could prove to be something of note. Right now, if you like gamey Syrah then you will probably enjoy this – but it will also not blow you away, especially for the price, the perennial problem of BC wines. I think the fruit is there to make this quite a good syrah so long as Road 13 is willing to be bold and take a risk.

Very Good
$35

*Full disclosure: I received these wines as samples.

As my profile of Hester Creek demonstrated, there are, unfortunately, not so great wines being made in the province. However, the point of this series was to seek out those wineries that are doing things right in B.C. and to highlight those who have been willing to take the more challenging direction of making complex and palate-challenging wines. I think Meyer Family Vineyards is a winery that, while young, is starting to seek out its own path unique from the crowds.

Jak Meyer started the winery very recently in 2006. The original idea was to buy a vineyard and outsource the production; however, this goal, which began with a successful (albeit small) vintage of Chardonnay, proved to be too small an operation to be a viable business (at only 600 cases). Thus, over the next several years, and by taking advantage of some good deals resulting from the recession, Meyer expanded the winery by adding 19 acres (14 planted) to the original 3 acres of Chardonnay vines.

The focus at Meyer has always been on Burgundy style Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with a new Gewurztraminer coming out onto the market soon. However, while Meyer says Burgundy style he does not mean simply emulating Burgundy. The goal here is, most importantly, to produce wines of place – wines that taste like B.C. and the vineyards from which they come.

While right now I think the vineyards are probably too young to show true and complex terroir, I do think that these wines are moving along the right path. I was surprised and impressed by the minerality of the Chardonnay and the earthy tones in the two Pinot Noirs I tasted, the style of each differing considerably from the other. In the future, Meyer plans to bottle more single vineyard Chardonnay offerings in order to expand the fruits of this philosophy.

In the vineyard, the idea is to keep things as “organic” as possible, as winemaker Chris Carson explains:

“In the vineyard we are very hands on. All pruning, canopy management, crop thinning etc. is done by hand. Organic principles are employed, such as making our own compost which is put back into the vineyards. All the stems and pressing are put into the compost along with manure, hay and other organic materials. We do not use herbicides for weed control. Rather, weeds are controlled with a combination of plowing, mulches and the use of weed eaters.”

In the winery, the process is all about trying to show typicity of place rather than uniformity of style. As Chris explains,

“basically the growing season and the wine dictate the outcome, not the winemaker. My job is to maintain the expressiveness and the fruit quality from each individual site through to bottling. No additives are used such as enzymes for clarifying juice or colour, no yeast food or nutrients, no tannins, etc. The only additive that may be used is a small acid addition in warmer seasons.”

I don’t love acidulation, but I think that overall Meyer is making the right sort of choices in the vineyard and the winery and it is nice to see a B.C. winery taking the process as seriously as the final product. Wine should not be made just for the end-point of satisfaction. Doing so belies the importance of the organic process and development of the vines – what makes them what they are and adds the ‘poetry’ to the bottle. That said, specific practices in themselves are not enough – great wine always has that X factor that cannot be explained. But, surely it comes from the confluence of each particular detail of the process coming together to produce an expression that each detail could never do in itself.

Let’s take a look at the wines.

Both of the Pinot Noirs are whole cluster fermented (at least this season – the percentage of whole cluster varies depending on vintage) and left to cold soak. The wines are barrel aged “sur lees” and then fined, but not filtered.

First off we have the Meyer Family “Central Okanagan Vineyard” Pinot Noir 2008, which is made with fruit sourced from friends of Meyer’s who own a vineyard in the Central Okanagan area near Kelowna. The soil at this site is silt loam overlaying gravelly loam. The colour here was very dark red for pinot noir, and the wine had a nose of stem, tobacco leaf, and cherry. Overall I found the wine quite earthy but also with a good dose of fruit that is right now hidden under the tannins somewhat on the palate. Nonetheless, I really like the nose on this. 

Moving on to the sip we find a medium body and an absolute ton of tannin. This is obviously still very young with its grippy texture and overt stem and earth character. Underlying that, though, is cherry and bright red berry fruit. Good but not overly intense acidity. This has great stuffing and can (and should) age. While the tannins are aggressive and maybe just a touch green, I like how this was made and think the wine has some good aging potential.  I cannot recommend this to drink right now without some serious food pairing to mellow the tannins – but don’t let that put you off the wine, this is pinot noir moving in the right direction. While not as good as the Vieux Pin pinot I had, it’s a solid wine with potential.

Personally I found some nice stewed meat mellowed the tannins and helped bring the wine forward into fruitier territory in this extremely youthful stage of its life.

Very Good
$40

 The second Pinot Noir is the Meyer Family “McLean Creek Road Vineyard” Pinot Noir 2008. The terroir here is quite different and the vineyards are on the alluvial and glacial formed terraces near Okanagan Falls. A blend of three blocks on the property, each site has distinctly different sun exposure and thus each site brings a unique characteristic to the blend. The dark red, brownish colour on this belies the feminine and light touch of the wine. The nose is brighter than the Central Okanagan bottling, with additional notes of stone, chocolate and spice. On the palate, this is a lighter style, with brighter fruit and a cleaner palate than the Central Okanagan – with chocolate and spice and subtle under the radar red fruits. These two pinots encapsulate the phrase ”to each their own.”

I enjoyed both, but I think I preferred the very light, almost gamay-like body of the McLean Creek. If you want a denser riper style, this will not be your thing. And, keep in mind these two pinots are fairly expensive for the quality. However, there are good reasons for higher prices for BC wines (See my article), even though this does not mitigate the impact of better quality competition from abroad.

So, while there is definitely room for improvement and these are simpler pinots for the price, I think these are honest wines pushing to achieve something realistically BC. I appreciate that and look forward to the future of pinot at Meyer.

Very Good
$40

 The last wine, the Meyer Family Tribute Series “Steve Yzerman” Old Main Road Vineyard, Naramata Chardonnay 2008, is the piece de la resistance here. Stepping from tradition, I saved this for last because I think it is the star of the three wines I tasted from Meyer’s portfolio. 

The Chardonnay is hand harvested and whole cluster fermented, and left “sur lees” for about 11 to 12 months. During this time natural malo-lactic fermentation occurs, and is either complete or partial depending on the natural process of the yeast.

The colour is medium yellow and the nose is all bright clean citrus, pineapple, banana, pear, and kiwi. This is really good stuff and sports a tart and clean palate with properly presented oak influence. Again, the palate brings pineapple and a little creme brulee. Nonetheless this is quite long and clean. Here we have a very well balanced chardonnay that is made for food, does not kick the oak bucket, and has great texture and alacrity – in other words, this is my kind of chardonnay.

In my final analysis, this is outstanding and so far the best chard I’ve had from BC. I would love to try Meyer’s higher end micro-cuvee chard because this is simply excellent stuff. And, as ironic as this is, my highest praise for a BC wine is that I would buy this without hesitation at its very reasonable price point.

Very Good+ to Excellent
$35

Note: Meyer Family wines are currently being poured by the glass at Salt Tasting Room and Market Restaurant.

*Full disclosure: I received these wines as samples.

This is a huge shame to me because it doesn’t allow the BC wineries that are putting all their efforts into making quality wines that speak of place to shine through. These are the wineries we should be highlighting and juxtaposing to those wineries that haven’t got it quite right, particularly in the spirit of the 2010 Olympics where we are trying to highlight the BEST of Canada.

In the end, after many tastings, I think BC has the potential to become a wine region that produces consistently excellent quality wines. So, when I taste wines from BC I’m looking for wines that are courageous and that are taking the risks necessary to show unique ‘BC’ qualities. Given that we are such a new wine region, it takes a lot of courage and risk to try to put oneself out there and make wine in a BC style that does not mimic the likes of California and Australia.

From the perspective of new wineries, it is understandable that they wish to put a product out there that will sell, and so it is easy to emulate styles that are already proven successful in this market (i.e. US and Australian wines). The perfect analogy arises when we think back to high school days: when someone is insecure they try to copy something that is popular – but the best things about people arise when they are showing their own unique qualities and what is naturally good about who they are. BC is in just this dilemma. We are the “tweens” of the wine-world and we haven’t quite found our sense of self yet. When the likes of giant wine corporations like Vincor are dominating Olympic venues, it is time to start getting the word out on the best small producers in the province and not ’underwriting’ poorly made wines with ambiguous or meaningless reviews - it is the wineries taking risks and achieving results that deserve the praise and the pay-off. It is a wine writer’s duty to seek out and find these types of wineries and give them exposure and help them tell their story.

I’m going to be harsh in these reviews, but only because I want to highlight the quest for a sense of ’BCness’ in our wines and to promote what BC has to offer that is unique from every other region. Given some of the wines I tasted at Taste BC this year, I know that some of the wineries I will be profiling are going to pull through and show that they are taking the first steps towards adulthood.

The first winery I’m writing about is Hester Creek. I found writing this article very difficult because, to be honest, I did not enjoy the wines. But, I do appreciate how hard it is to get things right in the Okanagan and how wineries feel they need to cater to what they perceive to be mass-palate appeal. Hester Creek winery is situated in the Golden Mile area of the Okanagan. Here we go…

Hester Creek Pinot Gris 2008

With a nose of pear, nectarine, and peach, this was big and rich and finished off with hints of citrus, vanilla and honey. The palate brought more nectarine and peach – this is quite a big and full wine, but it is also overly rich and alcoholic. This is essentially a mimic of a basic Alsatian off-dry style. It’s actually not bad – I was honestly expecting less of the wine. However, it is hard to get a lot of the subtler fruit characteristics and aromatic complexity one comes to expect from well made Pinot Gris. The finish is also off-balance and somewhat sticky and hot. This wine would work better if it took more chances, reduced the residual sugar, and went for a fully dry and refreshing style. Also, as the wine warms up to serving temperature from fridge temperature it essentially loses its tightness and becomes a bit of a mess with flavours splashing all over the place.

In the end, this is somewhat of an innocuous wine that is ultimately inoffensive but also pretty boring. At this price point you can definitely get some decent whites, but this wine will certainly be better than most other Pinot Gris at this price point, except for carefully selected wines. But keep in mind that if selected carefully, you can get a far superior white to this for the same price. 13.8% ABV.

Fair

$17

Hester Creek Semillon Chardonnay (unoaked) 2008

The nose doesn’t give up a lot – maybe some sweet citrus (lemon and orange), licorice and a hint of minerality. The palate brings some mineral and is a bit tighter and firmer than the Pinot Gris, which is nice. There is actually a mineral component here behind the subtle citrus notes. I like that the wine is subtler and less punchy than the Pinot Gris since this gives it the ability to compliment food much more readily. I also enjoy the herbal and spice kick that the Semillon adds to the blend and I do think this wine is doing more than a lot of whites at this price point.

That said, the wine has unbalanced alcohol and, again, it isn’t as clean and crisp as it should be. It also does not quite have a sense of place nor is it a QPR mega-find. While many people would find this to be fine, to me it is exactly what I tend to associate with BC white wines that hope to achieve mass appeal: no sense of place, off balance alcohol, and not as crisp as it should be. However, you have to be fair here and you have to compare this wine to others in the same price category. 13.8% ABV.

Good

$16

Hester Creek Reserve Merlot 2005

This is very green on the nose, and is almost rubbery, with butterscotch and oak trying to hide the green bell pepper aromas that are a sign of ineffectively ripened fruit. The butterscotch and oak (mostly American) dominates the fruit on the palate, which also brings out plenty of vanilla and dill. There’s really no actual fruit showing through in this wine. I feel harsh here, but I can’t go anywhere good with this wine, especially at this price. I even tried to drink this with a burger (the easiest meat to pair with a big rich red) and they didn’t even go together because the oak flavours were so over the top.

No Good

$26

Hester Creek Cabernet Franc 2005

The nose on this is grapey, plumy and has cocoa dust, but ultimately is not giving up a lot right now. The palate is brighter and cleaner than the merlot, and while there is still way too much oak here, it is more retrained. This allows some of the herbaceous quality of the Cab Franc grape to come through, which is a good thing. My big concern with this wine, though, is its price. It is not delivering what it should at this price point at all. There are so many examples both of international wine and local BC wine that knock this out of the water. Many of the wineries I will be profiling in the next couple of weeks are perfect examples of how BC can over deliver for these price points. This wine is not one of them.

Fair to Good

$26

Overall this was an extremely disappointing look at BC wine, and it is unfortunate that this is how the series began. However, I see this as a good point of juxtaposition for the wineries to come. BC does make excellent wine – but it is wines like the ones I just reviewed that give many the impression that we don’t really know what we’re doing here. While we do have plenty to learn, steps are being taken to push the envelope and challenge the quality threshold, and, as I discovered at the recent Taste BC tasting, there are BC wineries that are absolutely going down the right track (see, for example, my recent article on Le Vieux Pin’s “Belle” Pinot Noir). I look forward to sharing my discoveries with you.

*Full disclosure, I received these wines as samples.

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?

In fact, British Columbia is one of the world’s most northerly wine growing regions, with an extremely short growing season and early frosts. However, on the other side of the spectrum, since it is the northernmost tip of the Sonora Desert, the inner Okanagan Valley also sees heat spikes up to 40 degrees centigrade in the summer. This sort of heat can shut the metabolic processes of wine grapes down completely, making for uneven ripening and unbalanced sugar levels. The large Lake Okanagan does produce a lake effect and so offers a cooling influence that can temper the impact of the severe temperatures (whether hot or cold), but there are still many challenges for growers in British Columbia.

Many believe that BC, and the Okanagan in particular, is best suited for high acid, fragrant white wines such as Riesling. I do not disagree; in fact, most of the best wines I’ve tried from BC are white. However, at the recent Taste BC tasting, I discovered that some producers are also having a very serious go at making high quality Pinot Noir; and, while not many producers are succeeding, some are pushing the boundaries of what I thought was possible in British Columbia. One such winery is Le Vieux Pin.

Le Vieux Pin started as a project to produce “terroir” based wines in the Okanagan, mimicking the style of French wines from cooler climates, such as Burgundy and Alsace. The winery is located on the East Bench of Oliver, in the South Okanagan Valley and produced its first vintage in 2005.

In order to achieve its goal, Le Vieux Pin crops at a very low yield level, dry farms (which must be a challenge in the low-precipitation Okanagan), and uses minimal fertilizer. They also claim to have distinct soil compositions in each of their vineyards, with soils ranging from sandy to high gravel, and heavy claim and loam. These distinct soil conditions are the basis for the variation in their wines rather than particular wine making techniques. Le Vieux Pin produces three single vineyard Pinot Noirs, each of which receives the same treatment in the cellar. While I only have had the opportunity to taste one of the wines from this range, I was impressed with its structure and personality, and I did feel it was expressing a particular place.

In fact, I could not place this wine anywhere in the spectrum of New World Pinot Noirs I had tasted so far. The nose was reminiscent of an Oregon Pinot Noir, but the body clearly derived from far less ripe fruit, even while it had greater tannin density than many of the Oregon Pinots I’ve had. In fact, the palate was distinctly earthy and driven by more herbal flavours than you would expect after smelling its nose of cherry cola, baking spice, and cassis. Le Vieux Pin calls this a Pinot Noir for Syrah lovers, and I can actually see what they are getting at. While less ripe than all of the other Pinot Noirs (save perhaps the Rippon from New Zealand), it was still fresh and fruity enough not to taste sour or underripe. My suspicion is that they may have had a difficult time ripening the tannins (skins) in the grapes for this wine as the grapes sugar levels are clearly sufficient. It’s not a perfect Pinot Noir, but it is a wine with personality, and I appreciate that achievement.

Given this uniqueness I would love the opportunity to do both a vertical tasting and a horizontal tasting across the various vineyards.

Very Good+
$45 at Viti, Sutton Wine Merchants, and other private stores

*Full disclosure: I received this bottle of wine as a sample.

To wrap up my Spotlight on New World Pinot Noir series, in my opinion there are distinct styles being made across the New World and Pinot Noir seems to have a far greater diversity of personality than Cabernet Sauvignon does in these regions. In particular, the flavour and style variations I experienced in Oregonian Pinot were exciting, and I think that while this region is young now and learning the ropes, it has the potential to evolve into a mature region producing singular wines with personality. It has a ways to go, but I’m excited at its potential.

New Zealand also continues to be a region for me to watch, although I think it has a considerable challenge with respect to its pricing. The quality is just not there to justify prices mostly above $60 for the higher quality wines. There are just too many Pinot Noirs from elsewhere that have a better quality to price ratio.

Despite my amazing experience with Sojourn Cellars, California continues not to excite me that much. Clearly there is potential here, as Sojourn proves, but too many of the wines are good but not great, and have a more fundamental sameness than the Pinot Noirs from further north. Chile, for me, is also not quite up to par overall with Oregon, even as I did enjoy the Matetic considerably. Again, Chile is a region with potential, but a long way to go. I would put Australia in this category as well. The great producers, such as Grosset, can make good Pinot Noir in the right regions. But, overall, Pinot Noir from Australia generally disappoints, and Grosset is making wines far above the norm.

Lastly, British Columbia is the youngest region in the spotlight, and it shows. That said, good producers are pushing the boundaries and I think it will be possible to produce some good Pinot Noir in the province. However, doing so will be expensive and will rely on the appropriate sites. Most of British Columbia still remains suited to aromatic whites. But, I appreciate that there are wineries out there to make wine with personality and ‘terroir’ rather than simply producing wine to achieve great commercial reviews and maximum extract and fruit.

In the end, this has been a fascinating journey and I hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it.

Up next is a special series for the Olympics that will focus on some of our best BC wineries – with particular emphasis on the small guys, who, in my opinion, are not getting fair or proper exposure in the Olympics (that’s the topic for another rant). I hope people will spread word of these profiles around a bit so that some visitors might happen upon some of the articles and wines and truly taste what BC has to offer.

As for my picks of the show, here’s what I thought were the best wines of the night:

Ex Nihilo Vineyards Riesling 2007 – Very Good $25
Le Vieux Pin Pinot Noir “Belle” 2006 – Very Good+ $45
Le Vieux Pin Sigma Blanc white blend NV – Very Good $?
Meyer Family Vineyards Chardonnay 2008 – Very Good+ $35
Meyer Family Vineyards McLean Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008 – Very Good $40
Meyer Family Vineyards Central Okanagan Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008 - Very Good+ $40
Tantalus Vineyards Riesling 2008 – Very Good+ $23
Tantalus Vineyards Rosé 2009 – Very Good+ $22
Tantalus Vineyards Pinot Noir 2007 – Very Good $?
Vista D’Oro 2007 – Very Good $49
Wild Goose Vineyards Stoney Slope Riesling 2008 – Very Good $23

After my meeting with Pamela I walked down to Liberty Wine Merchants on Granville Island and picked up four wines, all from BC:

1. Venturi Schulze Brut Naturel 2006

2. Mount Boucherie Summit Reserve Pinot Noir 2007

3. Elephant Island Orchard Wines Framboise (fortified) 2008

4. Venturi Schulze Brandenburg No. 3 2007

My general philosophy has been that it is nearly impossible to pair dry reds with chocolate, and that many sweet wines are killed by the intensity of heavy dark chocolate. Thus, my philosophy in this pairing was to consider how the secondary flavours infused in the chocolate would pair with the wines and build off of these flavours as a base.

I started by pairing specific chocolates with specific wines and then experimented from there – but the wildcard lavender chocolate proved the hardest to get right. Otherwise, the results were pretty interesting and this experiment was a good lesson in how hard chocolate is to pair, but also how innovative combinations often serve to bring out the best in both a wine and a food better than many of the ‘classics’. Accordingly I rated both the wines themselves and the pairing. On to the tasting!

1. Venturi Schulze Brut Naturel w/ Chocolate Topped with Dried Cranberry

This sparkling wine had a nose with yeasty bread notes and apple. The palate had nectarine, apple, apricot, clay, earth, and lemon. Overall I was reasonably impressed with this BC Brut and its acidic lift. I did find, however, that the alcohol was a bit out of balance.
Very Good
$25 / 375ml at Liberty

Enter the chocolate: the acidity in the dried cranberry complimented the acidity in the sparkling wine and actually balanced out the alcohol. The wine enhanced the brightness of the fruit and brought out its contrast with the rich chocolate very well. In the end, this was a very surprising pairing that to me worked extremely well.
Pairing Rating: Very Good+ to Excellent

2. Mount Boucherie Summit Reserve Pinot Noir 2007 w/ Himalayan Rock Salt and 3 Peppercorn Chocolate

A nose of big burnt fruit, rich cherry, pepper and strawberry. The palate is surprisingly respectable – lots of light red cherry, a bit of cola, and a light dust of baking spices with a hint of pepper. There is more complexity here than I was expecting and I was hoping that the spice in the wine would marry with the peppercorns in the chocolate.
Very Good
$24 at Liberty

Pairing this with the chocolate proved my fears to be valid. The sweetness in the chocolate (which was not severe at 71% cocao) overwhelmed the fruit and soured the wine. The pepper did not compliment the finish at all, which is too bad because the chocolate really is outstanding. Nonetheless, this isn’t an undrinkable pairing, it just does not enhance either partner.
Pairing Rating: Fair

3. Elephant Island Orchard Wines Framboise (Fortified) 2008 w/ Dark Chocolate Topped with Cacao Nibs

Strictly speaking this is not ‘wine’ per se, but liqueur – aka raspberry syrup. Don’t get me wrong, this is very tasty alcoholic syrup, but it doesn’t have the complexity of a real wine. But, this is perhaps the secret to its versatility with pairing.
Good+
$25/375ml at Liberty

Speaking of versatility, who doesn’t love raspberry and chocolate? This is a classic pairing and works with all of the chocolates on offer except for the lavender, which clashes brutally. Best with a simple bitter chocolate, many people will nonetheless enjoy this with many dark chocolate offerings and this would make a great treat at a dinner party either in a glass, or poured over a dessert.
Pairing Rating: Very Good

4. Venturi Schulze Brandenburg No. 3 2007 w/ Chocolate infused with Cherries and Chilies

Perhaps the most interesting wine of the experiment, this was made with Sylvaner grapes and has a surprising nose of pear, prune, dried asian plum and flowers. The palate is also unique and is distinctly pulling out the strange dried asian fruit characteristics with a good dose of pear. This is fairly syrupy and sweet on its own and not really worth the price. However, the pairing is where this wine came alive.
Good
$40/375ml at Liberty

I paired this unique dessert wine with the cherry and chili chocolate and the result was beautiful. The heat of the chilies punched through the sugar and tempered the syrupy quality of the wine, making it livlier, fresher and far more balanced. The chocolate also became even more interesting with the wine bringing out the cherry considerably and mellowing the spice in the mouth. This was not only the best pairing, but the most unique and it demonstrated how sometimes very specific unique flavours are what create that harmonic marriage of food and booze.
Pairing Rating: Excellent

In the end, pairing wine and chocolate proved to be extremely difficult but also very fun. The most surprising pairing was the Brut and the cranberry chocolate, and the most unique without doubt was the Sylvaner with the chili chocolate. I suppose wine and food pairing is somewhat like an human relationship: despite apparrent compatability, it is often the strange and quirky qualities that bring people together in the most passionate and inspired ways. And, if wine is meant to enhance our appreciation of life, perhaps pairing should share a similar philosophy and expose us to the truly unique and wonderful.

Full Disclosure: I received the chocolates as a sample from Xoxolat.
I purchased the wine on my own dime.