Travels au vin
So in two trips inland into BC, I've had some fortune to have spare time to wander and visit various wineries, some with Jesse (my host for a trip to Kelowna) in tow. That being said, here's a small run-through of the region and a few wineries that I've gotten to visit and enjoy:
The wine country of BC has three large regions inland: the Okanagan valley around Kelowna, the Similkameen valley between Keremeos and Osoyoos, and a large center near Oliver (between Osoyoos and Oliver). Around these main areas are a bunch of outlying regions that also grow grapes (in addition to a large assortment of other fruit).
The Okanagan is a fertile, lush, rich area that was originally characterized by major fruit orchards and is still one of Canada's premier areas to grow stone fruits - cherries and peaches, as well as apples and pears. When they realized the aridity of the land could be well-utilized with various irrigation methods from the lake, they decided it would be a good experiment with grapes. It works quite well - bathed in sun for many months of the year, the land is fertile enough to sustain decent old-growth vines.
That being said, it's quite a contrast when you go from the Okanagan to the Similkameen. Whereas the Okanagan is more grassland, the Similkameen and Oliver are on the north end of the Sonora desert and thus the climate is far drier, far hotter, and the land certainly has more of that country feel to it. Driving along the road, you can see the small cloud of dust you kick up, even in a rainstorm. What's remarkable is that, from what I remember, Kelowna is all but 200 kilometres from Osoyoos, There's no mountain pass, or anything else, that separates the two cities - it's really just the proximity to the lake that causes the great variation in climate.
And so we get to the climate comparison. Because Kelowna is further north, the temperatures only climb above 35C for a few months a year at most (probably 2 or 3), whereas Osoyoos could very easily remind me of Saskatoon, where you could see anywhere from 2 to 5 months at those temperatures. As such, Kelowna's soil is far better for cultivating grapes that grow in cooler climates - whites, for instance, thrive extensively in the region. Riesling, pinot gris, chardonnay and gewurztraminer are found at almost all wineries. Lighter reds such as pinot noir are also common, as is even in some cases merlot. Also, Kelowna is capable of really fostering ice wines. Osoyoos, on the other hand, has a greater variety of wines that can be cultivated, and many Kelowna-based wineries (Cedar Creek as an eg) will import Osoyoos-grown grapes for some of their deeper reds. Osoyoos has a well-established base of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and cabernet franc - the aridity of the soil imparts a deeper aroma to the wines, that black coffee smell you get when swirling some of these wines in the glass. More recently, they have been exploring varietals that are strongly heat-favoring such as malbec, which kind of figures since Mendoza, in Argentina, is the hotbed of malbec nowadays, and is a hot climate as well with the same kinds of temperature variation given how far it is from the equator. Given a few decades, I would be interested to compare an Osoyoos malbec against, say, Catena Zapata's malbec, which is among the standard-bearers for the grape.
One other thing that is important to note about the whole region is that it has a lot of similarities to both Europe and South America. For the Kelowna area, the climate is apparently decently reminiscent of the Ruhr or Saar valleys, one of which borders Alsace. These regions generate among the world's most renowned dry rieslings. And the Ruhr and Saar are industrial coal-mining valleys, meaning the soil has strong mineral characteristics. The same is true with Mendoza, which produces lime, uranium, and petroleum among other items. That part of BC is rife with mineral claims staked, as certain large BC companies (Teck Cominco, etc) found large deposits of metals including tin in the area. Likewise, nearer to Osoyoos coalbed methane is being touted as a new energy export to the US and developing markets. These items will suffuse into the soil a bit, adding some extra mineral characteristics to the rocks that the vines will grow around, and reflecting some of that into the wines themselves. That being said, the region's fruit-growing prowess differs from Germany's natural character now, but closely mirrors Mendoza. Perhaps Germany was like that centuries ago, before the mass urbanization that occurred across the western half of it during the Cold War.
So onto the wineries I've visited, in order of what I've visited! Okay, part 1 today. I'm too tired to go through Part 2 but if there's enough interest I will do the Part 2. Part 1 is all the stuff I visited en route to Kelowna and Vernon (staying with my buddies Jesse, Coady and Cam) - 2 will be en route to Osoyoos. Someday I will do a Part 3, but I have to do the drive between Osoyoos and Kelowna to get that. So many temptations!
1. Cedar Creek - take the winery tour - it's really neat. The site is gorgeous and had I had more time, I would've sat on their rooftop patio overlooking the south end of Lake Okanagan for lunch. The wines are great from every price point and varietal. Of their standard prices, I recommend their pinot gris and rose for sure. Of their premiums, their meritage, malbec, and cab sauv are all good, though they outsource from Osoyoos. I'm sad I didn't get the Colbert-barreled ones, where they somehow got ahold of some French Oak from the island of Elba or something (there's some kind of history about them - apparently during the Napoleonic wars, there was an informal deal between France and other powers that regardless of the outcome of the war, these oaks would be left untouched for their wine potential... probably hyperbole but whatever). Of particular interest to me is their M wine - madeira-style, its amber color is attractive and drinks more easily than most ports. That being said, price points in this winery are high relative to most. Very friendly staff, though - they kept letting me have samples, even of premium items they save for paid tastings outside tours! Can be found at http://www.cedarcreek.bc.ca/
2. St Hubertus - it has an old-world feel - I think they sell wine out of a refurbished country garage or barn or something - rough stone and all makes it charming in a more relaxed way. Their whites are far better than their reds (the merlot, especially, remains quite tannic and I don't really know if anything good would result after a few yaers of aging) - the gewurztraminer is excellent. I even left a bottle for Jesse as a test to figure out how to pair for his friends. Very down to earth people - friendly, outgoing, they even got Jesse practicing his German so he can try to charm some polka queen someday. Can be found at http://www.st-hubertus.bc.ca/
3. Summerhill - it has a pyramid. What else does one need? It's a very ardent organic winery (organic does NOT necessarily mean good in terms of wine, though. I have had terrible reds from California that advertise that) that is very smooth and sublimely packaged. The wine house and room overlooks the bay, and it has a very classic wood-cabin feel, only if your wood cabin overlooks a hill and has a 270 degree view made of glass. It's beautiful but I definitely prefer Cedar Creek's look, because this felt a little cold to me. Summerhill is most known for their ice wines, which are good, but are overpriced for what they are. For the prices they demand I would rather wait for a small release from other wineries ($100/bottle is comparable to Hainle, which is a standard-bearer for all of Canada). The staff was decidedly more sales-oriented, which is life. Website at http://www.summerhill.bc.ca/
4. Ex Nihilo - really cool winery. I stopped in there at 10:15AM one day, just after being pulled over to get a warning but no speeding ticket (yay kind Okanagan cops!) and met the proprietor, Jeff Harder. We bantered about everything, from Singapore (he's lived there, my folks are from there) to boats (he designed them) to law (I do stuff in that) to the erotic art show they had the night before, to the wines themselves and how they got into the business. They even have ice wines they do in partnership with the Rolling Stones. Very eclectic winery but very good at the few things they do prepare. I even bought their merlot, and I don't like merlot much as a rule. Their Night is something to hold onto though - a strong meritage blend that already is starting to show a warmth from the 50/25/25 merlot/sauv/franc combo. I have a magnum of that in the cellar. I think I also have a merlot icewine of theirs, which works well - the tannin structure helps to cut through the super-sweetness inherent in an ice wine. Click for more details at http://exnihilovineyards.com/
5. Arrowleaf - perhaps the best outdoor seating area near Lake Okanagan that I have seen from a winery. So peaceful, so quiet - a view that is slightly obscured by trees, but the sheer tranquility of sitting at a picnic bench in the plain sun with a basket filled with valley fruit, a loaf of bread perhaps, some cheese, and of course wines from the house. Producers of some very unique grapes that I am looking forward to having full bottles of - bacchus and zweigelt are what I have specifically in mind. Their Solstice Reserve, a 60/40 blend of merlot and zweigelt, has a far lighter character than Night or Cedar Creek's meritage, but is also another to lay down for about a year in the cellar. Already a very pleasant sipper, though. Very helpful and knowledgeable, though the guy really fooled me - I thought he was Dutch and he's from Argentina! Website at http://www.arrowleafcellars.com/
6. Rollingdale - the website looks chintzy and the wine shop itself is in the cooling facility for the wine (so you feel like you're in a giant fridge) but don't let that fool you. This vineyard produces some stunning wines - their higher end wines are still a little closed but have the perfect tannin structure to unlock as you give it years to age. If you want straight sippers though, their pinot gris is very tasty. I have their merlot and cab sauv, the merlot more as an afterthought because I basically got it for free given one of my absolute crazy purchases, and because the two are 'la droit et la gauche', so how could I not get the pair? They may as well have called it Gemini and sold it as such, for all I care, but in truth, the cab sauv is far more approachable from any vantage point as compared to the merlot. I have not had a chance to sample my absolute crazy purchase from this trip, the Sweet Tooth ice wine, and I am not going to open that until far later, but what I do know is that 100s are almost unheard of for ice wines. Reds are most common, whites are surprising (and I'm happy I hit upon a good white from the 2010 Bordeaux futuers that does have that), but ice wines... I haven't seen anything over a 93 anywhere. Looking forward to this 100-pointer I now hold, someday. Smart staff that knows their stuff on their wines. Info at http://www.rollingdale.ca/
7. Volcanic Hills - a fairly new winery, it doesn't even have a website up! Good value wines, though - a large assortment of reds and whites from this estate. It was pretty much my afterthought to visit (so much so that I did a pretty wacky U-turn to go there since I overshot it) but I'm glad I did. They have two blends, one that's pinot noir/merlot (lighter) and another that's merlot/cab (heavier), and appropriately called lava and magma (or something like that). Nice, friendly staff - probably a few more years and they'll have their wines perfectly refined. Great potential. They are right next to Mission Hill and Rollingdale, after all, so the soil is definitely promising. Info at http://www.hellobc.com/TBCCW/Activity/4563496.htm
So there's that for now! Let me know if you do want Part 2!
The wine country of BC has three large regions inland: the Okanagan valley around Kelowna, the Similkameen valley between Keremeos and Osoyoos, and a large center near Oliver (between Osoyoos and Oliver). Around these main areas are a bunch of outlying regions that also grow grapes (in addition to a large assortment of other fruit).
The Okanagan is a fertile, lush, rich area that was originally characterized by major fruit orchards and is still one of Canada's premier areas to grow stone fruits - cherries and peaches, as well as apples and pears. When they realized the aridity of the land could be well-utilized with various irrigation methods from the lake, they decided it would be a good experiment with grapes. It works quite well - bathed in sun for many months of the year, the land is fertile enough to sustain decent old-growth vines.
That being said, it's quite a contrast when you go from the Okanagan to the Similkameen. Whereas the Okanagan is more grassland, the Similkameen and Oliver are on the north end of the Sonora desert and thus the climate is far drier, far hotter, and the land certainly has more of that country feel to it. Driving along the road, you can see the small cloud of dust you kick up, even in a rainstorm. What's remarkable is that, from what I remember, Kelowna is all but 200 kilometres from Osoyoos, There's no mountain pass, or anything else, that separates the two cities - it's really just the proximity to the lake that causes the great variation in climate.
And so we get to the climate comparison. Because Kelowna is further north, the temperatures only climb above 35C for a few months a year at most (probably 2 or 3), whereas Osoyoos could very easily remind me of Saskatoon, where you could see anywhere from 2 to 5 months at those temperatures. As such, Kelowna's soil is far better for cultivating grapes that grow in cooler climates - whites, for instance, thrive extensively in the region. Riesling, pinot gris, chardonnay and gewurztraminer are found at almost all wineries. Lighter reds such as pinot noir are also common, as is even in some cases merlot. Also, Kelowna is capable of really fostering ice wines. Osoyoos, on the other hand, has a greater variety of wines that can be cultivated, and many Kelowna-based wineries (Cedar Creek as an eg) will import Osoyoos-grown grapes for some of their deeper reds. Osoyoos has a well-established base of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and cabernet franc - the aridity of the soil imparts a deeper aroma to the wines, that black coffee smell you get when swirling some of these wines in the glass. More recently, they have been exploring varietals that are strongly heat-favoring such as malbec, which kind of figures since Mendoza, in Argentina, is the hotbed of malbec nowadays, and is a hot climate as well with the same kinds of temperature variation given how far it is from the equator. Given a few decades, I would be interested to compare an Osoyoos malbec against, say, Catena Zapata's malbec, which is among the standard-bearers for the grape.
One other thing that is important to note about the whole region is that it has a lot of similarities to both Europe and South America. For the Kelowna area, the climate is apparently decently reminiscent of the Ruhr or Saar valleys, one of which borders Alsace. These regions generate among the world's most renowned dry rieslings. And the Ruhr and Saar are industrial coal-mining valleys, meaning the soil has strong mineral characteristics. The same is true with Mendoza, which produces lime, uranium, and petroleum among other items. That part of BC is rife with mineral claims staked, as certain large BC companies (Teck Cominco, etc) found large deposits of metals including tin in the area. Likewise, nearer to Osoyoos coalbed methane is being touted as a new energy export to the US and developing markets. These items will suffuse into the soil a bit, adding some extra mineral characteristics to the rocks that the vines will grow around, and reflecting some of that into the wines themselves. That being said, the region's fruit-growing prowess differs from Germany's natural character now, but closely mirrors Mendoza. Perhaps Germany was like that centuries ago, before the mass urbanization that occurred across the western half of it during the Cold War.
So onto the wineries I've visited, in order of what I've visited! Okay, part 1 today. I'm too tired to go through Part 2 but if there's enough interest I will do the Part 2. Part 1 is all the stuff I visited en route to Kelowna and Vernon (staying with my buddies Jesse, Coady and Cam) - 2 will be en route to Osoyoos. Someday I will do a Part 3, but I have to do the drive between Osoyoos and Kelowna to get that. So many temptations!
1. Cedar Creek - take the winery tour - it's really neat. The site is gorgeous and had I had more time, I would've sat on their rooftop patio overlooking the south end of Lake Okanagan for lunch. The wines are great from every price point and varietal. Of their standard prices, I recommend their pinot gris and rose for sure. Of their premiums, their meritage, malbec, and cab sauv are all good, though they outsource from Osoyoos. I'm sad I didn't get the Colbert-barreled ones, where they somehow got ahold of some French Oak from the island of Elba or something (there's some kind of history about them - apparently during the Napoleonic wars, there was an informal deal between France and other powers that regardless of the outcome of the war, these oaks would be left untouched for their wine potential... probably hyperbole but whatever). Of particular interest to me is their M wine - madeira-style, its amber color is attractive and drinks more easily than most ports. That being said, price points in this winery are high relative to most. Very friendly staff, though - they kept letting me have samples, even of premium items they save for paid tastings outside tours! Can be found at http://www.cedarcreek.bc.ca/
2. St Hubertus - it has an old-world feel - I think they sell wine out of a refurbished country garage or barn or something - rough stone and all makes it charming in a more relaxed way. Their whites are far better than their reds (the merlot, especially, remains quite tannic and I don't really know if anything good would result after a few yaers of aging) - the gewurztraminer is excellent. I even left a bottle for Jesse as a test to figure out how to pair for his friends. Very down to earth people - friendly, outgoing, they even got Jesse practicing his German so he can try to charm some polka queen someday. Can be found at http://www.st-hubertus.bc.ca/
3. Summerhill - it has a pyramid. What else does one need? It's a very ardent organic winery (organic does NOT necessarily mean good in terms of wine, though. I have had terrible reds from California that advertise that) that is very smooth and sublimely packaged. The wine house and room overlooks the bay, and it has a very classic wood-cabin feel, only if your wood cabin overlooks a hill and has a 270 degree view made of glass. It's beautiful but I definitely prefer Cedar Creek's look, because this felt a little cold to me. Summerhill is most known for their ice wines, which are good, but are overpriced for what they are. For the prices they demand I would rather wait for a small release from other wineries ($100/bottle is comparable to Hainle, which is a standard-bearer for all of Canada). The staff was decidedly more sales-oriented, which is life. Website at http://www.summerhill.bc.ca/
4. Ex Nihilo - really cool winery. I stopped in there at 10:15AM one day, just after being pulled over to get a warning but no speeding ticket (yay kind Okanagan cops!) and met the proprietor, Jeff Harder. We bantered about everything, from Singapore (he's lived there, my folks are from there) to boats (he designed them) to law (I do stuff in that) to the erotic art show they had the night before, to the wines themselves and how they got into the business. They even have ice wines they do in partnership with the Rolling Stones. Very eclectic winery but very good at the few things they do prepare. I even bought their merlot, and I don't like merlot much as a rule. Their Night is something to hold onto though - a strong meritage blend that already is starting to show a warmth from the 50/25/25 merlot/sauv/franc combo. I have a magnum of that in the cellar. I think I also have a merlot icewine of theirs, which works well - the tannin structure helps to cut through the super-sweetness inherent in an ice wine. Click for more details at http://exnihilovineyards.com/
5. Arrowleaf - perhaps the best outdoor seating area near Lake Okanagan that I have seen from a winery. So peaceful, so quiet - a view that is slightly obscured by trees, but the sheer tranquility of sitting at a picnic bench in the plain sun with a basket filled with valley fruit, a loaf of bread perhaps, some cheese, and of course wines from the house. Producers of some very unique grapes that I am looking forward to having full bottles of - bacchus and zweigelt are what I have specifically in mind. Their Solstice Reserve, a 60/40 blend of merlot and zweigelt, has a far lighter character than Night or Cedar Creek's meritage, but is also another to lay down for about a year in the cellar. Already a very pleasant sipper, though. Very helpful and knowledgeable, though the guy really fooled me - I thought he was Dutch and he's from Argentina! Website at http://www.arrowleafcellars.com/
6. Rollingdale - the website looks chintzy and the wine shop itself is in the cooling facility for the wine (so you feel like you're in a giant fridge) but don't let that fool you. This vineyard produces some stunning wines - their higher end wines are still a little closed but have the perfect tannin structure to unlock as you give it years to age. If you want straight sippers though, their pinot gris is very tasty. I have their merlot and cab sauv, the merlot more as an afterthought because I basically got it for free given one of my absolute crazy purchases, and because the two are 'la droit et la gauche', so how could I not get the pair? They may as well have called it Gemini and sold it as such, for all I care, but in truth, the cab sauv is far more approachable from any vantage point as compared to the merlot. I have not had a chance to sample my absolute crazy purchase from this trip, the Sweet Tooth ice wine, and I am not going to open that until far later, but what I do know is that 100s are almost unheard of for ice wines. Reds are most common, whites are surprising (and I'm happy I hit upon a good white from the 2010 Bordeaux futuers that does have that), but ice wines... I haven't seen anything over a 93 anywhere. Looking forward to this 100-pointer I now hold, someday. Smart staff that knows their stuff on their wines. Info at http://www.rollingdale.ca/
7. Volcanic Hills - a fairly new winery, it doesn't even have a website up! Good value wines, though - a large assortment of reds and whites from this estate. It was pretty much my afterthought to visit (so much so that I did a pretty wacky U-turn to go there since I overshot it) but I'm glad I did. They have two blends, one that's pinot noir/merlot (lighter) and another that's merlot/cab (heavier), and appropriately called lava and magma (or something like that). Nice, friendly staff - probably a few more years and they'll have their wines perfectly refined. Great potential. They are right next to Mission Hill and Rollingdale, after all, so the soil is definitely promising. Info at http://www.hellobc.com/TBCCW/Activity/4563496.htm
So there's that for now! Let me know if you do want Part 2!