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Terracotta Jars
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Matt Dumayne
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Haywire Wines
The ancient practice of using clay or terracotta vessels for fermenting wine is making a comeback as an alternative, less intrusive, more natural, more artisanal way of producing wine. Such is the case for Okanagan Crush Pad Winery in Summerland where two 800 litre jars have been imported from Impruneta, a little village near Florence, for making a duo of specialty wines under the company’s Haywire label. The latest offerings include 2014 Free Form, a single clone Pinot Noir sourced from the Water & Banks Vineyard on Happy Valley Rd., and 2014 Wild Ferment Pinot Gris from grapes grown on a tiny block at the bottom of Switchback Vineyard, part of the 10 acre winery estate. Okanagan Crush Pad winemaker Matt Dumayne explains the process: “The hand-picked grapes went straight into the respective vessels without the addition of yeasts, or other additives including sulphur. The jars were sealed with locking stainless steel lids and left without any intervention for 9 months.” The juice ferments in contact with the grape skins in the same way that the Greeks and Romans made wine 2,000 years ago in large clay containers. Pressing the skins does not take place until the seal is broken before bottling.
All of this ties in nicely with Okanagan Crush Pad’s investment in large concrete egg vessels for fermentation and storage of wine as well as transitioning to organic viticulture at both Switchback Vineyard and the nearby, 312 acre, high-elevation Garnet Valley Ranch. While concrete containers are innovative, using terracotta vessels takes winemaking back to its earliest roots. “The idea is catching on,” says Dumayne. He referred to the RAW conference in London held in the spring which showcases “150 artisan wine producers from around the world committed to producing fine, natural, biodynamic or organic wine. Also, a few other wineries in the Okanagan such as Laughing Stock have become involved in making amphora wine.”
How is amphora wine different from the usual, more heavily processed, technologically-driven wines? As the porosity of terracotta is greater than stainless steel and most oak barrels, the wine’s evolution takes new and unique twists and turns along its evolutionary journey. Both Wild Ferment Pinot Gris and Free Form Pinot Noir are unfiltered and shows slight cloudiness. Long skin contact in a clay vessel account for Pinot Gris’ orange amber hue. Oozing complexity and vitality, these wines exhibit fresh, juicy, bold fruit and grainy, finely-textured, silky tannins.
Amphora wine portends an overall, long-term trend towards more authentic, pure, unadulterated wines, allowing consumers to connect to wines’ origins as never before. Ask Okanagan Crush Pad co-owner Christine Coletta what’s behind the amphora wine program and she says, “It is an example of how we like to think outside the box.”
