BC Sparkling Wines
Next time you pop a tasty bubbly made in BC, think back to an earlier era when Baby Duck stormed onto the scene.
Port Moody-based wine producer Andrew Peller hatched a clever plan to introduce a low alcohol sparkling wine and thereby reduce the tax burden compared to conventional wines and lower the price.
The result? A pink, carbonated sparkling, or ‘crackling’, wine with Concord grape juice as the chief ingredient and an iconic label showcasing the image of a cute, cuddly animal. Sales soared, exceeding over 80 million bottles between its launch in 1971 and 1980.
Fast forward to the late 1980s as a new breed of winemakers emerges to lead the BC wine industry into a bold, new age of premium, world class wines. The Becker Project carried out in the 1970s and 80s confirmed the viability of vinifera grapes in the Okanagan.
According to noted wine author John Schreiner, it was leading Summerland Research Station scientist Gary Strachan who recognized the potential of more acidic Okanagan grapes for making Méthode Champenoise sparkling wines. With a grant from the National Research Council, Strachan launched trials in 1983 to make as many as 80 small batches of bottle fermented bubblies.
Convinced the area between Summerland and Okanagan Falls produced grapes with the right acid balance, Sumac Ridge co-founder Harry McWatters joined with Strachan as the first producer to participate in the project. After years of trial and error, McWatters in 1991 launched Stellar’s Jay Cuveé, BC’s first commercially produced, classic method sparkling wine, marking Sumac’s 10th anniversary. The task of making the wine - a blend of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay harvested in 2007 – went to Eric von Krosigk, a native of Vernon just back from studies in Germany that included an apprenticeship with a sparkling wine producer. Von Krosigk recalls early trials at the “mobile chateau”, a 40 foot truck situated on property now known as the Blue Mountain Vineyard.
“Blue Mountain’s co-founder Ian Mavety was part of all that,” he says. “Our cool climate contributes to ensuring the right phenolics and balance for sparkling wine grapes - as long as everything goes according to expectations.
“But when conditions get hotter, as has been the case in recent years, making sparkling wines gets a lot more challenging. It is essential to pick earlier for the desired finesse and to ensure a consistent style.”
Stephen Cipes subsequently enlisted Von Krosigk to establish Summerhill Pyramid Winery and make traditional-style bubblies. He developed Summerhill’s widely-popular Cipes Brut, a bottle-fermented sparkling wine based primarily on Riesling, the great German grape grown extensively in the Okanagan.
Lengthy and labour-intensive, the process for making bottle-fermented sparkling wines in the style of Champagne comes at a price. Depending on the occasion, say when fun takes precedence over image, the cheaper alternative for many is a sparkling wine fermented in a tank and bottled under pressure, also known as Charmat method or méthode cuvee close. Sealing the bottle with a metal cap does away with the ritual involved in opening sparkling wines sealed with a mushroom cork and wire mesh and adds a casual touch. Carbonation by simply injecting the base wine with carbon dioxide produces less pressure and results in lighter effervesce and bigger bubbles along the lines of frizzante style wines.
A Sampler of BC’s Sparkling Wines
Cipes Blanc de Franc 2011 is a one off, pink bubbly made with Cabernet Franc sourced from a block in Osoyoos. “Typically, these grapes are left on the vine and used to make Icewine,” says Von Krosigk. “But 2011 was a difficult year, producing grapes unusually low in sugar. When we started picking on October 19, there was a brief window to make an exceptional sparkling wine. Dusty rose in colour, it boasts a complex and penetrating nose suggesting mince pie and minerals, and a rich, creamy palate with notes of raspberry, tobacco and black pepper.
Fitz Brut 2014 is the second sparkling wine vintage from Fitzpatrick Family Vineyards, a cutting edge winery recently established on the historic Greata Ranch in Peachland. Estate grown with 72% Chardonnay and 28% Pinot Noir, Fitz Brut was left en tirage for two years in the style of traditional Champagne. Classy and complex, it features apple, apricot and fresh bread aromas and rich, creamy palate enlivened by a clean, crisp, biscuity, champagne-like presence.
Maverick Ella Brut Rosé 2013 has inverted the grape mix with 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay, in part because winemaker Bertus Albertyn is determined to make a single variety Chardonnay table wine as well from limited availability of estate grown fruit. A serious bubbly with a high proportion of Pinot Noir and skin contact, Ella Brut accentuates flavour richness, balance and length. Toasty palate features creamy texture and notes of plum, fig, nuts and biscotti.
Tantalus Old Vines Riesling Brut 2014 has the distinction of being produced from grapes grown on a small vineyard in East Kelowna planted by Den and Pat Dulik in 1978. A forest on the edge of the vineyard partially blocks the sun ensuring that the fruit retains bright acidity to enliven flavour-packed palate suggesting grapefruit, lemon-lime, green apple and mineral with a hint of petrol.
The View Winery & Vineyard, housed in an East Kelowna packing house built by George Ward in 1922, has carved its own niche in trendy sparkling wine segment with a diverse line-up of bubbles.
The pop bubblies of the bunch, Bling White and Pink are sold in the six-pack format instead of traditional champagne bottles. Inside the cans are nicely crafted products made exclusively from estate-grown grapes. Picked at lower brix to produce 8% alcohol wine, the wines are lightly carbonated in Charmat style tanks, slightly sweetened by the addition of late harvest wine and, lastly, blended with green harvested “verjus” to add crisp acidity and further lower alcohol. Gauche by traditional standards, it no doubt appeals to a new generation of unconventional souls.
Based on estate grown, blanc de noirs Pinotage blended with aromatic whites and Pinot Noir rosé, Distraction Frizzante 2017 serves up bouncy, succulent cranberry, strawberry and white peach fruit enhanced by clean, sharp, citrus edge and a gentle, lively effervescence.
Pearls Traditional Brut 2016 is a bottle fermented bubbly with extended lees contact to build complexity and a biscuit like yeast character. Derived primarily from 18 brix Riesling grapes with a touch of blanc de Pinotage, Pearls comprises under 12% alcohol and a dry, refined, near steely palate with hints of green apple, bright mineral and freshly-baked bread embellished by a trace of creamy richness.
Élan Effervescence NV is feel-good, party bubble produced by Harry McWatters’ Evolve Cellars in Summerland. Gently frothy and cheerful, here is an aromatic, off-dry, fruit-driven sparking wine for the masses. Coming in 2019 to mark McWatters’ 50th vintage, a traditional method, blanc de blancs made from specially-selected Chardonnay fruit crushed at the new Time Winery facility in downtown Penticton on August 28, 2017.
Singletree Winery, a small, family-operated vineyard located at the foot of Mt. Lehman in the heart of the Fraser Valley, will be adding a frizzante-style bubbly made from early-ripening Siegerrebe grapes from the 2017 vintage, to be released this coming spring.
Intriguing options in the sparkling wine segment are a duo of frolicsome, ecologically sensitive fruit wines from Cawston’s Forbidden Fruit Winery in the Similkameen Valley. According to co-owner Steve Venables, “they are sweet with fruit up front and the finish is refreshingly neutral. We call Flirt and Flaunt the ‘the sparkling wine sisters’.”
Made with certified organic Satsuma, Friar and Redheart Asian/Japanese plums, Flaunt exudes flavors of watermelon, strawberry, tropical fruit and a slight cranberry tartness on the finish.
Flirt is made with three varieties of certified organic freestone yellow peaches, Redhaven, Glohaven, and O’Henrys. “It really captures a summer day in the orchard eating ripe, juicy peaches right off the tree with the frothy juice running down your chin,” says Venables.
