Bordertown
When the results of the 2017 BC Best of Varietal Wine Awards (winefestivals.com) were announced in Penticton in May, the usual grape varieties and wine styles took centre stage.
Take Merlot, for example, one of the classic Bordeaux varieties and a staple of Okanagan and Similkameen wine production. In all, Merlot as a single variety won seven awards and also took ten medals in two price categories as a key ingredient in red Meritage. Not a surprising result considering the diversity of such factors as viticulture and winemaking inputs as well as price and quality categories.
While the most popular grape varieties and blends captured the bulk of awards, organizers left some room for lesser known varieties, types and styles. This is a story about wines on the fringe, or in some cases at the forefront, of BC winemaking.
Grüner Veltliner A World Class White Varietal
In less than a decade, little known Grüner Veltliner has gained a foothold in British Columbia with plantings on Vancouver Island and in the South Okanagan. The archetypal grape variety of Austria, GV is acquiring a reputation as a world class alternative to other classic white varieties such as Riesling and Chardonnay.
Under the tutelage of talented, determined winemakers like Daniel Bontorin of Bordertown Vineyards and Estate Winery in Osoyoos, the hardy, late-ripening variety has the potential to win over knowledgeable, adventurous BC consumers. Dry, aromatic, packed with flavour, Bordertown’s 2015 Grüner Veltliner suffers only one problem; insufficient supply.
Pentage
Ancient Wine Style a New Offering at Pentage Winery
Seeking out unusual and unique wines brought me to Pentâge Winery above Skaha Lake in Okanagan Falls, where one of the oldest winemaking processes is employed to produce an Appassimento-style red wine; a 2013 Reserve Cabernet Franc.
Since antiquity, the technique of drying grapes on mats or racks, or hanging bunches on hooks from the rafters, has been used to increase sugars, concentration and strength of wine.
Techniques include picking the ripest (although not over-ripe) and healthiest grapes and careful handling and good ventilation to prevent rot during the dehydration phase.
The best known “appassimento-style” wine is Amarone (more correctly Amarone della Valpolicella), a big, rich, concentrated dry or off-dry red wine with port-like flavours and a bitter finish from the Valpolicella region of northeast Italy. At Pentâge, co-owner and winemaker Paul Gardner crafted his first appassimento-style wine in 2011, making only 40 cases.
“2013 is the second year,” he says, add the process is meticulous.
“Only clusters with no blemishes, that look perfect, are hand-selected,” he explains. “They are placed in a single layer in baskets and air-dried naturally for 35 days.”
The result is a deep, dark powerhouse of intensity, richness, complexity and structure.
Hester Creek's Trebbiano a BC Cult Wine
Hester Creek 2016 Old Vines Trebbiano Block 16 is made from 49-year-old vines grown directly in front of the winery on the Golden Mile Bench. It took an eccentric Italian immigrant by the name of Joe Busnardo to challenge conventional wisdom and plant a host of vinifera grape varieties said to be unsuited for local conditions.
Through thick and thin, including the bitter winter of 1978-79 and periods of neglect, the 2.5-acre vineyard has endured. While Trebbiano is grown extensively in Italy and France and is responsible for Cognac and other brandies, interest in the late maturing, high yielding variety has been non-existent.
That makes Hester Creek’s stylish, succulent 2016 Old Vines Trebbiano from Block 16 a deserving BC cult wine.
A Beer-Cider Hybrid? Yes Please!
Discovered at Vernon’s Raising Spirits wine expo in February, The Bunk House Dry-Hopped Cider helps bridge the flavour niche between beer and cider. Blond, slightly effervescent and medium dry, the unique brew from Left Field Cider Co., an artisanal, organic cidery in Mamette Lake near Merritt, is made by infusing a full juice cider with locally grown hops. Flavours are crisp, balanced and hoppy with green apple and elderflower notes.
Haskap Berry Wine Ideal for Colder Climes
Haskap
The competition medal winner for most unique wine surely goes to Monte Creek Ranch winery’s innovative, non-vintage Haskap Berry Wine. The Japanese name for the Ainu people of northern Japan, haskap berry is also known as Edible Blue Honeysuckle.
The Canadian prairies, even the Northwest Territories, are proving to be very well-suited to the winter hardy berry. The zesty, dark blue, early ripening berry grows on a deciduous shrub 1.5-2 metres tall. The tasty berry features a higher level of antioxidants than blueberries or virtually any other berry. As a tangy, medium sweet desert wine, it offers bright, juicy, food-friendly cherry Saskatoon berry flavours.
Naramata's La Frenz Winery Develops Aussie Style Liqueur Muscat
La Frenz Winery on the Naramata Bench is home to a Liqueur Muscat, a fortified wine made in a luscious, sweet, richly flavoured style of the fortified Muscats of the Rutherglen region of northeast Victoria in Australia.
One difference is that La Frenz uses a combination of three different Muscat varieties in its blend, while Brown Muscat is used exclusively to make Muscat of Rutherglen. Key to the style of storing and aging, La Frenz Liqueur Muscat is produced in the solera system, and is a blend of many vintages in which the older wines are infused by younger ones to maintain consistency and complexity.
