Canada’s own California: top tastes of the Okanagan
Five B.C. wines that will make you go west
by Tony Aspler
WE HAVE FREE trade with the US and
Mexico but not between Canadian
provinces. Which is why you don’t
see many British Columbia wines in
Ontario. Unless you’ve visited the
Okanagan you’ve probably never
heard of such great little boutique
wineries like Black Hills, Fairview
Cellars, La Frenz, Poplar Grove,
Golden Mile, Kettle Valley and
Sandhill.
British Columbia is like Chile - a
vertical wine region stretching
from Salmon Arm in the north to
the Washington State border. BC’s
vintners tend to model their wines
on California and Washington
State, although there is still a
lingering German influence using
grapes such as Bacchus,
Ehrenfelser, Kerner, Ortega, and
Schönburger. Given its geography
the range in temperature and
rainfall is enormous. Thus, the
island and the northern Okanagan
feature early ripening hybrids,
while Oliver and the Osoyoos region
(Canada’s only pocket desert) can
ripen Bordeaux varieties such as
Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot
and the Rhône variety Syrah.
On a recent visit to BC I toured
the properties owned or managed
by Vincor. I have chosen the top five
wines I tasted there.
See ya later? You’ll never want to leave!
Hawthorne Mountain is the only
winery I know that has a dog
cemetery on the property. The
original owner, an eccentric
Englishman, buried twelve dogs
now celebrated by a portfolio of
wines called See Ya Later. These
feature a winged dog with a halo on
the labels and some are actually
named after the dogs in the
cemetery.
2005 See Ya Later Chardonnay
(barrel-fermented): straw colour;
spicy, tropical fruit, oaky nose; fullbodied,
spice tangerine and mango
flavours laced with oak, nutty finish.
The Pinotage that’s yours to discover
Inniskillin Okanagan is not as
imposing a winery as its Ontario
counterpart. Basically, it’s a cinder
block building off Highway 97,
although they are in the process of
building a new visitors’ centre
adjacent to the main road south to
the US. Here I tasted several wines
from the Discovery Series,
experimental plantings of varieties
not usually associated with the
Okanagan. Discovery Series
Pinotage 2005 (barrel sample):
dense purple colour; a bouquet of
rose petals, cherries and spice;
medium-bodied, lovely fruit
character, very enjoyable. I would
not have recognised it blind as a
Pinotage but it was a delicious red
wine.
Pretty in Pinot
The first time I saw Nk'Mip
Vineyards was in 2002 for the
ceremonial opening of the winery.
The facility is on land owned by the
Osoyoos Indian Band, who planted
250 acres of vineyard near Oliver in
1968. With Vincor, they created the
winery and have subsequently
added a golf course, a restaurant
and a series of condos that look like
a contemporary Navajo village.
Winemaker Randy Picton led our
group through a series of his Pinot
Noirs – 2002, 2003, 2004, 2004
Qwan Qwmt and a barrel sample of
2005. (Qwan Qwmt – an Indian
expression for “achieving
excellence” – is Nk'Mip's top-of-theline
range).
The Pinot Noirs are really very
good, very Burgundian in style, well
extracted with a great balance of
fruit and oak. I particularly liked
the 2003.
A just-right white from Jackson-Triggs
Jackson-Triggs Okanagan has
been recognized as ‘Best of Nation:
Canada’ at the San Francisco
International Wine Competition for
the third time in five years. Bruce
Nicholson, the head winemaker for
Jackson-Triggs, makes spectacular
reds – Shiraz and Cabernet Blends.
But it is his Jackson-Triggs
Proprietors' Grand Reserve
Sauvignon Blanc 2005 that
captured my attention: pale straw
colour; grassy, green plum and
grapefruit nose; full on the palate
with a touch of sweetness, soft
mouth feel but finishes with lively
acidity. Stylistically more like New
Zealand.
What’s good for the gooseberry...
Sumac Ridge, one of BC's oldest
estate wineries, opened its wine
shop 25 years ago. Harry
McWatters, the winery's founder,
sabred a bottle of sparkling wine
while we toasted him with
Pinnacles Brut 2000 (a Pinot Noir
sparkler). McWatters has been an
industry leader in BC, having made
the first sparkling wine (Steller's
Jay in 1989), opened the first winery
restaurant, made the first wine
from the Black Sage vineyard and
produced the first Meritage in
Canada in 1993.
A favourite of mine from Sumac
Ridge is the white Meritage 2003,a
Sauvignon/Semillon blend: medium
straw in colour, it has a nose of
gooseberries and grapefruit with a
lift of vanilla oak; medium-bodied, it
has a lovely fresh, tangy flavour of
gooseberries, citrus fruit freshly cut
grass and vanilla oak.
Their homes may be across the
country, but a sip these five
Okanagan wines will make it well
worth the trip. 
Post City Magazines’ resident oenophile, Tony Aspler, has authored 11 books on wine and food, including The Wine Lover’s Mystery Series. He is also the creator of the annual Ontario Wine Awards and a co-founder of the Grapes for Humanity charity. He can also be heard each week on 680News.
