South Okanagan Valley

Hey Fellow Wino's

In late September I visited my parents in Kelowna and decided to pop down to the Southern Okanagan Valley to see what all the big fuss was about.

Driving almost two hours south of Kelowna past the small towns of Summerland and Penticton, towards Osoyoos and the American border, everything started to change. 

In the central and North Okanagan Valley, it is a tad cooler so varietals like Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Noir thrive where Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah have a bit of a hard time fully ripening. The opposite is true in the South Okanagan Valley. The days are warmer by up to 5C compared to the north and there is no moderating lake effect like there is in Kelowna. In the south near Oliver and Osoyoos, winemakers strive for big results, literally.  Varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and even some heavy hitting whites like Viognier, Marsanne & Roussanne as well as some very unique varietals like Trebbiano a white grape typically from central Italy, are grown here.

What will really rattle your brain through is the experimentation with very unique varietals such as Barbara from Piedmont Italy, Sangiovese from Tuscany Italy and Tempranillo, typically from Rioja in Spain. Canadian Chianti or Canadian Rioja anyone?

It still warps my little wine brain that the “Okanagan Valley” can grow both cool and warm climate varietals in the same valley. Now, this valley does stretch a few hundred kilometres North to South and there are soil, water and temperature variances so it is believable from a scientific or technical standpoint, but personally, I find it quite bizarre. I mean you don’t hear much of Spanish Riesling just a few hundred clicks up the road from Rioja which does big Tempranillo. You also don’t hear much Sangiovese from Tuscany to go side by side some local Tuscan Chardonnay. The Okanagan Valley is just a very unique hodgepodge mix of climates, varietals and soils "Terroir" that really make the difference. 

Just under two hours south I stopped into Road 13, a vineyard that won “Best Winery of the Year” award in 2018 by the National Wine Awards from Wine Align. So, what was the fuss all about?

Well for starters they make single varietal Marsanne and single varietal Roussanne, two grapes typically blended together in the Northern Rhone Valley. South Okanagan in location, Northern Rhone in style. This was the first time I was able to try these varietals on their own. The Marsanne had subtle stone fruit such as white Peach and Asian Pear with some nuttiness and overall pleasant. The Roussanne was more flavourful with Pineapple, Apricot, Golden Apple and even some Mandarin Orange. The wine certainly had a richness similar to Viognier, although a tad lighter. Both wines saw a combo of stainless steel, concrete egg and French oak. I sampled several more but these were the ones that had my somm bone most intrigued. 

Onto Hester Creek for their Syrah-Viognier blended wine. Hester Creek is literally just up the road from Road 13 and specializes in their “Cote Rotie” style blend styled from the Northern Rhone Valley in France. In Cote Rotie, they co-ferment Syrah grapes and Viognier (white grape) grapes to make a floral yet earthy, meaty backbone red. This is hardly a child's wine but serious wine for serious wine lovers. Notes of raspberry, blueberry, white pepper and violets fill the glass but this is not Northern Rhone. The Fruit condition is a tad riper and the typical smoked meat, olive brine, soy-sauce richness simply is lacking. While I enjoyed it tremendously and even picked up a bottle for home, this is a Canadian New World Okanagan take on this Northern Rhone classic. A good effort and would gladly recommend as my family and I enjoyed it with some ribeyes, salt-pepper on the grill.

The one thing that also puts Hester Creek on the map is their Trebbiano, the only of its kind in the Okanagan Valley. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for sampling but I can only imagine how these 50-year-old vines would produce a rich and voluptuous Trebbiano to certainly stand head to head with Italy’s. 

Onto Le Vieux Pin, a boutique winery up the road. Le View Pin has visitations by appointment only as they only produce around 7,000 cases per year. I emailed ahead and after accepting my request, they were expecting me. Upon entering I tasted their whole flight starting with a 100% Pinot Noir based Rose, pleasant, earthy, serious but still, a rose. Onto a simple white blending all of their varietals, meh, good but not my cup of tea. Onto their Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne blend, wow. This was as rich as Condrieu (Northern Rhone) and as spiny as a Marsanne could make it with great acidity and structure. Ripe peaches, yellow plums, chamomile tea with some light brioche and a light honey drizzle note. Superb and worthy of ageing and decanting.

Ok, onto the reds. Syrah and more Syrah. I first tasted their Cuvee Classique Syrah priced around $40 a bottle and it was the perfect blend between Old World Northern Rhone Syrah and Australian Shiraz. The fruit was bolder and riper than the Rhone would produce yet more elegant and less jammy that the Aussies do theirs. The earth, olive brine and smoked meat were less than the Northern Rhone but more than the Aussie’s, truly a middle of the road approach just like South Africa can sometimes be that middle of the road approach between Old World and New World style.

I then sampled their more prestigious and more expensive at $90 a bottle, Syrah aged longer in oak and if I’m not mistaken with 2.5% Viognier. Holy Grail of Jesus Wine! There was no spitting this one. If you put this wine in a blind flight I would dare any sommelier (other than maybe a Master Somm) to guess anything other than Northern Rhone Syrah. The fruit was still forward but certainly passable for the old world and the smoked meat, olive brine, soy-sauce umami savouriness was soul touching. This was the most serious wine I’ve had in a long time and was one certainly for the cellar. This wine had the structure to go the distance,10-20 years if aged properly which is a sign of some serious “put this winery on the map” type wine. While the price of this wine places it out of reach for most, in comparison, a good quality wine from the Northern Rhone can easily surpass this price just to start, let alone the top stuff going for $500 a bottle or more. So, all things considered, to sip possibly one of the best Syrah’s from Canada I have ever had for less than a $100 is actually a pretty good deal.

I mean, there is always Yellow Tail Shiraz if you want to penny pinch, me personally, I’ll give you all of my pennies to not pour me a glass. 

I haven’t been “haunted” by a wine in quite some time because writing about this a few days/weeks after tasting I can still remember how delicious this wine really was. I think the last time I had a really good bottle of wine was a 2010 Chateau Segla, the second wine of Rouzan Segla and before that a 2001 Chablis which was full of honeycomb waxiness, unlike any wine I’ve had before. All I can do is slow clap for Le Vieux Pin, truly revolutionizing what it means to produce fine wine in Canada. Bravo!

I headed north back to Kelowna to make my second last stop, Blue Mountain. Not only is Blue Mountain a visually stunning vineyard, but they make some really great sparkling wine. Leaving the South and heading North you can already see the wineries change from big reds to sparkling, which requires a cooler climate. The fun thing about Blue Mountain is they have a bit of elevation on their property so that must help with the diurnal shift, cooling the grapes at night. Their gold label brut is made from 50% Pinot Noir, 45.5% Chardonnay and 4.5% Pinot Gris. Fine mousse, lemon and brioche notes with a smooth finish. It is dry, bordering for a moment with a tinge of sweetness but then the acidity comes slicing through to remind you this is not child play but a serious “champagne”. That’s right, I said it, sue me France! 

I purchased a bottle of their recently released 2010 Reserve Brut R.D. sparkling wine. Made from 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, this wine will be heavier and fuller bodied, not to mention more complex due to its ageing. This wine spent 6.5 years sur-lie, building those rich brioche notes and bottled for 12 months prior to release to really help find it’s groove. I brought this one home to save for a special occasion...does having a case of the Mondays count?

I popped into Burger 55 in Penticton for a later afternoon lunch which may possibly make the best burgers in BC, sorry Vancouver. 

Tunes loaded, the car fueled and further north to Kelowna I headed. I didn’t mention this yet, but the drive itself through the Okanagan Valley was quite beautiful. The small highway blasted out of rock the size of mountains, I couldn’t help but feel quite small. Lake Okanagan looks like an ocean off the side compared to our two-lane highway and tiny cars.

I couldn't resist one last stop to sample the allure of some Canadian Barbera and Sangiovese, traditionally grown in Italy. Sandhill has its vines in the southern Okanagan Valley but their tasting bar is right in Kelowna. While I did pick up a bottle of Sangiovese (use Brunello yeast for fermentation) the wine was lacking some of that earthiness traditionally seen in Chinati or Brunello. Overall for new world Canadian Sangiovese though I have to say I enjoyed it and can't wait to make a pasta to match. Maybe I'll make a Moose Bolognese to really Canadian it up a little.

Overall I was surprised by exploring a new region of the Okanagan Valley which showcased just how different it can be. The Northern Rhone and Southern Rhone are known for two different styles of wine and perhaps we need to start thinking about sub-dividing our version of the “Rhone Valley”. I think if the Southern Okanagan focused on those full-bodied reds and whites basing it on the Northern Rhone model, I think the French would have something to worry about. Unfortunately, until wineries come together and really commit to a few varietals and styles to represent this area, it will continue to be a mix match of producers planting everything from Sangiovese to Marsanne without having an international marketable plan that can be easily recognizable to consumers.

I guess perhaps I’ll just continue to scoop up these great Canadian wine’s while I can because once we do place Okanagan valley more on the international map, the prices will only rise.

Double edged sword I guess. 

Happy Sipping,

Ryan