From Gin to Wine, Do It Yourself or Where Even Vinegar Has a Class... Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
The first thing that has to be mentioned in this reportage are great thanks to Kurt Kellan, former solohornplayer of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and professor of the university in Victoria. Without his organization effort and extraordinary hospitality, there would have been nothing to write about now... My pedagogic - concert expedition into two Canadian provinces would not have taken place, neither any of the wine journeys into individual wineries. And I was taken care of as if I had been a king! We spent each free moment among wine barrels and inox tanks in wine temples, or by a crackling fireplace during collective degustation of samples bought from other areas of British Columbia, which we combined with gastronomic creations made by Kurt's wife or Kurt himself with an apparent enthusiasm of a gourmet; I often had difficulty to remember the main purpose of my stay... The journey to Canada followed after the conductor guest performance in Reykjavík, a pearl embedded into a crude, enchanting landscape of Iceland – that is why the experiences brought home after three weeks really cannot be forgotten...
There are more than 6000 hectares of vineyards in British Columbia in four officially recognized areas: the most extensive and the oldest is Okanagan Valley, quite similar from the point of view of both geography and climate is Similkameen Valley, Fraser Valley is in the vicinity of the city of Vancouver and finally the youngest is Vancouver Island with adjacent islands. The common feature of them all is a temperature favourable for cultivation of grapevine during the vegetative phase, higher than a European expects when imagining the climate of this country, but also frequent lack of water in summer moths. Many places cannot do without irrigation (some areas of Okanagan Valley are classified as a desert!). 230 cultivators take care of the grapevine bushes, the harvest is processed by about 90 wineries in the range from family companies to big enterprises. Production of the district area of Vancouver Island comes mostly under the first category, to the delight of a wine lover sipping from the glasses of gods. A hardly disprovable fact that the most interesting wines are usually produced by those winemakers, who care for both each familiar tree of their small vineyard and each little barrel in a modest cellar with a great passion and humility rather than for their profit, is intensified here by almost a recognition sign of the best companies – though it seems baffling, their cellarmen have come to their jobs from very different fields, compelled usually by a desire to change their hitherto life and associate their living more firmly with a piece of their native soil. It is no chance than that they have a great respect for this soil and try to repay her, by their full care, all the good that she provides them with. A thorough biodynamics is often preferred against the certainty of a rich harvest, if any. With the uncertain climatic conditions of Vancouver Island, this is almost an extreme approach and some companies, also due to the last two weak years, paid the highest price for this. However, the local winemakers also hide safeguards up their sleeve, such as excellent dessert wines produced from wild blackberries and other berries, which grow all around in great abundance as well as weeds. The following text shows that this is not the end of their resourcefulness. The greatest luck however, are the local inhabitants, who patriotically support their winemakers by an unflagging interest in their wines. You will hardly come across products of Vancouver Island (and of Canada in general, with the exception of ice wines) beyond the borders of the country, yet the word “sold out” is an almost obligatory description for selected items on wine lists even in case of the latest vintages.
The first visited winery, Alderlea Vineyards (Alderlea is the original name of the nearby town of Duncan), exactly complies with the above mentioned specifics. The married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Dosman, decided to change their joint life radically, they moved to the countryside and bought a land in the rolling landscape of Cowichan Valley (the place with the highest average annual temperature in the whole Canada) by the lake Quamichan, with a tumbledown barn, which they rebuilt into a small winery. They planted 10 acre vineyard, bought equipment and got down to hard work with uncertain results. Luck was on their side and immediately the first vintage, when the grapevines became fertile, was a great success. Moreover, the microclimate of the vineyard has proved to be very suitable for high-quality wine varieties such as Pinot noir and gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Auxerrois, Viognier, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. They mature on various positions of a slightly sloped land according to the type of the subsoil, which ranges from light soils with a proportion of limestone in the upper part to heavier clay in the bottom parts. Cultivation of late maturing wine varieties can be accelerated also thanks to the contraption of Mr. Dosman – he places a kind of small foil cold-frame, which enables him to accelerate initial vegetative phases. Even the wine varieties suitable for colder climate, such as Bacchus, or the hybrid Maréchal Foch, are not lacking in their vineyard.
We degusted the following (the evaluation itself is stated in front of the name of the wine on a hundred-point scale):
91 Heritage Hearth (port style) 2004, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
88 Pinot gris 2007, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
85 Pinot noir 2006, Reserve, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
84 Fusion 2006 (Cabernet Sauvignon / Maréchal Foch), Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Unfortunately, white wines were sold out, we managed to obtain only one representative of white wines on our way back in a specialized motel of the Best Western chain, the administrator of which is a connoisseur respected far and wide. However, the magnificent Viognier, strongly awakening my interest, was already sold out into private collections...
The winery Venturi Schulze is, unlike the previous one that is really hard to find in a labyrinth of winding little roads without advice from the local people, situated in the vicinity of the arterial road intersecting the island from north to south. What an improbable location for a vineyard – occurs to you at the entrance into a large clearing in a forest where the noise of traffic still can be heard. In spite of this, an excellent wine is born here, all trees has original root stocks and the oldest plot of land from 1988 is even classified as virus - free, which is something few cultivators can boast of, although this place was chosen almost randomly, without any previous nor careful examination of the soil and climate suitability. The owners Giordano Venturi and his wife Marylin risked greatly when they lost their hearts for this piece of land while being on a holiday and decided to plant grapevine here. Subsequent geological probes did not give much hope, the upper layer of the soil even showed to be almost unsuitable for cultivation of grapevine, because of its PH. However, owners did not give up and as an attempt planted a wide range of varieties in the mentioned 5 acre vineyard (among others Pinot noir, Pinot gris, Pinot Auxerrois, Madeleine Sylvaner, Siegerrebe, Schönburger, Ortega and Kerner) to verify a possible capability of one of those varieties to mature under the infavourable conditions. The vineyard was thriving despite the draught of that time. It was soon clear why. There was a biologist working on those plots, whose task was to find out - from samples of perennial plants (in this case lichens parasitizing on old trees of the deep forest) - a possible negative impact of automobile traffic fallout. In the nearby ravine she performed an analysis and found out that under the layer of soil not suitable for grapevine there are layers of lime and clay. The grapevine stressed by its fight for water grew its roots as far as this lower layer of soil, where it found adequate conditions for its growth. This is the reason why the owners have never irrigated their vineyards to this day, not even in the period of the greatest draught. They care about the vineyards in a strictly organic manner and very anxiously protect them against any infection. Later, in 1999, they bought another 15 acres of land from their neighbour. The material from this part of the plot cannot get into the original plot of land and vice versa. That is why it is possible to enter the premises only accompanied by the owners by appointment. In our case, this task was confided to their charming daughter Marilyn. During the walk across the vineyard, she was telling us, apart from highly interesting cultivating experiences, incredible stories experienced in the fight against various creatures from bears and deers, through racoons and moles to birds and hornets, but also against prejudices against other fauna on the part of the (predominantly) Indian team of farm hands. She said that it is sometimes difficult to protect the vineyards according to the above mentioned rules, when the air is suddenly cut by a hysteric cry and some of the women dressed in saaree bolts for the main gate, since she saw a small harmless garden snake next to some of the bushes, or a green frog jumped into her face from the green foliage:-) We were laughing out loud on the way back to the vinegar plant between the vineyard rows.
Now you must think I am joking... But no! Although the building of the vinegar plant (an original building of the winery) is kept in a big distance from wine production (for the obvious reasons), they really produce a vinegar here. It is no common vinegar! It is the true aceto balsamico (di Canada)! Giordano, as his name already indicates, is originally from Italy – from Spilamberto (Modena), which is the birthplace of this delicacy. So he brought this tradition with him. His balsamico is probably the only balsamic vinegar produced by means of the classic method outside of the area of its origin and it is really extraordinary. It is so splendid that they serve it on a teaspoon at the end of the degustation, after their delicious wines! We even received thorough information about the vinegar production, interspersed with piquant stories – for example about how sometimes frightened customers flee from the parking lot, because they think that an UFO landed next to the vinegar plant – this happens when the owners are coming, with breathing masks on their faces, out of the cellar where tanks with crude vinegar are stored, the first level of the balsamico production. The vapours here are so strong that they can burn human mucous membrane and eyes and lead to certain death. In the first floor where barrels of various sizes from various types of wood are stored (cherry wood, acacia, chestnut etc.), the smell is already very pleasant, sour - sweet. In spite of this, Marilyn, just in case, left the door half open, which was soon noticed by her father who came to rebuke her (more for appearance's sake). The reason was that the temperature in the storeroom of the barrels is always kept higher, so that vaporization is encouraged (the main principle of condensation of this precious liquid). This was our lucky opportunity to meet him for the first time. He is a witty and peculiar guy with a great personal charm. Even he got into the winemaking by a large detour, through the career of a railway technician and teacher of informatics, although winemaking had been his hobby from way back. He founded the first series of the vinegar with the crop brought from Italy, so he preserves the line of tradition – he even prepares a barrel of balsamico for each child born in the family, so that they can mature together. The oldest local vinegar is from 1970. It has a splendid viscous structure, extraordinary complex taste and it crystallizes strongly. Each of us was honoured, on the way out through the door, with one tiny drop on the back of the hand to lick and it was delicious!
No less pleasant was also a nice sit - down with the owners in the tasting room, serving probably as a living room as well (judging by the furniture). It seems they are accustomed to share everything with customers:-). They certainly share their precious time – our visit lasted several hours and we were really pampered for the whole time, both with information and wine.
We tasted the following (Zweigelt and Schönburger only later from the wines we had bought there):
90 Brandenburg No. 3 (Madeleine Sylvaner, dessert) 2007, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
89 Pinot noir 2006, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
88 Nero di Colina 2006 (Zweigelt), Vancouver Island, British Columbia
88 Brut natural 2006, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
84 Millefiori 2007 (Siegerrebe/Ortega), Vancouver Island, British Columbia
83 Schönburger 2007, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
It was nice chatting while drinking these delicious beverages! We shared the passion for wines with the hosts and they, in turn, their love for music (see the name of the dessert wine!). An ideal symbiosis...I was impressed by the very untraditional caps on the wine – Giordano explains in the promotion materials that, after making every effort in the vineyard and in the cellar, he does not intend to trust an unpredictable piece of tree bark in the throat. No less extraordinary is the manner of filling bottles with wines here. They use the service of a mobile bottling line installed in a trailer truck, which arrives, according to the needs of the given producer, to the winery in an appointed day and hour. After wines, it was time for „teaspoon“ degustation – first the delicious sorbet from verjus, juice from unripe green grapes and finally – the already mentioned divine balsamico... This expedition for delicacies literally stuffed us with impressions.
Our visit to the Chalet Estate Winery (now Muse Winery), two days later, initiated a series of expeditions into the vicinity of my temporary shelter. The peninsula Saanich hosts not only several wineries, but – by happy coincidence – also the beautiful house of Kurt Kellan. We made appointment in advance so we were somewhat surprised by a closed gate of the premises. Meanwhile, rain started a concert of fine rhythms on the roof of our vehicle. We were overwhelmed by slight scepticism and exasperation. However, our patience paid out. The owners arrived in about quarter of an hour with apologies – they had an emergency and they had to take one of their children to see a doctor. Mr. Peter Ellmann immediately took care of us and guided our steps into his kingdom. He willingly introduced his technical equipment to us with a machine for careful removal of rachis leading in the list. In the production of some red wines (Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon aj.), they used the method of carbonic maceration (internal fermentation of whole intact berries in a tank in a protective atmosphere of arising CO2). This allows to draw much fruitiness from the berries, but only few tannins. Our another stop was the wine cellar. The path led through a large space used for gastronomic events and for concerts as well. The owner is a great lover of music and he was really pleased when we mentioned our profession. We immediately talked about a future cooperation. In the cellar next to the barrels and already filled bottles, lies also a private reserve of the winemaker. It really made me feel deeply envious:-) No wonder, some “pieces” are a dream of every wine lover and collector. As an example I will mention a wooden box of Champagne 1983 from the vineyard Clos de Mesnil of the legendary company Krug, or many burgundy Grand Cru wines in bottles of really great volumes and ages. The only thing that I didn't have to long for was a wooden box of Slovakian beer “Zlatý Bažant”:-)
We weren't left “dry” there either. We tasted the following:
88 Viognier 2008, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
87 Pinot gris 2007, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
87 Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Osoyoos, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
86 Cabernet Sauvignon / Cabernet Franc / Merlot 2005, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
85 Fumé blanc 2008, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
82 Syrah 2005, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
76 Bacchus 2007, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
It is obvious from the evaluation that most grapes come from the area of Okanagan Valley and are transported to the winery by tempered trucks. It is easier for them with the harvest from a small vineyard situated right opposite across the road. This is owned by the neighbouring famous restaurant located romantically next to a beach. From the bushes of this little vineyard, the Chalet Estate Winery produces an original gastronomic line of wines for the restaurant.
Two penultimate days of my stay were blessed by absence of any job commitments, so I was looking forward to winery experiences even more than before. Unfortunately, there were not many ahead, at least with regard to the quality of the tasted wines.
First stop was a small shop with a mysterious name “Gartley Station – personal wine preparations”. Companies of this sort are nothing unusual both on the peninsula and in the entire Canada and they shrewdly take advantage of the fact that a drastic tax is imposed on the alcohol in the country of the maple leaf. They come with a witty solution, which is very similar to what was practised during the prohibition in USA, when grape cultivators used to send to their customers an unfermented grape juice with an imperative warning on its package „Do not add yeast, otherwise it ferments into alcohol!“... Today everyone can ferment the bought juice absolutely legally, either at home or in a tempered company storeroom. They offer here a great range of musts packaged in BiB (Bag in Box), originating from various varieties and areas of the world. Anyone interested can even buy an oak barrel for maturing wine, for example together with colleagues. Or do you prefer beer? Even you have a chance here! And what is the purpose of this all, apart from the pleasure of drinking your “own” product? You will save money! The question is, whether it is worth your while... I tasted three samples, they weren't bad, but they were standard simple wines, which perhaps won't offend a company of friends at barbecue. I think that it is better to pay more for a higher quality.
However, this is not true in every case. The Marley Farm Winery situated some tens of meters off, is a good example. It is in a difficult situation today with no clear prospective. The owner is allegedly about to sell some of the plots of land. Perhaps this is the reason why they offer their decreasing reserves for disproportionately high prices...
We tasted the following:
79 Pinot grigio 2003, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
78 Pinot noir 2003, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
plus two fruit, non-vintage, wines – from raspberries and „solera“ of the style from kiwis.
The wines were not that weak, but they were strongly overpriced. It seems they put a greater accent on the comfort of accompanying social – gastronomic events in the Jamaican „rasta“ style (according to the web presentation) than on the first-class vineyard and wine cellar art... Although I wouldn't like to be biased and inaccurate in my evaluation, this time I didn't feel desire to give their production another chance and to buy some bottle to take with me – for example the flag red cuvée “Agria” for 40 dollars (more than is the price of any of the first-rate products of the winery Alderlea!). My dislike was also increased by the refused request to see their operation (they must have some mysteries there...) - even though I must admit we had no previous appointment. But we would have been satisfied if they would have just open the door for us, we didn't ask for any lecture, only to glance into the space for wine production, which was only three meters away from the wall of the tasting room... We paid 5 dollars for the degustation, said goodbye politely and hurried away.
We did not return excited from the Church & State Winery either, which was our next stop. I must admit that it is a modern, trendy company with a great background for guests - the tasting hall with restaurant with a distinctive design, impressive external set pieces of oak barrels, an imposing press and fermentation tanks, large parking lot, observation terrace and well-maintained vineyard. This seems to serve only for decoration, as grapes are transported here for processing from Okanagan Valley. The winery is the largest one in the district of Vancouver Island and they know how to show this. Each second item on the wine list boasts of three to fifty medals and by some pure coincidence, the most praised items almost always have a comment added saying „Sold out“. Yes, we are making excellent wines, but not for you... The list is complemented by sensorial comments of some established expert (always the same person...). I probably have no talent for wines and this certainly must be the reason why I wasn't able to find all of the mentioned flowery nuances, but still my clumsy tongue was able to recognize a forever repeating handicap – too high non-harmonious alcohol in all tested red samples without exception and some kind of a unified universality of white wines. I may be mistaken but if their Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer, wines (in the classic realization) usually standing at almost exact antipoles of sensorial definition, have a quite identical fruit base of both aroma and taste, as well as the body intensity and structure of acids, and differ only by hardly noticeable tone of almonds and marzipan in Pinot and a tinge of rose aroma in Tramin, there must be something wrong somewhere... True, I cannot deny that all those wines were clear, modern, fresh, attractive in their own way and the oaked Chardonnay (which I generally don't like that much) even had an indisputable charm. To pronounce an accurate judgement, I would maybe need to taste the whole production, but taking into account all those gold and double gold medals for the wines flowing into my glass, thinking about their prices and remembering the funny, humble wave of hands of the owners in the wineries Alderlea and Venturi Schulze when I asked about their potential interest in export, I couldn't but recall the practice of both music and winemaking competitions and the Russian motto „nás mnógo“...
Here are the local representatives:
88 Chardonnay 2006, Gravelbourg Vineyard, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
83 Syrah 2006, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
82 Pinot gris 2008, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
82 Gewürztraminer 2007, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
82 Merlot 2006, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
80 Merlot / Cabernet 2006, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
The winery, besides the loudly proclaimed recognition by expert circles, is obviously favoured by local inhabitants. Before I managed to finish writing down a more detailed evaluation of the mentioned samples, a wide bar counter was crowded by the newly arrived and the charming barman had his hands full. Nevertheless, he managed to give out indisputable premises for the offered wines, of which the lady sitting next to me on the left was nodding in appreciation. She started her tasting with Syrah and with indulgence continued to Pinot gris. Future shines with success here! Or success with future?
I almost couldn't sleep, so much I was looking forward to the expedition to the Winchester Cellars. Not only because it was the last company for us to visit before departing by plane for Europe, but there were other promising indications. Firstly, their „Barking Dog Vineyard“ is among the certified organic plots of land in the British Columbia and secondly, it was the co-owner of this domain himself, doctor Bryan Murray, who had given to my host precious (and valid) tips for the most interesting of the visited wineries. Standing out in the assortment were promising Pinot noir from small plots and vineyards in the Okanagan Valley, and then the entire premises have a special touch of homely magic. The great lover of gin Kurt also expected to obtain interesting information, as Dr. Murray is specialized in production of this distillate. We arrived at 10:30, at the exact time of our appointment. However, we found the building of the winery, or rather the cottage, deserted. As we were wandering about the premises, a young guy came out of the garage of the neighbouring house behind us. He said that he lived there permanently and took care of the vineyard. While he was chatting amicably with my colleague, I started to take pictures among the lines of the grapevine and I soon realized how the vineyard got its name. A barking retriever started to run towards me, or rather walk towards me, who was breathing very heavily, no wonder with his 13 years of age and all that activity. Two of his barks were always followed by two wheezy intakes of breath – I almost felt sorry for him. In spite of his condition, he was defending his dominion bravely! When he caught up with me finally, after a long time and totally exhausted, he inspected me strictly and accompanied me in an unsteady walk back to the space accessible to public. There, the car of Dr. Murray had just been arrived.
We all moved to the tasting room, where they offered us all their available wines (Ortega directly from the tank):
79 Pinot gris 2007, Saanich Peninsula, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
78 Ortega 2007, Barking Dog Vineyard, Saanich Peninsula, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
76 Pinot Noir 2006, Black Sage Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
74 Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Sharp Rock Vineyard, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
73 Pinot Noir 2005, Sharp Rock Vineyard, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Something was definitely wrong here! White wines were thinner, simple, with a very high acid, which would almost predestine them as a basis for sparkling wine, but acceptable with some degree of toleration. First Pinot Noir still had a typical fruitiness in the nose, but was spoiled by some dirty earthiness, apparent oxidation, higher acid, madeira finish and above all a completely unsuitable clarity (or rather turbidness). I asked when the bottle had been opened. The answer was yesterday. Strange... Second Pinot noir. Strongly clouded sparkle, unclear, oxidative, almost infected smell, unbalanced taste, metal, sour, short and again slightly note of burned sugar in the finish. I recalled the barrels stored outside under the little shabby wooden roof. Can it be they stored those wines there, under the sun?! Continuous changes of the temperature cause repeated extension and subsequent shrinking of the barrel content and therefore an excessive amount of air oxygen gets into the wine, not mentioning harmful impact of heat. This would explain those madeira tones... The attending employee did not know the answer to this and Dr. Murray was fully occupied by a crowd of cackling journalists from some newspaper. They arrived to reveal, in a free degustation, the mystery of production of gin and distillates, about which they were going to write knowledgeably. From time to time I heard some of their questions – real pearls! How many times I experienced this with „professionals“ from media? But I won't waste words here... I rather went to taste the last wine sample – Cabernet sauvignon – outside on the terrace. I didn't want to listen to that chatting noise any longer and moreover, I didn't want to unnerve the owner by my anticipated expressions of dislike. And it was a good decision... True, the wine had a slightly better appearance than the previous ones and its aroma, in spite of apparent oxidation, showed some remnants of some original finesse, but it was extremely short in its taste, unclear, unbalanced and sour. It twisted my throat and whole body and the end of the wine tasting turned into a mime performance full of painful grimaces. Summary – a winemaking disaster...
Then they poured me the first distillate - Eau de Pinot noir. I spilled half of it with a reflexive attempt to twirl the content of a very shallow bowl-like glass. Second time, when Eau de Viognier was served, I was already more careful. Both clear, fresh, highly fruity, harmonious, unexpectedly fine and with a certain class! A magnificent gin for the end. I was really confused...
Journalists finally departed, in a stimulated mood. Apparently, we all were relieved that they left. Dr. Murray looked at me across an oak counter, trying to guess what was my opinion of the tasting. I really didn't want to spoil the friendly atmosphere. But a compassionate lie seemed as the worse choice... I began with a great praise of the distillates. Then I turned over to the wines, breathed in and ... The truth was out very quickly. I looked back at the doctor – at the first moment I had an impression of having hurt him, but he quickly corrected my mistake by his explanation. He said that this all was a „master opus“ of the cellarman, who had already been fired. He didn't care about hygiene in the cellar, so his wines obtained a good rating immediately when launched on the market, but after some time spent in bottles, they got spoiled. They managed to save white wines of last year by a timely intervention, but the red wines are spoiled in all ranks and the winery was stuck with an unenviable bequest in the form of unsold bottles. So they exhibit them on the counter next to the gin and from time to time, they sell some to the journalists:-) Only at that moment did I understand the meaning of the brief (and only) information on the (former) web pages of Winchester Cellars: “We decided to have a pause from wine production for some time and now we deal only with production of gin.” This is probably the only chance for the winery to renew, in the course of time, trust in the previously appreciated mark.
From now on the visit was progressing wonderfully. Dr. Murray showed off his distilling Mercedes in the basement and churned out informations, one fact more interesting then another. A great experience was tasting of individual ranks of freshly produced distillates from various varieties, comparing taste nuances of outcomes from individual phases of distillation (forehots, aftershots etc), and the look at the art of mixing distillates into blends. I usually spit out even wines during visits, but here my life was literally at stake:-)
I really hadn't expected such conclusion of expeditions to the wineries of the Vancouver Island district! Although I should have, as I made many surprising revelations during my stay. And an old experience was proven there – winemakers who are passionate and humble towards their work make excellent wines even at places which the “big” world has refused to take seriously so far.