Unicus - Something Unique for the Okanagan

Boo and I didn't have a whole lot of time to visit wineries or wander around following yesterday's Half-Corked Marathon. Indeed, Mr. Cool and the Mimster left early in the morning to return back to Vancouver. We had enough time to make a couple stops and one of the wineries foremost on my wishlist was Culmina - the latest foray into BC wine by Don and Elaine Triggs, with their daughter Elaine joining the team this time around.

Part of the Half-Corked course took us alongside the new Culmina winery and vineyards but, unfortunately, except for a quick sip of their Rosé, there was no time for a visit during the race. I'd been lucky enough, however, to visit Culmina a couple of years ago when a small group of us from the BC Wine Appreciation Society met with Don to check out his new digs. Rather than reiterate myself (when I'm so far behind with my writing), I'll just add a link to that post where you can discover some of the inspiration behind the project.

1926.  2014 Culmina Family Estate - Unicus (Okanagan Valley VQA)

Back during that initial visit, one of the more intriguing announcements Don made was that they had planted a section of Grüner Veltliner, the white variety most closely associated with Austrian winemaking. Culmina's planting was the first for the Okanagan Valley but Don thought there was potential for the grape in BC. The winery produced a scant 60 cases of Grüner with its first vintage in 2013 and the team had hoped for a bigger production with the 2014 wine. While the harvest resulted in an increased volume of 285 cases, the winery quickly found out that they're still navigating a learning curve when it comes to the new grape. John Schreiner reported that Don thought they'd make an additional 40% in volume with the second vintage but the heatwave experienced in July throughout the Okanagan toughened and thickened the grape skins, thereby resulting in a troublesome press of the juice.

Access to the reduced volume wasn't helped by the fact that most of the production was earmarked for restaurants in the province. I was fortunate to be able to pick up a bottle at the winery.

That being said, I would never have guessed that the wine in my glass was Grüner Veltliner had I not already known. Not that I'm anything close to a seasoned pro when it comes to the variety. I did find that the acidity went on for days but, if anything, I thought the flavours were more reminiscent of a Sauv Blanc.

That high level of acidity is, no doubt, partly due to the fact that Culmina has planted the vines at a higher elevation than is seen in the lower part of the Okanagan Valley. As you can see, the vineyard is quite a bit higher than the rest of the winery's property - and the rest of the Golden Mile's plantings for that matter.

It will be interesting to see where the wine goes down the road. The 2014 vintage was aged completely in stainless steel casks but the winery is planning to perform a little experiment with the upcoming year's fruit. Don and winemaker, Pascal Madevon, plan to mature the wine in three different vessels - a stainless steel tank, a concrete egg and a concrete amphora. The intent is to age equal amounts of the wine in each of the three containers and see what impact the various vessels might have on the wine.

I'd love to be one of the lucky folks who get to taste the results before any final blending.

That next vintage is some ways off in the distance. In the mean time, I've got another 75 wines to go before I hit the 2001st bottle in my own little odyssey.

Half Corked - Again

For the second year running, Mr. Cool and I have donned our grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts and Nikes to take part in the Half-Corked Half Marathon. Along with a thousand other wine-loving crazies, we arrived at the Hester Creek start line ready for a glorious day of taking in the Golden Mile and Black Sage Bench for what is definitely one of the most celebrated runs in Canada.

We were lucky to be positioned in the first wave of runners because the day was already heating up by the 8 a.m. start time and it was promising to be a hot one. We arrived just in time to act as witnesses for a wedding of two participants. The vows were timed to finish just before the starting gun. So, naturally, there was a toast to the happy couple as we all readied to start them off on their honeymoon.

Nothing like a few first sips of wine before starting a half marathon. It's definitely part of a proven training regime when it comes to this race.

The course winds its way through the southern half of the Okanagan Valley, traversing up and down the rolling terrain (or is that "terroir" given this is wine country?), through grapevines and along service roads. Although incredibly scenic, it's quite the taxing course. No one sets out to run a personal best on this race. Indeed, it quickly became evident that grapes grow best on slopes - a fact that we can all attest to now.

Of course, one of the most appealing aspects of the run is that water stops are regularly scheduled every one or two kilometres as the course passes through or by another winery. And, funny, but for some reason those water stops all featured wine tastings and occasional bites of artisanal foods.

A few highlights of the fifteen water wine stations were Sandra Oldfield and Tinhorn Creek's Sangria party tent, Rustico's western themed BBQ (not that I ate the baked beans as a courtesy to the other runners) and, my personal fave, Stoneboat where they'd MacGyver'ed part of a crusher/de-stemmer to provide a chillingly refreshing shower and offered an icy granita of their Piano bubbly. Admittedly, I added three or four of the granitas to my pineapple water bottle for the next part of the course. Even watered down, it was just so perfect for the occasion.

Unfortunately, I starting having a problem with my left knee shortly after the race began. So, poor Cool, he had to deal with my intermittent run/walk means of tackling the race. Even after the medical tent at Silver Sage tried to jerry-rig a tape job on my knee, it was slow going at best. Cool could easily have finished the race a whole lot sooner than we did but he was good enough to stick it out with me, all the time offering encouragement like, "alright now, I figure that, if we jog it out for a couple hundred metres, there's bound to be another wine stop just around the corner."

It might have been a sad finish to the race but, lo and behold, there was a festival tasting at the end - featuring all the Oliver-Osoyoos Wine Association members that weren't encountered directly on the Half-Corked route. By then, my knee was in pretty bad shape; so, we didn't stick around too long at the race festival - just long enough to watch some Flintstones, I Dream of Jeanie gals and sock puppet monkeys join us at the finish line. As sacrilegious as it might seem, I chose an afternoon nap and a heavy dose of ibuprofen over continued wine tasting.

As soon as the nap was over, we got back to real reason for this Odyssey and added another bottle to The List.

1924.  2012 Intersection Mile's Edge White (Okanagan Valley VQA)

I first ran across Intersection and its intriguing wines at the Vancouver International Wine Festival and The Grape Debate back in the spring. The winery is a relatively new entrant to the BC wine scene - although its principal, Bruce Schmidt, is a definite veteran. As early as the late-1970's, he was a marketing executive with Calona Wines and local writer, John Schreiner, reports that Schmidt is famously known for making Calona's Schloss Laderheim Canada's largest-selling white wine of its time. Schmidt spent the better part of the '80's, 90's and 00's working in other fields but he returned to the Okanagan in 2005 when he purchased an old orchard property and packing house.

Schmidt and team worked on converting the orchard to a vineyard and the packing house into a winery and they started releasing wines in 2010. Unfortunately, the 2008 and 2009 winters were so severe that they lost almost half the vines they'd planted.  After only being able to release a couple hundred cases of wine in those initial years, they finally reached their full production goal of 2500 cases in 2012.

Having been impressed with their offerings at the earlier tastings, Boo, Mr. Cool, Mimster and I stopped in to do a tasting yesterday and we grabbed this bottle as a weekend treat. An unusual blend of 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Viognier, Mile's Edge White was a great afternoon sip on our deck overlooking Lake Osoyoos. Body. Aromatics. Fruit. Acidity. It might not have healed my sore knee but at least it helped dull the pain.

Following our Intersection interlude, we made our way to Tinhorn Creek and Miradoro restaurant. The winery was hosting one of its annual Canadian Concert Series nights and Rich Hope & His Blue Rich Raiders were playing away to a lively crowd in the amphitheatre below. I don't think too many of the revellers had taken part in the Half-Corked. Catchy music or not, there was no chance that I'd be dancing the night away.

2013 Tinhorn Creek Rosé (Okanagan Valley VQA)

I wasn't sure whether it was the 2012 or 2013 vintage that we'd enjoyed recently. Turns out that it was the 2013; so, I don't get to add this vintage a second time to The List. No matter. As the last vintage of Rosé where Sandra Oldfield was at the winemaking helm, it was a welcome addition to the table. It matches with all assortment of dishes and just goes down so darn easy. A welcome thing with this gang.

1925.  2012 Tinhorn Creek Cabernet Franc (Okanagan Valley VQA)

I couldn't have a dinner in wine country, on such an auspicious day as the Half-Corked, without adding a new bottle of Tinhorn Creek to The List though. So, a second bottle just happened to get ordered. Sandra pioneered the planting of Cab Franc in the Okanagan and her perseverance is now paying off as the variety is seen as being well-suited for the region. Instead of all the Cab Franc forming part of Okanagan Meritage blends, more and more varietal Franc wines are showing up on winery lists and they're deservedly proving to be popular pours.

This is a big, dark-fruited version, well-suited for our richer main courses and for our simple sitting back and enjoyment of the concert.

With luck, the knee will recover quickly and I can think about coming back for next year's Half-Corked. After two years of knee issues, I could use a bit of "third time lucky" coming my way.

For some strange reason, Mr. Cool is all ready to suit up again. Maybe it's the wine.

The Wrath of Bill

Since Boo and I were grilling up a big-ass steak tonight for dinner, I thought why not splurge and go all out with a big-ass bottle that I've been dying to pull the cork on. This baby's "big-assed" not only in its profile but in its story as well and it's likely one of those "once-in-a-lifetime" wines.

My last entry's Cab was from an iconoclast from south of the 49th Parallel. Tonight's wine is a Cab as well but it hails from one of the most colourful characters that the Okanagan Valley has to serve up: Bill Eggert. (As a bit of a side note, Bill even produces a wine that he calls Iconoclast.)

Bill - and his winery Fairview Cellars - was one of the eight wineries that I featured in posts leading up to the 2013 Wine Bloggers Conference that was about to be held in Penticton. In that post, I mentioned that I would dearly loved to have opened a bottle of The Wrath Cab Sauv" but that it still had some ageing to do. Well, I've held off this long but I bumped into Bill at a recent BC wine tasting and he said that The Wrath was drinking beautifully right now.

I'm happy to report that his assessment was bang on.

More than a few local wine personalities have publicly stated that they don't feel the thick-skinned Cabernet Sauvignon grape can fully ripen on a consistent basis in the cool climate Okanagan. Bill begs to differ. He figures he grows as much Cab Sauv, if not more, as anyone in the valley and he finds that his Cab Sauv ripens more consistently than his Cab Franc - the grape variety touted as BC's answer to Cab Sauv simply because it's generally seen as an earlier ripener. A few years back, Bill told our BC Wine Appreciation Society Bus Tour that he prefers to listen to the vines rather than wine writers.

1888.  2009 Fairview Cellars - The Wrath (Okanagan Valley VQA)

I mentioned that this is likely a "once-in-a-lifetime" bottle - not because it's 100-point Premiére Cru Bordeaux that you could only afford to taste on a single occasion. Rather, it's because this is a one-off release that Bill and Fairview will likely never be able to replicate as much as he might like to produce it every year in ever-growing numbers.

The name of this wine is a tip of the hat to James Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" - partially to capture the hardship that Bill endured in preparing the vineyard for his Cab vines but perhaps even more so to commemorate the particular weather conditions that prevailed just prior to harvest time. A little "wrath of God" if you will. If I remember the story correctly, Bill had been nurturing a new vineyard for five years and 2009 was to be the first year that the vines would produce wine-worthy grapes. For Bill and the Okanagan, he finds that September makes or breaks the vintage. Lo and behold, as the 2009 vintage was just hitting stride and after one of the most outstanding growing seasons the region had experienced, pockets of the Okanagan were hit with a lightning and hail storm that nearly wiped out the entire season's fruit. The vineyard that Bill had worked so hard on and where the fruit for this wine originates was one of the hardest hit.

Following an assessment of the vines after the storm, Bill was left with the conclusion that the grapes had generally been destroyed. However, rather than seeing all the fruit rot from the broken skins, the heat that came after the storm fortuitously dried out the damaged grapes and Bill was left with enough of a crop to make 250 cases of an almost Amarone-like Cab.

Rich, balanced and full flavoured, this was a wine that I could drink as my house wine every day. We squeezed the bottle for every last drop and, surprisingly (for me when it comes to Cab Sauv), the sip was every bit as tasty on its own as it was with the steak.

Due to the production difficulties and the limited release, The Wrath started out at $65 - a hefty sum for an Okanagan wine. In comparison to other wines that fall into that "one-in-a-lifetime" category, I suppose it was a bargain. I heard Bill tell that he has a few cases of the wine left for library release but that they now retail at $100 a bottle. My $65 bottle was a bargain indeed.  If only I'd picked up a whole case.

Cheers to That - A Half Corked Success

I may have a few marathons and trail runs under my belt but, admittedly, that was a dozen years and many added pounds ago. Back in my running days, though, I was always enthralled with the thought of running one of the marathons through wine country - whether that be the Napa or the Bordeaux run - but I was never able to make it happen. When the Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association introduced its Half Corked Half a few years back, I knew I was going to have to make it happen one way or another.

I didn't hear about the race in its first year until just before the start and it was too late to get involved. An injury and lack of training prevented any thought of running the next couple editions. Now, here we are at the fourth running and fortunately for the Winery Association - but unfortunately for would be runners - the Half Corked Marathon has almost become a victim of its own success. Demand for starting numbers has become something fierce. Such that, last year, all the spots were gone within a minute of them going on sale. Wanting to be as egalitarian as it could be, the Association introduced a lottery system to gain entry into this year's run.

I know about a dozen people who entered the lottery and not a single one of us saw our name picked in the initial draw. Hard to believe that you could be so disheartened by being told you can't run a half marathon, but it's true. We were all drowning our sorrows and bemoaning the training that we had under our belts. A week or so had gone by when, magically, I got the call that my name had been picked in the supplementary draw. Mr. Cool and I would be able to cruise through Okanagan vineyards after all.

As wrote in the posts leading up to race day, I'd actually picked up an injury over the last couple months. It was diagnosed as bursitis on the knee and it pretty much meant that I wasn't able to train for about 3 weeks leading up to the run and I wasn't sure that I'd even be able to complete the race. Having managed a couple 16k training runs for the first time in over a decade though and knowing how difficult it is to even get into the run, I was damned if I wasn't showing up at the start line - even if it meant that I had to walk a good part of the course or that Mr. Cool needed to carry me for a couple kilometres.

If you haven't guessed from the first couple pictures, this may still be (just shy of) a half marathon, but it is definitely operated as a fun run. A healthy proportion of the runners show up in costume - and there were some incredible outfits. Mr. Cool and I worked with the tiki room theme because it was easy to run in but I'm hard pressed to figure out how some of the participants were able to finish with their costumes in tact. The course winds through wineries - and some stunning scenery - on the Golden Mile and Black Sage Road benches but - costume or not - it isn't a course where one might look to complete a personal best time.

This part of the Okanagan is the northern tip of the Sonoran Desert that runs up the West Coast from Mexico. Therefore, the heat of the day can easily become an issue for participants. Knowing this, the organizers have wisely ensured that there are 14 water stations along the route to keep the runners hydrated.

And, since this is wine country, naturally, each of the water stations is manned by one of the 31 wineries that make up the Association. It was left to each winery to decide what to serve at their station and there was certainly a wide-ranging array of offerings - everything from Sangria at Tinhorn Creek and campfire wieners & beans to accompany Riesling at Rustico to a full spread of food and wine at Silver Sage.

I have to admit that the spray shower, set up at Stoneboat, was as welcome as any wine along the route though.

The award for best costumes went to the Red Planet team - we caught up to Marvin the Martian and crew at one of the pit stops and we marvelled at the thought of their running the whole race in their spaceship. After the race, I was gobsmacked to find out that they hadn't tried running in their ship even once before the start of the race. Yowzer!

Other favourites among the runners were the Walking Red, the various bridal parties - with or without pregnant bride, the grape bunches, the Ron Burgundy newscast team, the Dutch Brigade, and my own personal favourites: the grape-stomping Lucies. All decked out as Lucy from the infamous grape stomping episode (luckily for them, it was in the pre-fight wardrobe), there were more than a couple calls of "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do!" heard over the day.

I'm happy to say that, with Mr. Cool's incredible patience and amiable pace, we managed to cross the finish line in tact and together. And, despite what I said earlier about no one being concerned about times, we managed to finish in personal bests. Admittedly, those personal bests didn't stem from stellar pacing, rather it's the fact that the course length of 18.6 km isn't a standard race length. Since this is the first time we'd run this distance, it couldn't help but be a personal best. Fancy that.

The race concludes with a festival-style tasting event with all of the Association's wineries that didn't man a water station during the race. I think it's safe to say that most of the runners sampled a whole lot more wine at the finish than they did during the race itself. Mr. Cool and I were sure to try at least one wine at each of the 14 stations but I definitely filled my coconut glass with water and ice along the course - as opposed to taking a free pour of wine to go - that is, until our final couple stations. I figured I could finish off the last so many kilometres wine in hand. I took it as a badge of honour that we crossed and toasted the finish line with some Quinta Ferreira Rosé in our tiki coconuts. It only seemed fitting for a run through wine country.

At the finish line tasting, I was reminded how I've always chuckled over the stories of women lifting their skirts for photos in front of the old Golden Beaver sign. The winery may have changed its name to its Latin translation - Castoro de Oro - but I thoroughly enjoyed telling the story to one of the blushing brides - with golden blonde locks - as he sidled up to the tasting table. Being the demure bride that he was, the skirt immediately came up. There were shorts though; so, I suppose we'll never really know if he was a natural blonde.

As the tasting wound up, surprisingly enough, Mr. Cool and I were thrilled to let the Mimster play chauffeur and take us back to the hotel for a well deserved nap.

On most days, a nap after a long run can easily signal the end of my day but, being in wine country, we decided to celebrate with dinner at Miradoro. We scored a skookum table on the balcony - from which we not only enjoyed our delicious dinners but had a great view of the first show of Tinhorn Creek's 2014 Concert Series. The Town Pants were serving up some rollicking Celtic tunes and it was a superb addition to a great day. I don't think my legs would have been up to much of the abandoned dancing that was happening below us but I did manage to tap my toes a bit to the wild rhythms.

If you look really closely at the photo below you might even see the ever-effervescent Sandra Oldfield kicking up her heels a bit to a jig or a reel. Girl's got some moves.

For a day full of wine, I haven't been adding a whack of bottles to The List. Admittedly, I did go back for multiple pours of Culmina Riesling at the finish line tasting but that didn't a bottle make. Ultimately, I couldn't miss adding a bottle from this event though and dinner provided the opportunity to do so - and add a very tasty bottle at that.

1616.  2009 Tinhorn Creek - Oldfield Series 2Bench Red (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Canadian wine scribe, Rick Van Sickle, called the '09 2Bench Red "simply the best red I have tasted from Oldfield." A Bordeaux blend of 45% merlot, 30% Cab Sauv, 22% Cab Franc and 3% Petit Verdot, it certainly hit the spot with us that evening. Dark and earthy, it got the blood coursing through my tired, old legs again. Maybe not enough to go for another run in the morning but at least enough to make it back to the hotel for a whole lot of log-sawing.

All in all, it incredible day - and weekend. The organizers and wineries deserve huge thanks and I'm not surprised to see why the run has become so popular in such a short time. I think it's safe to say that we're more than game to give the Half Corked Half another go next year. Indeed, Mr. Cool is already talking more elaborate costumes. Hopefully, I'll be up and running again by then - and be lucky enough to get starting numbers in the lottery.

A Bucket o' Blood for Halloween

Trick or treat.

I do love Halloween. Around work, folks say they're surprised if they get more than a dozen kids come to their door. We still get well over a hundred kids every year. Admittedly, not all of them are cute, little ones but enough of them are that it's worth the effort to put up a few decorations and spend the early part of the evening at home.

The leftover Cheesies and fruit berries are nothing to sneer at either.

Since many of our friends live in apartments downtown where they see no kids at all, we regularly get an assortment of pals coming by to share in the fun.

1462.  2009 Fairview Cellars Bucket o' Blood (Golden Mile - Okanagan Valley)

Seeing as how I previously wrote an extensive post on Fairview Cellars during the lead up to the 2013 Wine Bloggers Conference, I won't spend much time here repeating myself. I'm quite sure, however, that there are more stories about Bill Eggert - the driving force behind Fairview - than I could ever fit into a handful of blog posts.

I figured a wine called Bucket o' Blood was appropriate for serving to Halloween guests. While the wine might be a deeply hued red, it is not named for any particularly sanguine qualities. Rather, the Syrah/Cab Sauv (30/70) blend is named, with a nod and a wink, for the Moffatt Saloon - a watering hole above the historical Fairview townsite that was frequented by local miners in the 1890's. The old bar was nicknamed the "Bucket o' Blood" - after another renowned saloon in Virginia City, Nevada.

Syrah/Cab blends may be a popular combination Down Under but they aren't that common in the Okanagan and, as if it isn't enough that they're rare to start, like virtually any Fairview wine, the quantity of this wine was limited. Only 190 cases were made - in part because Bill only has one row of Syrah planted in his vineyard - and one row doesn't leave him with a whole lot of fruit to work with. Ever the pragmatist, Bill's favourite grape to work with is Cab Sauv however, and, not surprisingly, that's the fruit he has most at his disposal. Hence, Syrah/Cab it is.

Finding myself continually having to put my glass down to keep up with the visiting creatures and superheroes, there wasn't much thought put into tasting notes. I can confidently say that this was far more of a treat than it was a trick though. Hopefully, I have another bottle stashed away that we can sit down with and enjoy a little more appropriately down the road.

New Kid on the Rosé Block

Prior to preparing for this year's BC Wine Appreciation Society's Annual Bus Tour, I can't say that I knew anything about Culmina Family Estate Winery. With the doors to the winery only having been opened to the public for a couple of weeks prior to the Bus Tour, I'd seen the name mentioned once or twice but had no idea of who was behind it or how it was looking to fit into the ever-growing BC wine landscape.

Luckily, all that changed when one of our BCWAS gang arranged a tour and tasting at the winery on the Monday after the Bus Tour had ended. I briefly mentioned in my last post that I intended to open one of Culmina's wines in the near future. I hadn't quite expected for that bottle to be the first one opened upon my return - but when Boo served up a squash and roasted garlic agnolotti, I thought this new Rosé I might be able to smooth over some of his ruffled feathers when he found out that I'd brought another five cases of wine home with me.

The thought was that, if I served him a wine that he really liked, I'd just tell him that all the wines I bought were of that calibre and that I had to show great restraint to limit myself to the number of bottles that I did buy.

I'm not sure that my plan succeeded, but it did provide an opportunity to tell Boo (and you) some of Culmina's interesting story. The winery is the newest adventure of Don and Elaine Triggs, and daughter Sara, in the Canadian wine industry. Don is - or was - the "Triggs" component of  Jackson-Triggs, one of Canada's most celebrated wineries, and was one of the driving forces behind the establishment and success of Vincor Canada before the country's leading wine producer was purchased by Constellation Brands.

Everything about Culmina reads careful thought and high end investment. Even the winery's name alludes to the Triggs' hopes that this will be a fitting tribute to the culmination of Don's years of love for and hard work in the wine business. There certainly doesn't appear to be any sparing of expense in laying the ground work for what will hopefully be a strong family legacy.

Don took our group out into the vineyard immediately next to the winery and gave a "master class" in considerations to be addressed when setting up a winery and vineyard. During the couple of years that Don "took off" from the business, his mind was clearly still looking toward the establishment of Culmina. A number of winery and vineyard sites in the Okanagan were considered before Don purchased the current lands - and even then the process behind choosing this site involved extensive deep pit excavations to view soil type, ongoing temperature and sunlight measurements, satellite studies to track shadow patterns of the local mountains, elevation studies and water retention levels.

The studies continued even after the lands were purchased. Don had engaged the services of consultant Alain Sutre to maximize the potential of the Okanagan site. Sutre had been exposed to the Okanagan through his work with Osoyoos Larose, Burrowing Owl, Painted Rock and Poplar Grove - all premium producers in the region - and he was confident that Triggs could produce the premium wine that he was looking for. With Sutre's assistance, Culmina determined that the best varieties for the 44-acre home, or Arise Bench, vineyard were the red Bordeaux varieties. Wanting to produce high end white wines as well, thoughts turned to adding another 60 acres on two hillside benches above the Arise vineyard. Margaret's Bench (named in honour of Don's mother) has seen the planting of Riesling, Chardonnay and what could possible be the Okanagan's first Grüner Veltliner and Stan's Bench (named for Elaine's father) where Chardonnay and Riesling are grown in the cooler section and Petit Verdot and Malbec planted in the lower part of that bench - where those blocks receive the "highest Degree Days of anywhere on the Culmina property."

Trying to determine the best grapes to plant in the vineyard wasn't the end of decision making process however. The vineyard has been divided into blocks that average in size at around 1.2 acres. The blocks were demarcated for uniformity of soil and the vines have been planted on five different rootstocks, each chosen to best match the soil type. They have also used at least two clones of each of the grapes (with the exception of the Grüner Veltliner and the Viognier) to try and best match the clone to the varying micro-climates above the ground. The end result is a "patchwork quilt" of plantings according to Don.

They have also decided to go with high density plantings - up to 2044 vines per acre - whereas the norm is generally between 900 and 1300. The thought is that the higher density forces the vines to fight harder to find nourishment. That fight, in turn, forces the roots to dig deeper into the soils, hopefully leading to a greater expression of the vineyard or terroir in the finished wine.

Although they don't currently anticipate that the winery will seek certification, they are trying to incorporate important sustainable aspects into vineyard practices. While not fully organic or biodynamic, all the vineyard posts are untreated wood, they use organic sprays on the vines and they water in the middle of the rows to encourage greater plant and bug diversity. An example of the high end technology being put to use at the winery is that vineyard sensors relay ongoing information to a winery computer, allowing vineyard management to choose to water only in specific blocks as needed.

It was also intriguing to hear Don tell of their decision to undertake a research study by planting 500 vines of Viognier in a bush vine manner. The intent is to use drip irrigation and gobelet pruning (which involves no trellising) - common in Spain and Southern France - to see if the roots will go deep enough to find their own source of water.

We even experienced a novel method of discouraging perdition of the ripening grapes by local birds - new to me at least. Rather than using the ubiquitous cannons to scare the birds off, Culmina has speakers in the vineyards that randomly play the calls of predatory birds. The first time we heard those calls, we all wondered "what the heck was that."

I could go on but it might be best to just direct you to the Culmina website where you can find extensive notes on their site selection and vineyard development. It's kinda like a touch of wine geek paradise.

After our vineyard tour, we visited the inside of the new winery as well and, after hearing about all the care taken outside, it was no surprise to learn that no expense was spared on the inside either. Culmina's approach is seen right at the start with their use of a Bucher Oscillys destemmer - the first to be imported into Canada - that incorporates a more gentle handling of the fruit during the destemming and crushing stages. A full gravity fed production. Tanks chosen for an easier punchdown of the fermentation cap. Extended maceration periods. Particular specifications for their barrels (sourced from five French coopers and incorporating a blend of oak from four different forests). All decisions and procedures chosen to lead to a more complete wine.

As many of the vines are still too young to produce fruit that can be used for winemaking, Culmina only offers three wines currently and production of those wines was so small that all purchases are limited to two bottles of each of the wines.

I particularly liked the story behind the Dilemma Chardonnay. Much of the Arise vineyard had been planted previously, including an 11.6 acre block that featured 16 year old vines. After testing samples from previous vintages and deciding to release a couple of vintages of the Chardonnay, Don and crew faced a dilemma - do they continue with the Chardonnay as planted or re-start? It was ultimately concluded that the method for planting of the vines was wrong, the root stocks weren't suited for the soils and even the Chardonnay grape wasn't the best choice for the vineyard. Accordingly, all of the existing vines were ripped out and replanted. That difficult choice is now reflected in the name of the wine.

1425.  2012 Culmina Saignée (VQA Okanagan Valley)

As much as I liked the Dilemma story, it's the Rosé that I reached for to accompany dinner. A 50/50 blend of Cab Sauv and Gamay Noir, this is a Rosé named for the production method used. The word "saignée" finds its root in the French word for "bleeding" and the wine is made by bleeding off some of the crushed juice before it has had much contact with the skins (part of the process that imparts the deeper colours of red wine). The method allows a greater concentration in the red wine that is left to ferment on the skins while the juice that was "bled" off, is fermented separately to produce a Rosé wine.

The Culmina Rosé is completely dry and very reminiscent of the Rosés of Southern France. This is no White Zinfandel. It's alive with acidity and subtle fruit and it will be interesting to see how this current - and rather unique - Cab/Gamay blend changes over the years as more vines mature and additional fruit becomes available to the Culmina team.

In fact, it will be interesting to see how the whole Culmina portfolio develops in the years to come. I truly enjoyed our visit so soon after the doors to the winery were opened to the public. I look forward to more visits in the future. I'm not so sure that the opening of the Saignée was enough to get me out of  Boo's bad books, but I don't think there'll be any problem getting him to join me for that future visit.

The Long Road Home

It would seem that, no sooner than the 2013 BCWAS Bus Tour had started, it was over. It was one jam-packed weekend - plenty of laughs, wine and food. But regular life - read, "work" - was calling and, as much as I would have liked to keep on keeping on, I needed to hit the long road back to Vancouver.

But not without a couple of quick stops along the way.

For some time now, I've been looking forward to checking out Painted Rock's brand spanking new - and spectacular, I might add - tasting room. We actually timed it (almost) perfectly because the "ribbon" hadn't been cut on the grand opening for even a week. I say "almost" perfect timing because, unfortunately, owner John Skinner was back in Vancouver and we couldn't enjoy the new digs with its "proud papa." In retrospect, it might be a good thing that John wasn't there because there's no way we would have been able to fully take in everything there'd be to tell in the short time that we had. A group of us had booked one last "side" tour and tasting and we were definitely cutting our time short if we were going to arrive in time.

Painted Rock may have the newest showcase showroom but everything about Culmina Family Estate is brand new. After six years of preparation, Don and Elaine Triggs (Don being the Triggs of Jackson Triggs - one of Canada's best known and lauded wineries - before he sold his interest) threw open the doors to Culmina. Quite the character, Don took our little gang for a quick visit into the vineyard where he relayed all the decision making that went into the site selection and planting for his dream of producing a Bordeaux wine to hopefully rank up with the best that BC - and the world for that matter - has to offer.

Don was very generous with both his time and his take on the BC wine industry. We'd seen some pretty crazy machinery over the last couple of days - some of the "toys" (that are anything but) at Mission Hill and Poplar Grove were of sorts I'd never seen before - but Don has spared no expense in pulling together some of the sharpest equipment to be found. That dedication is even more inspiring when you consider that Culmina is currently producing a fraction of what the big boys are producing.

The culmination of Don's years of experience in the wine industry, I'll be sure to open one of his wines soon so that I can give a fuller recount of our visit.

Culmina was my last stop before heading home and, since Culmina is on the Golden Mile below Oliver, it made sense to continue down to Osoyoos, connect with Hwy 3 and take in the views of the Similkameen Valley - one of my favourite driving routes. I wasn't stopping at any of the top notch Similkameen wineries this time (say "hey" Orofino) but with vistas like the one below, can there be any wonder why the valley and the Hope-Princeton hit countless "top scenic driving routes?"

As entertaining as this long weekend might have been, it certainly kept me away from the computer. And that, unfortunately, just compounded the number of wines I still have to blog.

Heavy sigh.

PS. Just for those who know that I was on Boo's "No Buy Leash," personally, I think I was pretty well behaved. I only bought a total of four cases of wine. Not bad, I figure, for 13 wineries and what's likely one of the biggest VQA bottles shops in the entire province. (Well, four cases if you don't count the one that was pre-ordered at Red Rooster that I was just picking up - and I don't.)

Just Like Old Times

So, it's International Rum Day. I don't know who comes up with these special occasion anniversaries. Truth be told, I pay no never mind to most of them. Occasionally, however, there's a booze-y one or a cute-sey one (like International Kiss Day or International Talk Like a Pirate Day) that I just jump on for fun.

Today's international celebration is easy enough to enjoy however. It was a long week at work and who can't use a good mojito now and then? Besides, somebody's got to use all that mint in the garden.

GatuBela, one of our old neighbours ("old" as in she moved away last year, not "old" as in aged) is back in town for the summer and she was in the neighbourhood - housesitting and sweating away at Boot Camp. After a million or so sit-ups and burpees, she definitely needed a little refreshment. I don't know if she smelled the Rum or not, but she made a bee-line to say "hi" and, before the first Mojito was history, we were making an evening of it and having her join us for dinner.

1394.  2009 Gehringer Brothers - Optimum Pinot Gris (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Taking a look back at The List, I'm a little bit surprised to see that this is only the second Gehringer Brothers wine to be added. Gehringer is one of the "old timers" of the Okanagan wine scene. The Gehringer family has been operating in the valley since 1981 when brothers, Helmut and Karl, bought the initial vineyard. Their plan was to get the vineyard up and running with German varietals while Helmut's sons were honing their winemaking skills in Germany and at Andrés - one of the initial commercial wineries that preceded today's estate wineries.

That initial involvement persisted past 1985's first vintage as the two generations are still committed to the winery - just as it seems that a third generation of Gehringer's is about to join the party.

Weather patterns were rather different back in the 80's when the Gehringer's were deciding on the grape varieties to plant in their new vineyard. They replaced the old hybrid grapes, that were being grown previously, with German white varieties as they felt there was a greater chance of the vines surviving the winters. Their Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Auxerrois, Ehrenfelser and Schönberger wines found a ready market. With climate change (or global warming or whatever it is) and being located on the Okangan's warmer Golden Mile, however, the family has planted some newer vineyards with a wider range of grapes - including reds - such that the winery boasts a portfolio of 22 different wines nowadays.

I have to admit that I generally think Germanic whites first if Gehringer Brothers' name is mentioned. I know that they have a very solid reputation in producing stellar icewines as well but I can't say that I'm familiar with those wines at all.

The Optimum label is Gehringer's premium line and they only produce a select number of wines - and only when they feel the vintage has delivered enough premium grapes to warrant a separate bottling. The Pinot Gris is definitely part of the winery's second wave of wines. There was no confusing this bottle with a German white at all. The wine saw light French oaking and was fully dry. Considering there was a touch of bite to Boo's Butter Chicken/Paneer, one of Gehringer's old school wines - with some residual sugar - might have matched up a little better.

Not to worry though.  We were fully engaged with GatuBela and her escapades. It's certainly nice to know that, even when she's moved on from the neighbourhood, all it takes is a bit of rum and a bottle of wine and we're all caught up again.

Looking Ahead to WBC13 - Week 4 - Fairview Cellars

We're six weeks out from the start of the 2013 Wine Blogger's Conference and it's time for a fourth stop on my little Pre-WBC13 Road Trip through some of my favourite BC wineries. This time round, it's a visit to the top end of the Golden Mile and to Bill Eggert and Fairview Cellars. To get there as you head South of Oliver, you just need to remember to turn right when you see the sign for the golf course. It's important to watch for the golf course because you're likely never going to find the winery if you're relying on Hwy 3 signage. I'm not sure if Bill has finally relented and put up a sign but, from Day 1, he had been deliberately avoiding one. If your wine preferences lie with big reds though, you're going to want to find Fairview.

Fairview is synonymous with Bill and Bill is synonymous with Fairview. It's hard not to be when you've pretty much been a one-man operation for over two decades. And, if there's one common response about Bill from folks in the Okanagan, it's likely going to be that he's about as big a character as there is in the region. "Iconoclast," "Madcap," "Bear," these all might be names of Fairview wines but they're also words that easily come to mind when describing the man himself. Indeed, the "Madcap Red" moniker was born when one of the higher profile wine scribes in Vancouver referred to Bill as the "madcap winemaker." Being the rogue that he is, Bill simply worked the comment into the name of a wine. You only need to ask but there are, naturally, stories behind additional wine names like "Bucket O' Blood" and "Two Hoots."

Born in Ottawa and raised in Northern Ontario, Bill was first introduced to the wine industry while working on his uncle's vineyard near Beamsville on the Niagara Peninsula.  At the time, Inniskillin and Chateau des Charmes were the only small wineries in existence. His uncle grew grapes and sold them to Jordan Wines. Back then, the majority of grapes were still hybrids that were blended with imported juice. "The wines were wonderful, but they had no real attachment to the terroir" and the story goes that Bill had no luck in convincing his uncle to replant the hybrid vines with vinifera grapes.

Bill also worked for a short time at Charal Wines in Ontario before he ultimately made his way out to the Okanagan in 1984. Upon arriving, he worked at Covert Farms (which is now a winery itself not that far from Fairview) but ended up heading back to Ontario for a bit. He returned to BC, for good, in 1986 - the lure of vinifera grapes and better skiing were just too much of a draw.

Bill purchased his own property in 1989, when he found and fancied a six acre parcel with a South-East facing slope, located on an alluvial fan of the Reed Creek and overlooking the first tee of the neighbouring golf course. He began planting grapes in 1993, starting with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot - and a bit of Cab Franc since it arrived in his order by chance. His experience in the valley and with growing grapes, generally, convinced him that his land was best suited for the red Bordeaux varieties and he saw no reason to plant white wine grapes when the land was telling him red was the way to go. Financial constraints and water issues made planting a lengthy process, however, and he didn't finish planting the vineyard until '99.

During those early years of setting up the vineyard, Bill found that the biggest obstacles to making wine in BC all revolved around the relative size of the industry. Being such a small industry, the ability to source supplies and information was limited. Luckily, Bill finds that this isn't as serious of a problem nowadays as the industry is maturing and the introduction of technological practices is exploding.

Fairview Cellars finally opened the doors to its wood cabin tasting room in 2000 - although the winery didn't really have tasting room hours.  If you knew about the winery, you could call to see if Bill was going to be around or you could just drive by and honk. If he heard you arrive, he could likely arrange for a tasting.

It didn't take long for Fairview's reputation as one of the best small, premium wineries in the Okanagan to grow as Bill's wines found favour with folks looking for BC reds that had some oomph to them. Fairview only offered reds until the 2006 vintage when Bill was given some Sauvignon Blanc that he vinified. The Sauv Blanc proved to be very popular and he's promised to keep making it as long as the grapes continue to be made available. The Sauv Blanc has yet to be given a catchy name for the label but Bill does refer to it fondly as his "oyster wine."

As much as he likes drinking Sauv Blanc, Bill's admitted that his favourite grape to work with is Cab Sauv. There are certainly those that feel the Okanagan just isn't suited to ripen Cab Sauv on a regular basis but Bill isn't one of them. He'd much rather "listen to the vines, not the wine writers." It may just be that his vineyard is particularly suited to the variety but he finds Cab "easy to grow, easy to ripen and easy to make wine with." He particularly likes the fact that his Cab Sauv's drink well in their youth but are still holding well into their second decade.

There's also plenty of discussion around Okanagan growers focusing on Cabernet Franc as it is seen as an earlier ripening grape than Cab Sauv and Bill originally thought that he might end up growing more Franc than Cab Sauv himself. As much as it might be out of the ordinary though, Bill finds that his terroir lends itself to the Cab Sauv regularly ripening sooner than the Cab Franc and the end result is that he doesn't have a whole lot of Cab Franc planted - although he certainly wouldn't mind having more as he finds that he tends to garner bigger accolades for his Cab Franc varietal wine than he does for his other wines.

1291.  2007 Fairview Cellars Cabernet Franc (VQA Okanagan Valley)

After taking a look at the Fairview Cellars wines we had on hand, I decided to go with a Cab Franc since, in keeping with the raison d'être of this blog, I need - and want - to add a new wine to The List. I would dearly loved to have open a bottle of The Wrath Cab Sauv - likely a one-time only vintage due to the hail storm right around picking time - but I don't think it's quite as ready to open yet. Another time. When you find yourself making a decision on which bottle of Fairview to open, one thing Bill is known for is putting a "Best After" date on his reds. In this case, he advised the the '07 bottle would be "best after Dec 2010." I think we're safe.

The fact that there were only 300 cases of the '07 Cab Franc produced just goes to illustrate how difficult it can be to find Fairview's wines. If memory serves, I ran across this one when Bill was serving it at the Vancouver International Wine Festival a couple of years ago.

If I had to choose a most memorable characteristic of this wine, it would be that the nose just jumped out of the glass and it was stellar. Being Franc, the wine was more nuanced than a big Cab and it tasted better with every bite of our BBQ'd rib-eye. Once the steak was gone, I didn't find that the fruit was as big on the palate as it was on the nose but there's no doubt that the bottle was empty long before we would have liked it to be. Funny that.

Looking back, I remember first hearing about and meeting Bill, some years ago, at one of the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival tastings. We were advised not to miss trying his wines because he was a "winemaker's winemaker." Funny thing is that a healthy number of articles over the years have quoted Bill as refusing to call himself a "winemaker" because he's never had formal training. Rather, he considers himself, first and foremost, a grape grower.

Indeed, when the UBC Alumni Association recently held a panel event titled, "The Grape Debate - Should BC Have a Signature Wine Varietal," Bill was vocal in his disappointment with the fact that neither the pro- nor the con- side of the panel featured a grape grower to discuss the topic. Bill sees the topic as being one driven more by Vancouver media than by growers and winemakers. He doesn't agree with the premise that BC needs to have a signature grape in order to be able to market and export its wines to the world.

For Bill, there are more factors involved in resolving a signature variety than marketing concerns. He advises that "the Okanagan, where a vast majority of the grapes are grown, is a very unique area for many reasons. Its small area, mountainous terroir, soil variability and the long, narrow North/South aspect make it difficult to identify similarities in terroir required to produce a big enough volume of one varietal to call it a signature grape." He continued, "as a result it has always been my humble opinion that BC should celebrate its diversity. We have the ability to grow successfully almost every commercial grape save those grown in extremely warm climates. By celebrating diversity, we also embrace other regions with their completely different terroirs such as the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and many of the other small pockets of vineyards popping up around the province."

He posits, is there any economic sense in pushing for a signature grape when the act only seems to elicit a race to the bottom on pricing? Not from his standpoint. He finds it hard enough trying to make a living when you might aim to produce 4000 cases in an exceptional year.

Being a one man show in such a demanding business is a helluva way to make that living; so, Bill has actually changed things up a bit in the last year. He's finally hired a "general manager" to work with him at the winery. Bill's keeping the head winemaker's hat but he's also now referring to himself as Fairview's CEO - a moniker he rather fancies.

The assistance at the winery will also allow Bill to keep up with what's happening in the political realm of the business. He plays an active role in the structure of the BC Wine Institute, currently sitting on the Board of Directors and on a number of committees. The help also comes in handy as Bill is adding to the portfolio by embarking on a Pinot Noir operation with some additional lands further up the valley. With a different terroir and an unfamiliar grape now in play, Bill's encountered a whole new learning experience.

He also looking forward to completing some expansion of the Fairview facilities. He's looking to double the size of the cellar. The expanded facilities will provide him with the opportunity to bring all of his primary fermentation tanks inside where he'll be able to address temperature control and work toward an even more accomplished end product in the bottle.

And, speaking of a favourable end product, when asked if he had the opportunity to serve any one of his wines to all of the WBC13 participants, what would it be, Bill said that he'd love to serve up either his Cab Sauv or his Bear (Cab/Merlot blend) from the 2005 vintage. He doesn't think they're showing at their peak yet but he does think that they show what can be done with Cab Sauv in the Okanagan. He considers 2005 to be the best vintage in BC since 1994 and is pleased that the wines are showing particularly well - thanks to his vines being that much older and his collective understanding of vineyard characteristics and the winemaking process being a decade stronger. He believes that the '09 and '12 vintages are also excellent but that the wines just haven't had enough time to mature yet.

As you might imagine, the man and his wines are quite intriguing - if not downright fascinating. His involvement in social media is tempered for the time being. He has a limited presence on Facebook and you can find him regularly enough on Twitter with his @FairviewCellars handle - particularly if there are political issues being discussed online. He's not convinced that social media does much to increase sales at the winery though.

If you run across him during WBC13 - or otherwise - and want to hear some first-hand tales, you can't go wrong if you show up with "any Scotch over 15 years old." Not to say that he wouldn't be open to other options. I think it's safe to say that it'd be worth your effort.

A Second Look Ahead to WBC13 - Tinhorn Creek

Sandra Oldfield. Tinhorn Creek.

Need I say more when it comes to BC wine and social media? As such, I think it only makes sense to pay a virtual visit here for my second stop at a BC winery as we lead up to WBC13.

If you're a blogger who's attended a previous Wine Bloggers Conference or you're intent on making your way to the 2013 Wine Bloggers Conference - or even if you just immerse yourself in the social media side of wine - you're probably well acquainted with @SandraOldfield and her blog, Oldfield's Wanderings, She's prolific. She's interesting. She's responsive. When you add in she's full time mom, I swear she must be the busiest woman in the business. And she happens to make some fine wine to boot.

Sandra started out as a California Girl. She grew up there and completed her Masters in Enology at UC Davis. It was there that she met her future (and current) husband, Kenn Oldfield. Once the schooling was completed, Sandra joined Kenn when he returned to Canada and the Oldfields established Tinhorn Creek with their business partners - Calgarians Bob and Barbara Shaughnessy. The Oldfields arrived back in BC in 1994. During the intervening nineteen vintages, the four partners have built the winery from nothing into one of the most dynamic operations in the province.

Moving to a new country and to a fledging wine region had to have caused some trepidation for a woman who had previously worked for California's Rodney Strong Vineyards and did the leg work for her Master's thesis in Robert Mondavi's To-Kalon vineyards. She called the Mondavi experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; however, Sandra also advises that when she "first saw the Okanagan stretched out before me, it was not a difficult decision. It is simply spectacular up here and a new wine industry that I could grow with was right up my alley."

The Okanagan's experience with growing European vinifera grapes really only started in 1988 with the introduction of the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the US. Prior to that the Okanagan was primarily planted with hybrid vines or even old lambrusca grapes. Accordingly, the Oldfields and Shaughnessy's put that UC Davis schooling to test when deciding what grapes to plant in their two vineyards - found between Oliver and Osoyoos. They knew that they only wanted to rely on estate-grown grapes. They also knew that they wanted to focus primarily on red wines - there was just that feeling that it might be too challenging to ripen Cabernet Sauvignon in the Okanagan. So, they planted Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir. For whites they planted Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer. Be it global warming or not, weather patterns have changed enough that the folks at Tinhorn have added sections of the later ripening Cab Sauv, Syrah and Viognier, plus a bit of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.

Although hardly exhaustive, they have a good selection of varieties to work with. The flip side, of vourse, is that there has been plenty of speculation in the press in recent years as to whether or not BC needs to focus on a specific grape varieties - or grape varieties - if the industry ever wants to garner a bigger global reputation. Sandra's take on the debate is that the Okanagan is far from being "one homogenous area." She notes that neither Pinot Noir nor Riesling thrive in the Southern part of the valley where Tinhorn is found and, similarly, the Northern parts of the valley around Kelowna find it difficult to ripen red varieties (with the exception of Pinot Noir). Far from wanting to see the local industry pigeonholed like a Kiwi Sauv Blanc or an Argentine Malbec, Sandra loves that the Okanagan, with its range of micro-climates, is still in "high experimental times" and notes, furthermore, that the main markets the region is serving love the diversity of wines that are available.

Despite her love of variety in the vineyard, there's no doubt that Sandra has become a bit of a spokesperson for Cab Franc. She was a pioneer in BC when she insisted on those original plantings and Tinhorn has probably been alone in having made a varietal wine since 1996. As a testament to her perseverance, a couple of years back, Sandra delivered one of the BC Wine Appreciation Society's more memorable tastings when she shepherded BCWAS members through a 12 vintage vertical tasting of her Cab Franc - every vintage that had been released to date from the first vintage in 1996. The tasting even included some of the difficult 1999 vintage that Sandra referred to as her "Jesus wine." I no longer have my notes from that tasting but local wine luminary, Sid Cross, wrote that Sandra called the wine that because "it started out as bad green beans but with age has turned into an unusual orange peel chartreuse like wine - Jesus turning water into wine." She also admitted that the '99 vintage almost made her turn her heels and head back to California.

Luckily for us, she decided to stick it out though and, earlier this year, Sandra took to Twitter to proudly announce the first release of a reserve level 2010 Oldfield Series Cabernet Franc. The wine is a single block beauty from their Diamondback Vineyard on the Black Sage Bench and it was one of the wines Sandra poured this year at the Vancouver International Wine Festival. Folks needed to jump quickly if they liked it, however, because only 374 cases were made.

If anything, Sandra is heartened by the fact that Cab Franc is generating "great buzz" in BC - as are lightly oaked Chardonnays and Syrahs that are starting to reveal distinct regional variations. But, if she could serve one wine to all the incoming WBC13 attendees, it'd be her Cab Franc. In addition to the variety's ability to facilitate her desire to capture and evoke the unique terroir of the region - that of sage-covered desert - she'd love the opportunity to tell a story about Cab Franc from a "vineyard, cellar and social media aspect." Indeed, she's been working at this already. The team at Tinhorn followed one vine of Cab Franc over the past year and, in conjunction with an Ontario producer that did the same thing, discussed "the 2012 season through the use of those two vines" weekly for six months. You can visit Sandra's blog and click on the #CabFrancTuesday 2012 tab to read her comments and follow the vine's progression through photos. I understand that she's about to start a second journey with #Gewsday (Gewürztraminer Tuesday).

When it comes to adding a bottle of Tinhorn Creek to The List with this post, it might seem natural to open a bottle of Cab Franc - especially since I have a couple bottles of that 2010 Oldfield's Reserve - but that Oldfield's is just a baby and I'm going to let it lay for awhile. Sandra and Tinhorn also produce a series of blends - their 2Bench Red and 2Bench White - that I'm very fond of and I think one of them will satisfy just as well.

1279.  2009 Tinhorn Creek Oldfield Series 2Bench Red (VQA Okanagan Valley)

The 2Bench White has been part of the Tinhorn portfolio for a longer time than the Red but I happened to have a bottle of the Red at home. The 2009 2Bench Red is only the third vintage of Sandra's Bordeaux or Meritage blend for the premium series and this year's blend is 45% Merlot, 30% Cab Sauv, 22% Cab Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. This is also still a young wine but we allowed the bottle to breathe and took our time with it. Our patience was definitely rewarded in that the wine opened up noticeably and the tannins retreated some into the bright, dark fruit.

I suppose if I'm ever to finish this post before WBC13 actually arrives, I'd best make a few final points and call it a day. There is plenty to write about, however. Perhaps I should consider doing my own Master's dissertation on Sandra.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Tinhorn's efforts in sustainability and innovation. Tinhorn was the first winery in BC to try bottling wine with Stelvin screw cap enclosures when they bottled a portion of their 2001 Merlot. They introduced a sharp, two-bottle package that contained one bottle finished with cork and the second topped with the screw cap. It was novel and an effective way to show the BC market that the Stelvin closure could arrive in a good way and it let consumers see first hand if they found any difference. The winery carried forward from there and was also the first to bottle its entire portfolio with Stelvin caps.

The winery was additionally the first in Canada to be declared "carbon neutral" and it makes extensive efforts in composting, using biodiesel fuel and water conservation - among such other activities as habitat preservation.

The opening of Miradoro Restaurant at the winery, in April 2011, created quite a buzz in the Valley as it heralded a joint venture with two top names from the Vancouver restaurant scene. Being named, by Wine Access Magazine, as one of the "World's Best Winery Restaurants" only helped make Tinhorn even more of a destination winery. And that doesn't even take into account the winery's 350-seat amphitheatre that spectacularly overlooks the valley and plays host to a series of outdoor summer concerts.

One thing that doesn't come to mind when thinking of Sandra is shyness. The lady doesn't seem to have a problem when it comes to speaking her mind and I quite loved all the press she received last year as the debate over shipping wine across provincial boundaries was growing into a bit of a brouhaha. Sandra upped the ante by showing it's easier to order a firearm and have Canada Post ship it half way across the country than it is to order a case of wine and ship it to another province. It was legal for Sandra to order her first firearm - a Maverick 88 shotgun - and find it delivered four days later. It was not legal, however, for anyone to order a case of Tinhorn wine and have it shipped outside of BC. Steps are slowly being made on that front but I'm quite sure Sandra could give a tip or twelve to provincial bureaucrats when it comes to legislative regulations.

In fighting her good fight, Sandra has utilized social media to great effect and she launched #BCWineChat as a means of discussing topics near and dear to industry insiders and BC wine aficionados. BC WineChat and its 8-9 p.m. timeslot on Wednesdays is now a fixture on Twitter - regularly trending as a topic in BC and Canada - to the point where a recent Oysters and Wine topic attracted "porn-bots" en masse.

I'll end with Sandra's response to the question of whether there is any particular aspect of or fact about BC winemaking that she'd like visiting bloggers and guests to learn or be exposed to. She stated that, "I'd like them to focus on wines other than Icewine and not come with too many preconceived notions about us. I'd love for them to explore the touring aspect we have here - a beautiful area with many wineries and lot of other activities to do as well. it is a great place to go for a vacation. Lastly, there are many opportunities to combine touring with eco-tourism and agri-tourism that make BC so unique. There are wineries with major investments here - small and large and every size in between - so we are working hard at building on something here that will last." That about sums it up, doesn't it?

Speaking from experience, BC's oft-proclaimed "Twitter Queen" and Tinhorn Creek are well worth catching up with - and, should you run into her at WBC13, you can likely keep her willingly engaged by arriving with something Alsatian, a glass of Portugese table wine or a Riesling. You won't regret it.