Since joining the von Mandl family of wineries in 2014 there have been some significant changes to CedarCreek. Located in the north Okanagan organically farmed and historically delicious pretty much sums up their wines. Their new tasting room is an exceptional work of design and architecture in keeping with the vision of a quality winery.
Without hesitation I include their wines in our #FavouriteThings Holiday Gift Suggestions that I personally recommend.
In addition to their new Tasting Room there was also the opening this year of Home Block at CedarCreek Estate Winery. I experienced an exquisite wine dinner in late September that was one of the highlights of my culinary journeys this year. Read my review of Home Block and the wines served at the Visa Infinite® Wine Country Series dinner on September 27, 2019. Hot New Home Block dishes Big Flavours, Elegant Wines.
Here is the line-up of CedarCreek wines for your holiday gift giving. Just make sure you include yourself on your gift list!
Home Block Sparkling Brut Non Vintage
Blend
100% Muscat Ottonel
It all began in 1986 with our small Home Block vineyard. After three decades of making award-winning, estate grown wines from our signature vineyard sites, we figured we had something to celebrate. So we looked high and low for a perfectly balanced, single vineyard sparkling that met our hard-to-please standards. And since we couldn’t find one, we made one. Delicious problem solved. $24.99
The Vintage
An unusually wet spring led to a later start to the season; however, 2017 in its entirety was a hotter, more compressed season than normal. Bud break was 2 – 3 weeks earlier than in 2016, with an earlier harvest by 3 weeks. On average, the season brought smaller berry size, clusters and yields. Though yields were slightly smaller, fruit quality was excellent, characterized by high flavour concentration, moderate alcohol, balanced tannins, complexity and natural acidity.
Tasting Notes
Lovely flavours of orange, tangerine, and flowers. The mousse is smooth with a soft entry and long lingering finish. A bright, fresh wine perfect for celebrating!
2018 Chardonnay
100% Chardonnay
Deep beneath the earth, the decades-long story of this Chardonnay takes shape. Roots stretch far and wide, buffering against drought, rain, and occasional cold. In this hot and dry valley, the knotted trunks and twisted arms faithfully deliver exceptional consistency and quality fruit vintage after vintage. $18.99
Above average growing degree days in the spring contributed to an early budbreak. Cooler days and evenings arrived in August, which slowed down the ripening of the grapes and allowed for greater flavour development while retaining freshness and acidity.
Tasting Notes
Notes of lemon, mineral, stone fruit on the nose with a nice acid backbone.
2018 Block 3 Riesling
100% Riesling
Block 3 is one of our favourite blocks because of its age (planted in 1991) and the interesting flavour profiles it can display. The block was harvested using a “three pick” approach, and the second and third picks were reserved for this Platinum wine. The extended hang time allowed the grapes more time to develop sugars, flavour profile, and acidity, while the cool growing season helped retain that vibrant acidity. Half of this wine was wild fermented, and the other half was fermented with organic yeast. The six months on lees in tank bolstered its complexity.
The Vintage
Above average growing degree days in the spring contributed to an early budbreak. Cooler days and evenings arrived in August, which slowed down the ripening of the grapes and allowed for greater flavour development while retaining freshness and acidity.
Tasting Notes
Vibrant acidity and intense flavours from the cool growing season. A small botrytis contribution lends a rich, earthy tone to the wine. Clean and bright on the palette, intensely perfumed with lemon lime, apple, peach, and mandarin notes. The bright acidity is balanced out by 13.7g of RS.
Food Pairing Notes
Seafood, spicy foods (residual sugar can balance the heat), burrata, raclette.
2017 Pinot Noir
Blend
100% Pinot Noir
All the grapes for this wine come from four separate blocks within our Home Block Vineyard, each farmed differently and harvested as much as three weeks apart. This was also the first year we started farming Home Block organically and the results show in the bottle. In true Pinot form, this wine is light and delicate, though has a riper fruit profile due to the warmer vintage. It is made in a truly low-intervention style: natural fermentation, natural malolactic fermentation, unfined and unfiltered. $26.99
2017 Platinum Riesling Icewine
Blend
100% Riesling
Our 2017 Platinum Riesling Icewine was handpicked in the night on December 27, 2017 at a temperature of -10 C. We gently pressed the fruit over 36 hours, then fermented in large oak vessels. $57.99
2013 Platinum M
100% Chardonnay
M is the only Madeira-style wine made in the Okanagan Valley. We fortified our intensely bright Chardonnay with alcohol distilled from wine lees that we collected in the winery. For five years thereafter, we allowed the small casks to sit in the summer sun and reduce and concentrate. What started as 225L of wine yielded the 170L we bottled. $79.99
Tasting Notes
Caramel and macadamia nuts
Enjoy with most desserts and blue cheese.
About CedarCreek Estate Winery and Home Block Restaurant
Tasting Experiences:
Complimentary Estate Tasting: Showcasing bright, expressive, aromatic wines sourced from our Okanagan vineyards
Platinum Tasting: Bringing out the most character from individual blocks to make premium vineyard-driven wines
Silt & Stone Experience: Gifted with two amazing blocks of Pinot Noir planted in the early 1990’s, Block 2 & Block 4 of Home Block Vineyard have some of the oldest Pinot Noir vines in BC. The Silt & Stone Experience explores the very tangible impacts that each block’s soil composition has on the wines, as well as vintage variation between the 2012 and 2016 Pinot Noirs.
Call (778) 738-1027 for information and reservations.
The story of CedarCreek begins with the vision of Senator Ross Fitzpatrick. Born and raised in the Okanagan, the future senator worked alongside his father during the ‘40s and ‘50s at MacLean & Fitzpatrick, a fruit packing and shipping company.
Though his education and career took him away from the valley for three decades, he returned in 1986, and purchased his first Okanagan Valley winery and vineyard on a site overlooking Okanagan Lake. At the time, there wasn’t much belief in the idea of wine being produced in the valley, let alone wine that could stand among the best in the world. He became a pioneer in the planting of vinifera grape varieties to produce premium quality wine.
Few others shared the same vision of what the Okanagan might become, among them – the von Mandls. CedarCreek grew into one of the leading wineries in the Okanagan Valley – twice winning Canada’s “Winery of the Year” award. In February 2014, the Fitzpatrick family announced the transfer of ownership of CedarCreek to the von Mandl family. With this, two of the region’s pioneering winemaking families came together over a shared vision for the future of the Okanagan Valley.
Today, we honour the Senator’s vision for the 50-acre Home Block Vineyard. Winemaker Taylor Whelan is building upon three decades of winemaking history and defining a new chapter with estate-grown, organic wines. Because of planting decisions made in the early 1990’s, we now have 30-year-old vines at the heart of everything we do, and seek to showcase them in increasingly nuanced ways. We commit to this land daily with integrity, authenticity, and a commitment to quality. On that, you have our word.
Nominated: Air Canada / enRoute Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2019.
At Home Block Restaurant, we embrace the bounty of the Okanagan while our name pays homage to the Home Block Vineyard which surrounds us. Our building is crafted from fieldstone and 100-year-old reclaimed barn wood and our cuisine draws on those elemental roots. We integrate natural cooking methods like our wood-fired grill fueled by timber from local orchards and seasoned barrel staves. The result is honest, confident, and approachable food that unites flawlessly with CedarCreek wine.
Come soak up the spectacular views of the lake, vines, and valley with us. Book on Open Table or call 250-980-4663 for reservations.
Paragraphs in italics – Editor, MyVanCity. Images, tasting notes and information courtesy of the winery. Feature image supplied by CedarCreek Estate Winery. I received a complimentary bottle of each of the wines in order to facilitate this review, all opinions expressed are my own.
