“In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.”
Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson
For those of us with our feet planted more firmly our thoughts just may be turning to wine, specifically the wines of the latest Spring Releases. In this series of features, I will endeavour to update you on the new spring releases from some of my favourite British Columbia wineries.
Here is the winery’s newest releases:
2021 Character White
WINE PROFILE
Tasting Notes
This fantastic vintage of the Foundation Series Character White displays lovely rose petal, honeycomb, and, lychee aromas. Unoaked and delightfully refreshing, the crisp palate shows ripe lychee, tropical and, stone fruit notes.
Enjoy with friends and try with goat cheese baked Fanny Bay oysters or a spring onion and Gruyère tart.
Winemaker Notes
The fruit for this fragrant and fresh wine is from some of the first grapes we harvested in 2021. The Gewürztraminer comes from our Golden Mile Estate and our vineyard manager’s own vineyard, nearby on Road 8. The Pinot Gris also comes from our Vineyard Manager, Iqbal’s, property, as well as from long time growers, the Chahal’s, in Oliver. All fruit that comes to the winery is hand harvested then meticulously sorted. The berries are left intact and whole for pressing, resulting in clean juice. Following racking, the juice was fermented cool in stainless tanks for an average of 28 days, prior to blending. A fabulously aromatic representation of Oliver terroirs.
2021 Pinot Gris
WINE PROFILE
Tasting Notes
Fresh and fruity, our Foundation Series Pinot Gris has enticing notes of candied pear, quince and, floral aromas. The dry and zesty palate shows honeyed lemon/lime citrus elements with a pleasing minerality.
A fabulous expression of the Okanagan, pair with fresh BC halibut and a golden fruit chutney.
Winemaker Notes
Following an amazing growing season, our 2021 Pinot Gris was handpicked from select vineyards in the South Okanagan. Our nearby Estate Road 7 vineyard is a great site for grapes with bright stone fruit flavours. We also sourced fruit from our Vineyard Manager, Iqbal’s, property on Road 8, as well as from long time grower Bill Pascoa in Oliver. The grapes were sorted, destemmed and whole berry pressed, with the resulting juice then cool settled and racked to stainless steel tanks. The lots were cool fermented for an average of 28 days at approximately 13°C. Following the long fermentation to coax out subtle yet vibrant fruit flavours, the wines were blended to best express the farms where they were grown.
2021 Pinot Blanc
WINE PROFILE
Tasting Notes
Intense and inviting, our Foundation Series Old Vine Pinot Blanc gorgeously reflects the classic characteristics this variety is renowned for, with ripe melon and apple blossom notes. The racy palate bursts with lemon zest and crisp apple, followed by an ample and elegant finish.
Enjoy with fresh Qualicum Beach scallops or spot prawn citrus ceviche.
Winemaker Notes
A wine of remarkable depth, our estate Pinot Blanc originates from Blocks 4 and 9 at our Golden Mile Bench Vineyard. The Old Vine Block 4 is from the original historic planting in 1968, with Block 9 planted in 1997/98 (using Alsace Clone 54). The grapes were handpicked, carefully sorted, destemmed and berries left whole for pressing. The juice was cold settled and enjoyed a long, cold ferment at 12°C in stainless steel to best preserve the bright aromatics and flavours. Fermentation took 27 days to complete, after which the tanks were racked and blended. A stellar example of this varietal with intense stone fruit and mineral elements, this vintage really demonstrates what old vines and an ideal terroir can achieve in the Okanagan Valley.
2021 Rosé Cabernet Franc
WINE PROFILE
Tasting Notes
Bright and aromatic, this lush and delicious wine shows inviting strawberry and rhubarb aromas enhanced with a hint of white pepper. The luscious, fruit forward palate is laden with ripe raspberries and sweet-tart strawberry rhubarb pie flavours.
A pretty, yet intense and full-bodied Rosé, chill well and pair with cured meats, medium to strong cheeses, and a warm summer afternoon.
Winemaker Notes
Crafted entirely with Oliver area fruit, the Cabernet Franc for this vintage comes from our vineyard manager’s nearby property on Road 8 along with longtime growers on Road 7 and Pinehill Road. The grapes were handpicked, sorted, and left whole to cold soak for 4 days for ideal colour and flavour extraction. Following skin contact, the lots were pressed, cold settled, and then fermented. On average fermentation lasted 22 days at 13°C. The resulting wines were blended and aged very briefly in stainless steel tanks prior to bottling, for a naturally vibrant and juicy Rosé.
2020 Pinot Gris Viognier
WINEMAKING:
A captivating white blend, this vintage was made entirely with premium Oliver area grapes. The Pinot Gris was sourced from our Vineyard Manager’s own properties, as well as select local growers. The Viognier fruit is from longtime growers, Fournier anChahal’s vineyards. The fruit was hand-picked, sorted, destemmed and then whole berry pressed. A long cool fermentation at 13° for 35 days in stainless steel tanks enabled the varietal’s bright aromatics and flavours to really shine. Following fermentation, the tanks were racked and further aged in stainless for 4 months. The final blend was bottled early in the new year to retain the vibrant fruit flavors.
TASTING NOTES:
Fun, yet complex, this inviting white blend of approximately 2/3 Pinot Gris and 1/3 Viognier shows lovely aromatics of ripe peach, citrus and clover. Waves of honeysuckle, peach, and citrus zest fill the palate, followed by crisp mouth-filling acidity.
Unoaked and wonderfully juicy, pair with summer afternoons, good friends and light cheeses.
Unique to select Save-On-Foods (BC)
Vineyard Notes
The 2021 growing season in the South Okanagan was one for the history books as the driest on record, due in large part to the “Heat Dome” and its record breaking high temperatures. It was also one of the warmest years, seeing the most growing degree days GDD (1758) since 2015. Following flowering, we experienced an extremely dry and hot June during fruit set. The heat led to a lighter fruit set and smaller berry size than usual. While there was less fruit per vine and the yield was light in volume, on the upside the smaller berries in the clusters resulted in more concentrated flavours and colours on the red varietals. Similarly, for the white varietals there are intense flavours and vibrant aromatics. With the warm dry season, the grapes reached phenolic ripeness earlier than usual with harvest commencing and finishing early. We began picking the whites on August 27th for our Ti Amo (Prosecco-style sparkling wine). We started picking our first reds in mid-September with our block 10 Merlot on September 14th at our historic Golden Mile Bench estate vineyard. We finished our last estate reds pick with Cabernet Sauvignon from block 8 of our Golden Mile Bench vineyard on October 28, 2021. Overall, the 2021 harvest produced wines of outstanding quality and varietal character. We expect to see some intense, fruit driven wines, with excellent depth of flavour.
Our roots run deep with half century old vines, rooted in the Golden Mile Bench’s exceptional terroir. Blending sustainable vineyard practices and innovative winemaking, we craft wines of distinction that are an intensely flavoured expression of our historic vineyard.
Hester Creek Estate Winery
· 877 Road 8, Oliver, British Columbia
1.866.498.4435 · info@nullhestercreek.com · www.hestercreek.com
Wine profiles courtesy of the winery. Images: MyVanCity. I received complimentary wine to facilitate this feature.
