“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 on the ground 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.
For BC Wine lovers this is an exciting time of the year! So many new releases to discover and enjoy. Always a favourite the wines from Bartier Bros. do sell out quite quickly, please keep this in mind and place your order without delay. These are four wines you should be enjoying now, or in the case of the Merlot and Cabernet Franc consider buying a few more for cellaring.
Bartier Bros. 2021 Rosé
New Release
The Rosé 2021 is a gorgeous soft pink. This wine is full of aromas and flavours of grapefruit, citrus, orange pekoe tea and rose petal. It crisp and light with refreshing tannins with a long mineral finish.
This Rose will pair will with just about anything you want. Some of our favourites are charcuterie, Spanish tapas, salads.
All the fruit for the Rose 2021 was hand harvested at various dates throught the harvest and kept seperate until blending over winter 2021/2022. The Chardonnay & Gewürztraminer were both (seperately) pressed whole cluster and went through a cultured yeast ferment at 17° C in stainless steel tanks. The Pinot Gris fermented on skins for 12 days to achieve colour and light tannins. The Syrah crushed for 17-day maceration with cultured yeast.
The different varietals spent 3 months in stainless steel bofore bottling at the end of January 2022.
3402 cases produced
41% Gewurztraminer, 30% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Gris, 4% Syrah
Cerquira Vineyard: Mostly granite glacial till with a sandy loam topsoil
Summerland Vineyard: Sandy silt topsoil on mainly granite gravel
Vertcial Shoot Positioning (VSP) and cane pruning (double Guyot)
Bartier Bros. 2021 Semillon
New Release
This Semillon has flavours and aromas of apricot, honeydew, peach, and stone. It is dry, minerally, fresh mouthfeel and finish.
The Semillon was hand harvested on October 1, 2021. It was whole cluster pressed followed by a at ferment at 15-17° C. It then spent 5 months in stainless steel before bottling.
Cerquiera Vineyard, Black Sage Terrace, Oliver, BC
325 cases produced
Grown on sandy loam topsoil on mainly granite glacial till, with high occurences of calcium sulphate precipates
Vertcial Shoot Positioning (VSP) and cane pruning (double Guyot)
Bartier Bros. 2020 Merlot
New Release
The Merlot 2020 has flavours of blueberries and wet stone with a long, gun-flint finish.
Enjoy the Merlot 2020 with roast beef, cheddar cheese, mushrooms, lamb, and pork loin.
The Merlot 2020 was hand-picked from our Cerquiera Vineyard on October 6, 2020. It was then de-stemmed and crushed into 5-ton stainless steel fermenters where it fermented at 28° C for 16 days. After pressing it spent 14 months in neutral French Oak barrels. It is unfined and unfiltered.
100% Merlot
Cerquiera Vineyard, Black Sage Terrace, Oliver, BC
399 cases produced
Grown on mostly granite glacial till with a sandy loam topsoil
Vertcial Shoot Positioning (VSP) and cane pruning (double Guyot)
Bartier Bros. 2020 Cabernet Franc
The aromas and flavours of the Cabernet Franc 2020 are dominated by blackberry, plum and cordite with velvety soft tannins and a stoney, flinty finish.
Pair the Cabernet Franc with roast chicken, veal, charcuterie, brie, goat cheese, and feta.
The Cabernet Franc 2020 was hand harvested on October 14, 2020. It was then de-stemmed and crushed into five & seven-ton open top fermenters. It was inoculated with a cultured yeast ferment and macerated for 22-days. After maceration the wine spent 14 months in neutral French Oak before being bottled at the end of January 2022. This wine is unfined and unfiltered.
91% Cabernet Franc, 9% Merlot
Cerquiera Vineyard, Black Sage Terrace, Oliver, BC
908 cases produced
Grown on mostly granite glacial till with a sandy loam topsoil
Vertcial Shoot Positioning (VSP) and cane pruning (double Guyot)
The Bartier Bros.
We’re from this Valley. We grew up here, we know it, we love it, we are a product of it and we feel responsible to it. Our wines are an expression of the valley, being true to the language that can describe any aspect of the Okanagan; bright, fresh, refreshing, pristine, unspoilt, alive and so on . . .
Our ambition is to make great wines. Great wine can be found all over the world but it’s important for us not to merely copy those wines because by definition, great wine is unique and identifiable to its origin. Of course, great wine also by definition should be delicious. In the Okanagan Valley, we have a rare and precious combination of growing conditions; relatively high altitude, desert climate (hot days, cool nights), low humidity, tolerable winters from our moderating lakes, young soils lain over glacial till and all of this occurs at a very high latitude from the equator. The Okanagan epitomizes all of the great qualities, which the entire global wine industry scrambles to define itself as being.
The Partnership
Don and Michael are brothers raised in the Okanagan Valley. As young men they took different career paths – Don an accountant, Michael a winemaker – but have remained close.
Michael has pined for his own winery to make his style of wine, but lacked the business and financial acumen for this undertaking. Don has long been a wine enthusiast and indeed about the best customer of each winery that Michael worked for.
Loyalty and partisan feelings aside, Don liked Michael’s style of winemaking. With his fascination in wine and advice from Michael, Don planted a small vineyard at his wife Sheila’s family property in Summerland. Michael watched this project closely and helped a lot.
Either Don passed Michael’s test, or Michael laid a trap that Don walked into.
In either event, the stage was set for the partnership of the Bartier Bros., two brothers, who between them had a vineyard, business expertise, viticulture experience, an accountant, a winemaker, and most importantly, an abiding respect for their Valley and the desire to represent it well.
Wine notes, bio and partnership info courtesy of the winery. Images: MyVanCity. I received complimentary wine to facilitate this feature.
