By Margaret Swaine
(National Post June 9, 2007)
The invite was intriguing. Come to a get-your-gumboots-on and get-your-hands-dirty, educational wine boot camp on the grounds of the Naramata Bench in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. If I accepted this mission, I was to join about two dozen sommeliers coming in from western Canada. Our hosts were to be a maverick group of 19 independent boutique wineries with such names as Laughing Stock, Elephant Island, Therapy, Soaring Eagle and Black Widow. It was a challenge a journalist couldn’t refuse.
Day One
05:30 hours. Up early to catch Air Canada’s direct Toronto to Kelowna flight at 08:10. So far so good. No free food on the almost five hour flight but I’d brought my tuck bag. Individual video monitors with a choice of movies helped the time fly.
09:55. Arrival (BC time). Transfer to Deer Path Lookout Bed & Breakfast Inn up in the hills just south of Penticton. All of us were billeted at “winemakers’ cottages” at small inns right on winery property or at nearby B&B’s. Some rooms such as at Therapy and Lake Breeze had tremendous views overlooking Okanagan Lake. Mine, owned by a charming couple John Archer and Douglas Bertz, was nestled in a forest. I had feared barrack like accommodations but this was deluxe, tastefully decorated with Canadian art and sculptures.
13:00. Arrival at the patio of Elephant Orchard Wines for a welcoming picnic. Our gumboots are all lined up with our names pinned on them. I see I’ll be joined by some of the best of the west sommeliers from the likes of Vancouver’s Lumière, Raincity Grill, C Restaurant, Bishops, Four Seasons and Beach House, Whistler’s Araxi and Kelowna’s Fresco. But few have arrived yet. Rumour went around that the bus had stopped in Chilliwack for beer and then again at Manning Park Lodge to “let the beer out”. It was going to be a fun few days.
14:30. Rob Van Westen of Van Westen Vineyards herds the now fed, wined and booted sommeliers onto a bus to the vineyards. Naramata Bench is one of the fastest growing viticulture regions in BC. However its 450 or so acres of vines represent just 7 per cent of total Okanagan acreage. The production of the individual wineries ranges from a mere 600 cases to 24,000; a still very small annual output. Work here is hands on and all the winemakers show deep tans. Rob points out his brother, “I’ve a red neck but he’s the real thing.”
14:50. We’re at block 2560 Naramata Bench to hear from viticulturalists, geologists and experts from the Canada Research Centre. Miranda Halladay of Elephant Island brings things down to earth with a story about Rob. “He’s an instructor for tractor safety. He rolled his tractor last year and broke his hip.” Sure enough while gingerly walking Rob points out a building, “I was born in that house. Out of my mom in 15 minutes for the first of many ambulance rides of my life.”
15:00. The sun beats down on us as we move about the vineyards where apple and cherry trees once grew. The Van Westen family like many farm families in the area did the math and ripped up fruit trees to plant grapes. The research scientists tell us about microclimates in the area and how even within a vineyard the temperature can vary from six to eight degrees. I hide under a tree that’s still standing to lower my own microclimate. Then the geologists suggest we jump into a deep trench they have dug to see soil variations for ourselves. Some of the sommeliers actually do this. The talk begins, “About 70 million years ago a fault opened up…” and a shortened version of about one billion years of geology is crammed into our heads.
16:45. We’ve now learned how different soils affect the profile and taste of a wine. We’ve been shown how to plant, leaf pluck and prune a vine. The sommeliers are having in-depth discussions with the viticulturalists. I’ve lost my interest in dirt and am focussed on the cool wines on the tasting table under the cherry tree and sneak some. Van Westen Vivacious 2005, pinot blanc with a hint of gris tastes plump and peachy to me. “This has been really neat to learn the technical side of things,”says Janis Hodgins of Pair Bistro. Cheers I say.
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17:30. Everyone’s gone to their premises to freshen up. I stop to admire the lake view from the digs among the vineyards of Lake Breeze. Jeff Van Geest the chef/owner of Aurora Bistro has scored this place for the overnight along with a chilled bottle of Lake Breeze Pinot Blanc 2006 (which I find has great intensity and aromatics in a plump body). Like the others he’s passionate about wine and says of his vacation time, “I’ve done nothing but wine tours for the past ten years….They don’t have to sell me on the Okanagan. It’s our Napa Valley.”
19:00. We reconvene at Hillside Estate Winery, one of several in the area that has a restaurant on premises. The evening’s still sunny but now with a cooling breeze. Their Barrel Room Bistro serves up lamb chops, shrimp on the barbie, roast beef on Yorkshire pudding and all the wine we can drink. If this is boot camp, I want to sign up for life.
Day Two
08:30. Breakfast at Deer Path is poached eggs on pancetta with freshly made tomato sauce on a bed of local spring asparagus. It’s divine as is the dark roast coffee.
10:00. The sommeliers straggle into the parking lot at Soaring Eagle. It seems there were more than a few adventures after dinner. The late partiers who overnighted at Therapy joke about their dreams. The four who stayed at Spiller Estate have a tale to tell. They had locked themselves out of their B&B cottage. At 2am when they wanted to hit the hay, there was no one inside to rouse. A bottle of Elephant Island Stellaport through the window solved the ‘technical difficulties’, a situation which bore some delicate explanation over coffee the next morning.
10:30. Our varietal tasting takes place on the veranda with a full panel of speakers and 12 wines to taste. The excitement about the region is palatable and we hear in 20 years the whole area will likely be converted to grapes. The winemakers introduce themselves, “I’m Ian Sutherland from Poplar Grove. I’m a bit hung over,” gets a huge and empathetic laugh. We start with a comparison of seven Naramata pinot gris all from 2006. Pinot gris is one of the great successes on the Bench and all the wines display plenty of good character. I love the ripe plump tropical pineapple aspects in the Laughing Stock, Soaring Eagle and Poplar Grove pinots. Nichol Vineyard’s pinot gris is slightly pink from more time on the skins and shows minerals with citrus flavours. Van Westen has a minerally granny apple leanness as does Township 7. A long discussion ensues about whether grapefruit, minerals, pineapple or other characteristics can be said to define these Naramata Bench wines.
11:30. We taste five 2005 merlots, the red variety which is a favourite in the area. Words like burlap, tobacco, smoke and big berry fruit come up a lot. Much is said too about taming the dominant tannins and managing the high alcohol that the merlot in this area tends to get.
12:30. Chef Marcus at Lake Breeze presents us with a buffet of salads, paella, cannelloni, fresh fruit crisp, cheesecake and more. The winery pours an interesting smooth pinotage, a rare grape variety outside of its native South Africa.
14.30. The most serious seminar of the camp is at Laughing Stock. For the next several hours we learn about oak barrels. “The barrel is the tool for the winemaker,” begins Michael Weyna of Saury Barrels. We taste wines aged in barrels made by different coopers and from different French forests. We compare wines aged in American, Hungarian and French barrels. We sample the effect of different toasting levels (barrels are purposely charred inside – fire caramelizes the wood sugars) and of toasted heads (ends of the barrel). Believe it or not attention is rapt.
18:00 The Sommelier Olympics begin. We’re divided into four teams of five, the rest are appointed judges. I join up with the “Uncorked Wonders”. Game One we have to make a cocktail using ingredients provided. The base spirit is 75 per cent alcohol quickly causing contestants and judges to unhinge inhibitions. My team ranks a dismal third place. In Game Two judges toss our gumboots into a pile. We must find their own boots and put them on; the faster the more points. A free-for-all tumble results. No one wins. Game Three is complicated: Trim the shoots of vines, role a barrel around a tree, cork two bottles, uncork them, climb a ladder blindfolded and empty the bottles into a decanter. Sobriety helps but even then people get drenched. The final test is saber the tops off champagne bottles; the team who can get the caps to fly the farthest gets top points. At the end of it all my team wins the golden gumboots. I’m not sure how – it was all a blur by then. But the boots are now a trophy in my wine cellar.