Long, cold & hard: ICEWINE season kicks off.

That strange little offspring of the wine world is being born one more time in the Okanagan.
And so freakin' early.

ICE, ICE (baby) wine.

Temperatures rocketed down on Sunday and have been Subzero since. Tonight and tomorrow morning are supposed to be the coldest. There was plenty of snow since Saturday and more on the way off and on through the week.

Glad I'm not out there.

Wine Business Perspective - SIZE MATTERS

The other day I was talking to a cellar hand I know and I asked what size of winery they worked for. The answer -
"Quite large - I think we're doing over 10,000 cases this year."

Earlier in the month I met a wine maker visiting from Australia and I asked the same question.
The answer was -
"Just a little one - about 10,000 cases a year."

It's all a matter of perspective and into that you must figure what the PR and marketing department wants for an image.
Next time you see 'small, family-run estate winery' or such consider what that means and to whom. The owners might believe 20,000 cases fits that description. On the other hand, some people may regard that kind of operation as a major operator.

The Best Sparkling Wine in the World

The best sparkling wine hasn't been made yet. I think it will happen and when it does it will be from grapes grown in British Columbia and, most likely, the Fraser Valley just outside of Vancouver.
The weather is perfect for bubble grapes. Long periods of mild weather, never really hot, never really cold. Plenty of rain, just like Champagne.
What do you do when all your friends are growing beautiful grapes in warm, humidity-balanced climates and you're stuck with a a long, cool and wet growing season? You ferment your sad little berries once and then add some sugar and ferment them again in the bottle and then you spin, baby, spin!
You tell people yarns about widows and their kitchen doors and blind monks who "see" stars. You get dressed up with no where to go and you stay dressed up and go everywhere. You tell people that drinking your bubbly wine will make you a better person because all the better people are drinking it.
You make a wine that would have a hard time as a table wine into something luxurious and continue to spin.
I just finished a couple days picking Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Langley. This will end up as Township 7's Seven Stars in time for Christmas 2009. The grapes of early November were still unripe despite an "excellent" growing season. The Pinot gave up almost no colour at crush and the Chardonnay still had 90% green seeds. The hangtime flavours were complex and elegant.
Ideal conditions for sparkling wine production.
Somebody grab 100 to 200 acres of land in South Langley or Abbotsford on a gentle south facing slope about a mile or less from the border, do a really good job of soil reprofiling and plant only PN and Chard.
And start spinning.
In 15 years you'll have the best bubble in the world.

Harvest, Crush, Vintage

Whatever you call it ... it's finally coming to an end. Township 7 has still got 8 tons of Cab coming in this week. That will be the end of it. I put my foot down.
Stone Mountain is catching up with the tail end of some ferments and Hijas Bonitas is pretty much under control.

The photo is Scott Robinson, assistant winemaker at Township 7, helping some grapes to their mushy doom. Please excuse the grotty Mog device as our 'official' one fell beneath the auger's grinding screw.

Wines are tasting good and we're already figuring out our bottling schedules and packaging requirements!

Rain

Did I mention it's pissing down rain today?
Well it is.
Good day for getting caught up in the cellar.
All picking is off.
Looks like it may clear off by the end of the week.
Check it out for yourself.

Looking at a WHOPPING BIG YEAR. Lots of GR8 Wine.

Yields are way up in the white department after a dissapointing 2005. The quality is above average across the board. Quality of fruit was never an issue last year, just the small amount of it.

In the reds, volumes are again above normal but not as dramatically as the whites. Merlot came in early as it kept maturing during the heat spikes while other more sensitive varietals (you know who you are Mr. Pinot) shut down.

Quality will not be an issue for reds, either.

Handling and traffic is the main concern.

Township 7 may end up 40% above last year's numbers. Some of the other interests I'm involved in are looking at total volume increases as well with Stone Mountain (new) up a whopping 150%.

Township 7's Wine Maker

If you do nothing else today pick up a copy of the Globe and Mail (Saturday) and see me on the front of the business section. Big story inside about the Okanagan wine. Limited version of print stories by clicking on the link above.

Fall Wine Festival

It's now one of the most successful events in the province and probably the country. The Okanagan Fall Wine Festival draws thousands to the valley starting today and ending on Sunday, October 8th. There's literally hundreds of events organized by wineries, vineyards, hotels, restaurants and community groups.
I'd love to meet some of you...
I'll be at the Toasted Oak in Oliver for a winemaker's dinner tomorrow night. Sunday I hope to be wandering around with the other 1000 folks at the Festival of the Grape in Oliver. Next weekend I'll pour you a taste at the Penticton Convention centre on Friday and Saturday.

Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer In

At Township 7, all of the SB and Gew is in with the Chardonnay beginning to come in. Picking in Cawston (Chardonnay) on Saturday while the Pinot Gris on our property is harvested simultaneously. It'll be a long day but we'll get it all done with our new Sutter 35.

Things are heating up at Stone Mountain as well.

Looks like Monday will be the day for the first day of Gewurztraminer there. Over 17 tons are expected. This new winery is going from about 30 tons produced off premise last year to 120 tons in a newly converted building this year. Photos here today show arrival of the new press and Terry hand-loading some primo Gew for whole cluster pressing.

Hamilton Street Grill & Township 7

Had a great time at the Hamilton Street Grill back on the 11th and 12th when it was Township 7 night. Folks were invited to come down and taste some T7 wine and enjoy some of Chef Neil's great food. The events were oversold on both nights. We gave away a double magnum of 2004 Merlot as shown by T7 owner Mike Raffan.

Big thanks to Neil and his team for great hospitality. We'd love to do it again! If you're down there - try the hanger steak!

Last Safety Meeting

We had our last safety meeting of the season on Friday. The season where you can sit around outside without layering on various bits of clothes or where your drink gets warmer as time goes by rather than cooler.
The format was simple. BBQ/Beer to start off and finish with bits of wine.
And always the safety.
We talked about proper location of beverage holders, thirst quenching ratios, transporting potables during vintage and dynamic progressive conviviality theory (DPC).

There's a couple more photos in the Flickr panel at right.

Running The Black Dog

Racked out the Black Dog the other day for a little look.

For those who don't know, 'black dog' is our working name for a small batch of exquisite 2005 red that's a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. It's dark and brooding; the structure is perfect and the contributions by the barrels are noteworthy.

It goes back to barrel today. If we chose to follow this project to the end we'll be looking at about 100 cases in the $25 - $35 / bottle range.

Woof.