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AWARD WINNING ORGANICALLY PRODUCED WINES |
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| White
Grape Varieties (Second Part) |
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This series provides readers
with profiles of the grape varieties used
in our wines. In our last issue, we wrote
about Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay
and Kerner. In this issue, we continue
with a few more white wine varieties.
We'd also like to acknowledge a fax message
from Kevin Aikens of Norwich, England,
who had the following response to our
comments about Chardonnay:
"I so completely agree with your
view that wine growers should not be seduced
into believing that having Chardonnay/Cabernet
on their label is enough to sell their
wine. Here, in the UK, we're up to our
armpits or necks, depending on your height,
in these varietals from countries throughout
the world--in endless styles and the full
spectrum of prices! . . . [There is] a
need for Canadian wines to bring their
own, specific characters to the consumer
- so that they stand out from the rest
of the herd."
Thanks for your thoughts, Kevin, and
we hope that we can foster more debate
on this question.
Traminer
Jancis Robinson, in The Oxford Companion
to Wine, confirms that Traminer, is, indeed,
a variety separate from Gewürztraminer
(the German word Gewürz means spice,
so Gewürztraminer is, literally,
a Spicy Traminer) and she further confirms
that Traminer, first noted in the Italian
Tyrol village of Tramin around AD 1000,
is in fact a progenitor of the other variety.
However, in many parts of the world, including
British Columbia, the names Traminer and
Gewürztraminer are, in error, used
synonymously. The confusion is exacerbated
by this variety's chameleon-like propensity
to mutate in keeping with its surroundings.
Robinson also makes some fascinating
links between the Traminer of Alsace and
Tyrol and the Sauvignon grape used in
wines from France's Jura region.
Generally, Traminer is less aromatic
than its offspring, although it shares
similar spiciness and fruity character.
It is prone to bud damage in hard winters,
and the vines have a somewhat shorter
life span than, for example, Riesling,
but it generally ripens very well in our
Vine Yard with harvest usually taking place
toward the end of the picking schedule
in late October.
As far as we know, we are the only British
Columbia winery growing and making varietally
labelled wine from Traminer. Made in Tilman's
signature dry style, the wine has a very
Alsatian profile, with nut and earth tones
joining fruity aromas in a soft, rich
body with an almost oily texture. As the
wine ages, nut aromas become more predominant.
We picked a little over 1 ton of Traminer
in our Vine Yard in 1995, a very small
share of the 467 tons of Gewürztraminer
crushed province wide last fall.
Pinot Gris
This member of the Pinot family is easily
identifiable by its pinkish-grey fruit,
and the fruit colour is a reminder that
Pinot Gris is one of best-known mutations
of Pinot Noir. It is widely planted throughout
Europe, particularly in Alsace (where
it is often called Tokay), but it has
also met with considerable success in
New World venues such as Oregon, and now,
British Columbia.
It grows very well both in the Okanagan
and on Vancouver Island, and handled well,
can produce white wines of great complexity
and structure. Some winemakers will also
leave the juice in contact with the grape
skins and thus extract colour, lending
a beautiful light pink hue to the wine,
and still others have experimented with
oak barrel fermentation and aging.
Unfortunately, we don't have any Pinot
Gris in our own Vine Yards, and our shopping
expeditions in the past have led us to
beautiful Vine Yards in the South Okanagan,
including Blue Mountain (1991), Fischer
Vine Yard (now Tinhorn Creek, 1993) and
finally, Adelheid's Vine Yard in 1995.
Our Pinot Gris is fermented to full dryness,
and is exposed to several months of lees
contact and a full Malolactic fermentation.
We're striving for rich fruit character
which is usually a bit more expressive
than Pinot Blanc (ripe melon and pink
grapefruit are typical descriptors), good
acidity and full body. As a rule, we do
not use any oak aging with our Pinot Gris.
The total British Columbia Pinot Gris
crop in 1995 was 135 tons, and we'd like
to see a lot more of it.
Chasselas
The true home of Chasselas is Switzerland,
although it makes appearances in most
European wine areas. In British Columbia,
120 tons were harvested in 1995, including
a little less than one ton from our own
Vine Yard.
Chasselas grapes usually produce light
bodied, soft and fairly neutral wines,
ideal for sipping or as partners with
the quintessentially Swiss fondue or raclette
dishes.
Despite the wine's appeal, however, the
name poses a perennial challenge for New
World recognition and pronunciation skills,
and this, along with the steadily shrinking
volumes of grapes from our own vines led
to our decision, starting with the 1992
vintage, to blend the Chasselas with 2
other varieties to create our Dry Muscat.
With the 1995 vintage (due to be released
later this summer), the Dry Muscat will
have a new name in order to conform with
international wine labeling standards.
We think we've got a name worked out,
but if not, we know that we can always
ask our customers for help!
Muscat Varieties
We grow 2 different Muscat varieties in
our Vine Yard, Perle of Csaba and Muscat
Ottonel.
As Jancis Robinson aptly points out,
Muscat grapes "are some of the very
few which produce wines that actually
taste of grapes." Their lush, muscy
fragrant character makes these grapes
pretty nice for eating, too, a fact to
which the black bears attending the annual
Muscat buffet in our steep Vine Yard can
readily attest. (The most eager ursine
diner ever recorded on our property arrived
in mid-August, 1994, just when the early
ripening Muscat grapes were getting nice
and sweet. Don't you just hate it when
dinner guests arrive 6 weeks early?) The
thin skins of Muscat grapes make them
easy pickings for wasps, too.
All of this perdition aside, the fruity
character of these grapes acts as a nice
foil to the rather austere lines of the
Chasselas and our blending process will
continue, with changes to proportions
in keeping with the vintage. As we lack
sufficient volume of any one variety to
bottle them separately, we think it's
a nice way to make good use of fruit stolen
from the bears and wasps.
Ehrenfelser
This white German variety, developed in
1929 at the prestigious Geisenheim Institute,
is a crossing of Riesling x Sylvaner.
Its name comes from Schloss Ehrenfels,
a castle on the Rhine River. It ripens
earlier than Riesling, and in the Okanagan
is used for both table and dessert wines.
Its Riesling heritage shines through in
a flint/apricot/apple character which
makes it a lively companion for many foods.
1996 will mark our first vintage of Ehrenfelser,
made from about 6 tons of fruit from Fischer
Vine Yard (owned by the nice folks at Tinhorn
Creek Estate Winery) in Oliver. We were
very pleased with the quality of the fruit,
and are looking forward to offering about
450 cases of Ehrenfelser to our customers
with the release of the vintage in summer,
1997. Ehrenfelser is, by the way, widely
planted; in the 1995 growing season, there
was almost as much Ehrenfelser as Gewürztraminer
harvested in British Columbia, about 395
tons.
In the next column you'll find a discussion
of some of the red grape varieties we
use.
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