Pentage Winery News
From all of us at Pentâge Winery – we wish you all a safe and joyous holiday season.
T’is the time of year to celebrate both the new and reflect on the old.
We would like to thank you all for supporting us on this journey and in the success of our dream.
The combination of growing premium grapes and handcrafting a masterpiece bottle of wine is like a chef who creates a masterpiece meal – the success is when it is enjoyed by our customers.
Another year has gone by and this vintage marks our 10th year anniversary here at Pentâge. It has been a great 10 years…..and here’s to another ten.
We are proud of the following recognitions….
At the Northwest Wine Summit Competition we were awarded 2 gold medals and 4 silvers. Northwest Results
At the All Canadian Wine Championship we were awarded 1 double gold (best in its class), 3 golds and 2 bronze medals and we won the Trophy for Best Dessert wine in Canada for our 2007 Ice Wine. All Canadian Wine Championship Results
At the Wine Access 2009 Canadian Wine Awards we were awarded 1 gold, 3 silvers, and 4 bronze medals.
The Canadian Wine Awards issues a Top 20 Canadian Wineries Performance Report and Pentâge ranked number 11! (how exciting is that) Wine Access Competition Results Wine Access Performance Report
Mother Nature had us on our toes this year – after a cold Spring, which caused plant and bud damage up and down the valley, our summer heat units pulled us through the late start and brought us back on track. Har¬vest was the earliest yet for us here at Pentâge. On September 18th, of this year, we brought in Pinot Noir from OK Falls. In early October Mother Nature decided to add a twist to things and we were struck with un¬usually cold temperatures, it hit -8°C one night which shut down all the vines. As a result, vintners didn’t have a choice but to bring in the fruit. October was a very busy time at Pentâge but after the cold snap the tem¬peratures started to warm up and made this harvest and crush a pleasure! For those wineries, like us, who produce Ice Wine – this was an exceptional year. You could find us in the vineyards on December 7th & 8th picking frozen berries at -11°C.
Today, our Ice Wine is happily fermenting to perfection in the winery. Adam and Paul sampled it yesterday and were delighted with the outcome so far and it can only get better with time. We are delighted to tell you about a small lot of “Syrah Ice Wine” we have produced this year – stay tuned, this is probably the only year we will be making a Syrah Ice Wine, as the berries didn’t weather the wind very well which gave us a very low crop from the vineyard. (note to self….)
Thank-you to everyone who assisted us in harvest and crush this year, your help is greatly appreciated!
New Releases for your Enjoyment
Pinot Gris ‘08 – $18
Pentâge Blend ‘06 – $29
Ice Wine ‘08 – $35
To view details and order please visit www.pentage.com/CurrentReleases
The Month Ahead
We are in the midst of getting organized for bottling in January 2010. Our 2009 vintages are excellent; given the varying weather conditions some vintage fruit was produced. For now, we are all going to take a few days and relax over the holidays with family and friends. All the best to our loyal customers who make all the “labour of love” worthwhile! Safe travels wherever this holiday season may take you.
Thank you for sharing our passion!
All the Best & Happy Holidays,
Paul, Julie & Adam
Poplar Grove News
With only 21 Days until Christmas, now is the perfect time to stock up on some fabulous wines for the holidays. Why not take full advantage of our free shipping offer while you are at it!
Gift Pack
Here is a solution to the age old “what should I buy myself for Christmas” dilemma; the Poplar Grove six pack has one of everything we make.
From our award winning Pinot Gris and classic Chardonnay to our big red varietals Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah to our signature big gun, The Legacy, these wines are sure to warm your heart. Beautifully crafted wines that may even inspire you to share with those you love.
And in the spirit of the season, we will ship them to you or as a gift for FREE. Pick up two and you have the twelve days of christmas covered! Order now.
Bag-In-Box
Dreaming of a white Christmas? You can make your wishes come true with a Monster Man Made Box of Cheer. Delicious tropical and citrus fruit flavors make this tasty treat a light hearted compliment to Christmas indulgences.
Perfect for an impromtu gathering of family and friends, our 3 litre box will stay fresh the day it was opened through the holiday season. At four bottles for the price of three, you will love the price. Also available in Seasonal Red is our Monster Merlot, with its ripe berry, cocoa, and cassis, all in a cutting edge delivery system. Structure and tannins at a price that seems like a gift!
Order now.
Wood Box
For the traditional at heart, there is nothing like a wooden crate of our premium wine, The Legacy.
A rich blend of ripe tannins and dark chocolate and berry flavours, the six bottles of our signature blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec have been winning hearts throughout the land. With your choice of 2004 and/or 2005 vintage we know you can find the perfect beverage of choice after a long journey through the dark days of winter; read post Christmas Shopping. Order now.
Legacy 2004, 1.5L Magnum
The Big Boys are always a favorite with us here at the winery. They look sensational as display bottles in the cellar or as a show stopper at a dinner party, but ultimately its the wine in the bottle that tells the story.
The Legacy 2004 is a big brooding blend of Merlot, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv and Malbec that shows strong black berry fruit, laced with spice and sage. There’s a lot going on as the ripe tannins are becoming silky smooth with age. We think it is showing well now and will age gracefully for the next 10-15 years. Already a favorite with our clients this is the first release of the Magnum format. Price of $150.00 includes a wooden display box. Contact the Winery to assure your allocation.
James Cluer Video
Follow the link to see what James Cluer, Master of wine, discovered when he came to the Naramata Bench and did a shoot with Poplar Grove’s Ian Sutherland and Tony Holler. www.vimeo.com/7669583
Interesting Stuff
From the we-have-been-busy file here’s a link
www.scoutmagazine.ca
If you’re feeling modern and want to connect to us on the fly, join our facebook crew and stay in touch with all the winery events, news and pictures that are fit to print!
Osake Junmai Sparkling Sake Released
We have just bottled a new batch of OSAKE JUNMAI SPARKLING SAKE ($24.00) just in time to celebrate the coming festive season. It’s lightly sweet and bubbly with 13.5% in alc. vol., a perfect drink for holiday gatherings with your family and friends !
Our business hours in December and January are:
For the balance of this month, we will open our retail store EVERYDAY except on December 25. Our tasting counter is also open from 11:30 am until 6 pm.
e will close on the New Year’s day and after January 2, we will close on Tuesday and Wednesday until the end of January.
Thank you for your continued patronage throughout the year. We wish you a happy holiday season and all the best in the coming year.
Sincerely,
Masa Shiroki, Sakemaker
Artisan SakeMaker at Granville Island
1339 Railspur Alley, Vancouver, B.C. V6H 4G9
Tel: 604-685-7253
www.osake.com ( www.artisansakemaker.com)
info@osake.ca (info@artisansakemaker.com)
A Very Happy Holiday for Wineries in British Columbia: Toasting the 2009 Vintage
2009 was an unusual year for winemakers and viticulturalists in British Columbia with winter damage in January, late bud break in May, excellent fruit set in July and an early harvest in September and October. Unfortunately harvest was interrupted by an even earlier frost; Mother Nature was ever-changing throughout the year!
The Okanagan once again experienced a cold winter with a record-breaking cold snap in January; however, winter damage was not as widespread as expected, so we anticipate being down 20% in overall tonnage from 2008 figures.
The growing season was off to a slow start this spring with bud break two weeks behind in late-May. However, the steady warm, dry temperatures throughout the summer allowed the grapes to ‘catch up’ by early July. “The warm, dry weather with less than normal precipitation provided the best conditions for (fruit) set in years” remarked Valerie Tait, viticulturalist for Poplar Grove Winery in Naramata. The warm, dry weather continued into September and pushed ripening along to an early harvest.
Early fall conditions were spectacular. As Brad Cooper, winemaker for Township 7 Vineyards & Winery noted, “September weather was exactly where it needed to be.” For most wineries, the warmer than normal conditions resulted in an early start to the harvest, with the first grapes being picked in the South Okanagan on September 1st by winemaker Derek Kontkanen and team from Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate.
All winemakers and viticulturalists were very thankful for the early start as a very early frost on the nights of October 9th to 12th saw temperatures dip between -6°C (21°F) and -14°C (7°F), depending on location. Winemaker Rob Summers of Hester Creek Estate Winery commented that, “If vintage wasn’t so early, the frost would have been catastrophic.” Because almost all fruit was ready to be picked when the frost hit, wineries did not experience detrimental affects from the frost; it merely stopped vine growth prematurely. The early harvest meant a condensed, busy pick with harvest taking only one month to complete for many wineries, including CedarCreek Estate Winery and Tinhorn Creek Vineyards.
Icewine has been recognized as one of Canada’s signature wines ever since the first vintage at Hainle Vineyards in 1974. This year, fourteen wineries expressed interest in picking the “liquid gold”, and were delighted with an early December cold snap. The first of the wineries began to harvest in the early hours of December 7th at a chilly -11°C (12°F) with Tantalus Vineyards bringing in approximately 750 kilograms from their 30 year old Riesling vines. The picking continued at -11°C (12°F) on the morning of December 8th at Summerhill Pyramid Organic Winery, Mission Hill Family Estate Winery (Naramata Vineyard), and Nk’Mip Cellars. In total, the fourteen wineries brought in approximately 232 tons of Icewine from Riesling, Vidal, Kerner, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Ehrenfelser, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscat, Syrah and Zweigelt grapes.
Overall, despite the erratic conditions, the 2009 vintage looks to be one of premium quality. The natural crop thinning from winter damage lowered yields, and elevated the flavour profiles of the remaining grapes with the fruit quality noted as very good to excellent.
Conditions were ideal in the Okanagan for the cool climate varietals in the North with excellent acidity and freshness, as well as the warm climate varietals in the South that show great balance and structure. Some stand-outs to look for next year include Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir from the North, and Cabernet Sauvignon from the South Okanagan. In the Lower Mainland, it was a banner year for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Overall, both the white and red wines are showing very well. The whites are extremely fresh and vibrant while the reds are showing great colour and complexity.
The 2009 vintage was an overall success. Not only are the wines well on their way to store shelves, but with the Icewine harvest also completed for the year, everyone at the wineries can simply toast to another great vintage and enjoy the holiday season with the rest of us!
News From Wild Goose Vineyards
Report from the Vintage
Anyone who thinks that farming is not exciting should have lived through the 2009 growing season! It started after one of the coldest winters that we had ever experienced in our 25 years of growing grapes. Although there was tremendous damage to vineyards throughout the entire valley, Wild Goose fared rather well in that we suffered only small losses to our crops, both at our vineyards and at those selected vineyards which grow for us. Many Okanagan grape growers suffered huge losses to plants and crops. The harsh winter slowed the start of spring, but things picked up in June when the sun began to heat our valley. Once things warmed up, the heat never let up! The intense heat led to one of our earliest harvests on record. The harvest came so fast that our Wild Goose Riesling was harvested in September, the only time in our history that we picked Riesling in September!! Every variety appeared to ripen at the same time. We proceeded to pick one variety after another, with no breaks in between. Fortunately most of our grapes were harvested when the entire valley was hit with -10 C temperatures on October 10. Many locals who live in the Okanagan say they had never experienced cold temperatures like this so early in October. Any grapes that were still hanging when the freeze occurred were unaffected by the frost because the grapes were already ripe and were just waiting their turn to be picked and processed. After this freeze the valley experienced seasonally normal temperatures. So what was the result of all of this strange weather on the wine industry? One of the best harvests we have ever experienced!! Lovely clean fruit with vibrant flavours and beautiful crisp acidity. 2009 will certainly be an excellent vintage to watch out for when the wines are released in mid April!
Alberta Shipping “Whoas”
Many of our Alberta customers have noticed that we no longer direct ship our wines into Alberta. Please take note that this is not by choice, but rather something that has been forced upon us by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. We have formally received a letter from the AGLC stating that we are in contravention of the “Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act.” What this means is that we are not allowed to ship our wines directly to you, because all alcoholic beverages must move through the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission before being delivered to the customer. Many B.C. wineries, including ourselves, have been told to stop direct shipments and failure to do so will result in action being taken against us. It is with deep regret that we are unable to ship to all of our Alberta customers at this point in time. We are working on this issue as an industry and hope to resolve the shipping issue throughout Alberta and the rest of the Canadian provinces. Whatever happened to free trade!? We have free trade with Mexico and the U.S., but not between Canadian provinces.
December Shipping Discount
Last December we offered you a 50 % discount on freight charges on wines ordered in the month of December. We had such a great response to this that we are extending this same offer to you again this December! We still have a number of wines available on our website. Click on the following link to order your holiday season wines: www.wildgoosewinery.com Wines can also be ordered by calling our toll free phone number at 1-877-497-8919. Just a reminder regarding freight charges: when we ship wines, we only charge you our own freight costs. We use protective shipping liners to ensure that your wines arrive safely.
Best Wishes To All!!
It is hard to believe that another year is coming to a close. Even bearing in mind the great successes that Wild Goose had during the year, nothing is more gratifying than the many lovely comments we have had from all our customers enjoying Wild Goose wines throughout the year! Thanks to all of you for the tremendous support! We realize that as consumers you have many choices when it comes to purchasing wine and we are delighted that you choose Wild Goose wines to put into your cellars and on your dinner table! We have some new and exciting wines that will be released next spring —along with a new and fresh website. All of the staff and the Kruger family wish you and yours a delightful festive holiday season, and a healthy and happy New Year! Enjoy the Olympics!! Go Canada Go!!
