Celebrate the Harvest at Sun Peaks – October 8-10, 2010

A showcase of fine food, wine and beer, Autumn Bounty at Sun Peaks Resort celebrates the best in the Thompson-Okanagan Valley. Enjoy breakfast at a local ranch, watch an Iron Chef competition at the indoor Farmers’ Market, or experience a multi-course Gala dinner highlighting top producers from the region. The celebration of fare allows guests to sample some incredible cuisine prepared from the fantastic product available right here in our region, paired with phenomenal wines. From the Okanagan Springs House Party with beer samples and complementary appetizers, to the perennial sell out The Winemaker and The Farmer, a lunch featuring exclusively organic products, the events all highlight the importance of supporting local and regional farmers and producers.

www.sunpeaksresort.com

Laughing Stock at Adesso Bistro

September 9, 2010, join Jonas Greig, our Assistant Winemaker, for an evening of Laughing Stock wines and great Italian food at Adesso Bistro, Vancouver.

At Adesso Bistro they take a modern approach to traditional cuisine of Italy’s Ligurian region, a refreshing return to food made with love, tradition and soul. For reservations please call Adesso Bistro at 604.568.9975 .

News from Pentage

Thank you for your continued support of our hand-crafted wines.  The last couple of months have been warm and sunny — the grapes are maturing beautifully.    As you know we had the privilege of welcoming His Honor, The Honourable Steven L. Point at our winery a couple of weeks ago to present us with the 2010 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in British Columbia Wines for our 2009 Gewurztraminer.

This year 281 wines were submitted from 71 wineries across the province – 11 wines won this prestigious award.

What’s New?

We have a number of new wines listed on our website:

Sauvignon Blanc ’09 -

Aromas of passion fruit, grape fruit, & lemon peel.  These flavors along with guava notes carry through onto the palate.  Limited quantity available.

Syrah ‘07

Co-fermented with Viognier – this 2007 Syrah is truly elegant. Dark purple in colour with aromas of wild raspberry, blackberry, cassis, and white pepper linger from the glass. Enticing floral notes with a hint of mandarin follow. The palate is full of toasty cocoa, dark berry, and ripe cherry.

Pinot Noir ‘07

Bright ruby red in colour with aromas of sweet cherry, ripe plums and a touch of spice. This wine is medium in weight with fruit flavours of red currents, Italian plums and sweet berries balanced with a touch of earthy roots, vanilla and spice. The mouth feel is soft and savory with well integrated tannins and a long smooth finish.

To view all our wines and order please visit www.pentage.com Now in their 5th year, the Wine Access International Value Wine Awards competition continues to grow.
This year there was over 1,000 wines from around the world entered into the competition.  We were very pleased to receive an email the other day noting that Pentâge had won:

Category Champion (out right victory)

Gewurztraminer 2009

Late Harvest 2008

Judges Choice (2nd place)

Rosé2009

Pinot Gris 2009

Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 2008

Enjoy the balance of your summer.   Thank-you for sharing our passion!

All the best,

Paul, Julie and Adam

INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED WINEMAKER ALBERTO ANTONINI JOINS THE HAYWIRE WINERY TEAM

The Haywire Winery team is pleased to announce that Alberto Antonini has agreed to act as consulting oenologist for British Columbia’s newest winery.

Antonini toured the Okanagan Valley for the first time this past weekend, visiting vineyards (including the Switchback Vineyard and Hollenbach Vineyard) and working with owners Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie, and advisor David Scholefield to finalize winery construction plans and wine making protocols. Antonini was lured to the region by Scholefield, a long-time colleague and friend who has dreamed for years of finding the right place for Antonini to make wine in Canada.

“We are both delighted and humbled to have a person of Alberto’s global stature working with us here in the Okanagan,” Coletta said. “We were overawed at first. But hearing Alberto say ‘it’s essential to make wines that talk of the land, that have a sense of place and are more related to the people and their stories’ was very reassuring and validating after decades of hearing David Scholefield talk about ‘place not grape!’ and ‘wine is narrative!’ We know that the Okanagan has a great story to tell, and we know that Alberto is the perfect person to help us tell it.”

Alberto Antonini was born near Florence, Italy, and earned a doctorate degree in agricultural studies from the University of Florence. He later studied oenology at the Université de Bordeaux and UC Davis. His experience includes working as senior winemaker at Antinori and Frescobaldi in Tuscany, and at Robert Mondavi, Au Bon Climat and Qupé in California. He and partner Attilio Pagli founded the hugely influential consulting agency Gruppo Matura in 1996. Today, Antonini consults in many wine regions in Italy, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, California, South Africa, Portugal, Spain and Australia. At home in Tuscany, he lives at Poggiotondo, his 50-hectare estate in the western hills of Chianti, with his wife and three children.

Haywire Winery is located in Summerland, BC, where owners Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie established Switchback Vineyard in 2006. Their inaugural release, a 2009 Pinot Gris, hits the Vancouver market in August 2010. David Scholefield is a key member of the Haywire team, acting as wine advisor and industry liaison. His vast experience and invaluable relationships in the international wine community bring a fresh perspective to wine making in the Okanagan Valley. For more information visit www.haywirewinery.com.

To learn more about Haywire Winery, visit www.haywirewinery.com

Haywire Winery Launched

WINE INDUSTRY MARKETING GURU GOES HAYWIRE

In short:

After more than 20 years guiding the strategic and marketing activities of wineries from BC and beyond, industry consultant Christine Coletta, along with her husband Steve Lornie, is launching Haywire Winery. Their first wine will be a 2009 Pinot Gris from the duo’s Switchback Vineyard located in Summerland, British Columbia (CSPC#147009 $22.90).

In full:

For Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie, the snap decision to purchase an unproductive 10-acre orchard in Summerland, BC, followed by the progression to planting grapes and ultimately making wine, has been a long journey with many twists and turns.

“It was never our intention to make wine, but as we got further into the project – financially and emotionally – something took hold and gave our common sense a good shake,” remarked Coletta, who is never above a good laugh at her own expense. “We have managed to hold on to our sense of humour about our move into the winery game, but we are very serious about the wine we will be making. This is the beginning of something: we hope our wine will sit proudly next to the other great wines made in the Okanagan Valley.”

On a whim, Coletta and Lornie bought an old orchard in 2005, but one season of growing Red Delicious apples and apricots that were unsuitable for canning or hand eating was enough for both. They planted the entire site to Pinot Gris in 2006 and settled back, keen on merely growing grapes and keeping their day jobs. They optimistically named the vineyard “Switchback”, to celebrate the switch from losing money as orchardists to losing money as grape growers. Coletta noted, “It will take seven years of profit to pay for the tractor alone.”

Along the way, they received interesting and conflicting advice from friends and industry associates. To Lornie, who has run a construction company for 30 years, it appears there is no wrong way to do anything, just hundreds of right ways. “Really, on a daily basis, seasoned professionals would arm-wrestle their points until we were all downright dizzy,” Lornie commented. “So when it came time to name the winery, ’Haywire‘ seemed an obvious choice.”

The expression ‘haywire’ is derived from the wire, once used for baling hay, which tended to tangle in a chaotic way. The term also aptly describes Coletta and Lornie’s transition from city slickers to farmers to winery owners, which they have chronicled in a journal available on the winery’s website www.haywirewinery.com.

This year, they will release a small lot of 2009 Pinot Gris from their Switchback Vineyard (CSPC#147009 $22.90), with wine style being directed by David Scholefield. With three decades of experience in the wine industry and an international reputation for his palate and knowledge, Scholefield has been instrumental in convincing Coletta and Lornie of the potential of their vineyard site and encouraged them to take the leap into winemaking. Scholefield will remain actively involved as a spokesperson and advisor. He is currently selecting a consulting winemaker.

Looking forward, more Switchback Vineyard Pinot Gris will come from the 2010 harvest, along with a Pinot Noir sourced from friend Fritz Hollenbach’s Skaha vineyard in Penticton. Down the road, Haywire Winery hopes to add a rosé and a sparkling wine; but whatever the mix, it will be small lots.

Christine Coletta has been in the wine industry for more than 20 years, where her role evolved from implementing BC’s VQA program to strategic brand planning, marketing wine regions and promoting wineries big and small. With Haywire Winery, she will finally have the chance to personally test her own marketing skills. She will still consult to others through Coletta & Associates, a Vancouver-based wine marketing and communications partnership.

As its sales agency, Haywire Winery has appointed Landmark Selections of North Vancouver. This medium-sized British Columbia wine agency is operated by partners Chris Perry, Dean Davis and Jaime Kowan. Landmark Selections now sells over 65,000 cases a year in British Columbia and is highly respected in the trade.

To learn more about Haywire Winery, visit  www.haywirewinery.com or connect on Twitter @haywirewine.

Haywire is represented by Landmark Selections 604-986-4000

Media Contact: Leeann Froese, Coletta & Associates 604-800-0603 | leeann@ccltd.ca

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