5 Canadian Wines to Try in 2017

If you are not aware, it’s Canada’s 150th Birthday this year! Yay Canada! This week, Vancouver Wine Festival is kicking off the celebration by showcasing Canadian wines. I’m happily attending a few events and tasting what our amazing country has to offer in wines. From BC to Nova Scotia, there are so many wineries offering up delicious varieties.

The festival is showcasing 180 wineries from 16 countries with our country Canada in the spotlight. The 2017 theme is The Wine World Celebrates Canada, with 76 wineries from British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia. They are serving 300 wines from Canada!

There are still tickets available and the festival runs till February 19 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. All ticket sales support VanWineFest’s charitable partner, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival. A couple of tips for the festival: eat first, wear comfortable shoes and keep your wine glass!

The fabulous Saturday theme region lunch, Celebrating Canada’s 150th, $109 all-in, invites you to “taste across Canada” with a 17-item coast to coast menu and 76 charming Canadian vine stars pouring 152 wines. With lunch! And you can Discover Ontario’s Cool at a Thursday afternoon seminar – lifelong learning, wine-style. See all available public events here.

I love supporting local and Canadian products, so below are five wineries and five wines to try this year. Next time you are in your local wine or liquor store, head over to the Canadian and BC sections. If you are elsewhere in the world, don’t miss out on tasting what Canada is producing. And check out my previous post on basic food and wine pairings featuring BC wines.

5 Canadian Wines to Try in 2017

1. 2013 Haywire Switchback Pinot Gris $24.90

Haywire www.okanagancrushpad.com @haywirewine

In addition to tasting a wine that is delicious and versatile, tell your friends to try a certified organic wine that was also made in a concrete tank.

• Guava and stone fruit dominate, with a grassy herbal influence.
• Lush and rich, this wine has a creamy mouth feel.
• Early harvesting has retained delicacy and lively acidity.
• Taste this wine with all the things.

Haywire is an old Canadianism that refers to wires used for baling hay. The wire tended to be tough to handle and unpredictable, making the name an apt description of Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie’s journey into the wine industry. Haywire started in 2009 as a tiny offering made at a neighbouring winery.

Today, their venture includes Okanagan Crush Pad, a 30,000 case winery, a 312-acre organic farm and vineyard, and a shift to crafting natural wines exclusively from organic grapes. With home vineyard Switchback now organically certified and three growers making the transition, Haywire has become recognized as making some of the most game-changing wines made by New Zealand native Matt Dumayne.

Haywire crafts pure, lively, wines that reflect the unique cool climate terrain of the Okanagan. The portfolio includes:

• Pinot Gris
• Pinot Noir
• Gamay Noir Rosé
• The Bub traditional sparkling wine
• Three natural wines: Free Form Red and White and Wild Ferment

2. 2013 TIME Winery Meritage Red $29.99

TIME Winery http://www.encorevineyards.ca/TIME-Winery @timewinery

Try this bold and impressive blend and taste what it takes to be a classic Red Meritage. Greater than the sum of its parts, this traditional meritage blend is:

• 39% Merlot
• 36% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 25% Cabernet Franc

The word ‘meritage’ is a combination of ‘merit’ and ‘age’, and has been indicative of a wine of quality that merits further ageing.

Classic aromas of ripe red berry and dark cherry with telltale pepper, fragrant and lush with sage and darker fruits. This wine is structured and rich with depth of character and flavour. We anticipate this wine will cellar well through 2023 and beyond.

Built within a revitalized historic theatre in downtown Penticton, the heart of South Okanagan wine country, the new TIME Winery opens in 2017.
TIME Winery is committed to creating wines that express the unique flavours of Okanagan wine country. Director of wine-making Lawrence Buhler has worked closely with the TIME Winery team to ensure that the new crush pad, barrel cellar, custom fermentation hall, and onsite lab were built to his exact specifications, ensuring only the best quality wine, vintage after vintage.

The wine-making team invites you to visit TIME Winery for a firsthand tour and sip the latest vintages, which offer flavours of the surrounding Okanagan wine country, while you explore the inner workings of a fully-functional winery. Complete the experience at the tasting bar and lounge, or with your friends on the patio. It’s TIME to enjoy.

3. Evolve Cellars Effervescence NV $19.99

Evolve Cellars www.evolvecellars.com @evolvecellars

Light, bright and easy sipping, this bottle can kick off any celebration and play as an exceptional partner to a wide range of food. A blend of 70% Pinot Blanc and 30% Chardonnay gives way to a pale straw coloured wine. Fun and fresh, this off-dry sparkling is soft in the mouth with a creamy bubble. These bubbles have bready (that should be a word!) notes and the perfect hint of sweetness.

With Evolve Cellars, their intention is to craft friendly and approachable wines, providing a pure expression of the grapes grown at their estate vineyard and by their south Okanagan grower partners. Fruit-forward with a bright freshness typical of the area, their wines are a celebration of this great region and how we can evolve together.

4. 2015 Summerhill Pyramid Winery Riesling $25.29

Summerhill Pyramid Winery www.summerhill.bc.ca  @summerhillwine

The climate in the Kelowna region has lent a distinctive flavour profile to this organic Riesling – from crisp acidity, to vibrant honeyed citrus and lemon – these notes can really transport you as you drink them. A few sips in and you feel like you’ve been whisked away on a dreamy holiday. Grapes were hand-picked, cluster pressed, and fermented cold. The natural unfermented grape sugars balance beautifully.

“We set out to make the most beautiful wines in the world; starting with organically and bio-dynamically grown grapes from the pristine Okanagan Valley, handling them with love and attention, allowing them to ferment naturally to retain the highest levels of antioxidants, and finishing the wines in our Pyramid Cellar built with precision Sacred Geometry and aligned to the stars to create a structure of stillness and harmony.

Our ambition is to bring pride to all Canadians. I’m thrilled to have witnessed this vision unfold with our portfolio of Cipes sparkling wines and Summerhill red, white and Ice-wine being awarded among the wine world’s highest honours, including trophies and gold medals from France and England, as well as a special trophy naming Summerhill “Canadian Wine Producer of the Year” at the International Wine & Spirit Competition.

All this for allowing nature to speak for herself! She does speak… and we listen. There is divine purpose in every blessed drop.” – Stephen Cipes, founder/proprietor

5. 2014 Black Hills Estate Winery Nota Bene $64.90

Black Hills Estate Winery blackhillswinery.com @blackhillswine

At the festival tastings you can gain access to taste this wine, the always-sold-out cult wine, of BC. Pro tip: sign up for their wine club and see if you can gain access to the next release. This sought-after flagship wine has sweet, ripe cherry flavours and is complimented by dusty earth undertones. Extended aging in premium oak barrels has softened the tannin’s and elevate the depth and complexity, while preserving the integrity of its fruit character.

Founded in 1999, Black Hills Estate Winery produces wine exclusively from its estate vineyard on the Black Sage Bench, north of Osoyoos, British Columbia. The vineyards micro climate is one of the hottest, driest, and sunniest sites in the South Okanagan, allowing the vines to yield flavourful grapes of balanced intensity.

Using environmentally-friendly viticulture techniques and thoughtful wine-making practices, the winery is well-known for its two signature blends:

• Nota Bene, an age-worthy Bordeaux-style red, produced in limited-quantities from select barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc
• Alibi (Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon).

Black Hills also produces:

• Varietally-labelled Viognier
• Chardonnay
• Syrah
• Carménère

A second label, Cellar Hand, was introduced in 2012, allowing the wine-making team freedom to experiment with select barrels from the estate.

Surrounded by panoramic vineyard views, the Black Hills team welcomes wine lovers to visit their Wine Experience Center in Oliver. The new facility can provide a unique, sit-down wine tasting experience guided by highly trained wine professionals. Annual summer events held at the facility are bold, exciting and fun. Members of the Black Hills Wine Club enjoy access to limited-release wines not available to the public.

If you are attending the Vancouver Wine Festival this week, do make sure you try these wines!