2023 White Pinot Noir

What?! White wine from red grapes? This wine is a rarity that isn’t rare – if you’ve ever had Champagne (or many types of sparkling wine), chances are you’ve had white wine from red grapes.

Not only is White Pinot Noir a delicious version of an amazing red grape, it also allows us to make wine from Pinot Noir grapes in a year when there is risk of smoke taint. By minimizing skin contact, we can whisk away the juice and make a full-bodied, luxurious white wine when the red version may have not come out so well. This is one way we have learned to pivot to adapt to what nature gives us.

TASTING NOTES:
Deep golden hue from the fermentation in new and second fill French oak barriques and puncheons. Nose is warm and rich with baked pear tart notes, baking spices, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Palate is vibrant and fresh with citrus fruit, yellow grapefruit, white peach and a subtle oaky vanilla note in the finish gives the wine great length.

WINEMAKING NOTES:
The wine comes from our estate Pinot Noir and we aim to pick it early to retain its natural acidity and keep the alcohol lower. The whole clusters are added to the juice and are extracted as gently as possible so that we don’t pick up any colour from the dark skins of the Pinot Noir grape. The juice is allowed to oxidize slightly so that the pigmentation and tannins precipitate out from the juice, and it is then transferred to French oak barriques (225L) and puncheons (400L). The wine begins to ferment naturally after a few days and then continues to ferment for several weeks. Once completed the wine is topped and allowed to go through malolactic fermentation and is aged for 6 months before being lightly filtered and bottled.

WINEMAKER’S COMMENTS:
The defining moment of the 2023 harvest actually took place in mid-December, 2022, when a cold snap hit the Okanagan causing significant damage to the buds that would produce the next year’s crop. Spring in 2023 was cool, with average bud burst and flowering. Fruit set was extremely low (30-40% of annual average), and lower yield for the vines to ripen meant a quick season. A heat wave in July and then again in August brought some powdery mildew pressure in the vineyard, so the vineyard team worked hard to protect the limited fruit ripening in the vineyard. August though the end of harvest was warm and dry. Harvest was early, starting at the beginning on September, and finished by early October.

NOTES:
Production – only 152 cases produced
Alcohol – 12.5%
Varietals – 100% Pinot Noir
Vinification – hand-picked, pressed and naturally fermented (no commercial yeast or additives) in neutral French oak barriques (225L) and puncheons (400L), aged for 6 months before bottling
Cellaring – cellar up to 5 years