Take a Wine Walk Around Canada

By Kathy Ward

Tasting Card • Cosmopolitan Catering • Domaine Combret • Grey Monk • Mission Hill • Saturna Island • Summerhill • Tinhorn • Hester Creek • Gehringer • Village Cheese • Freybe Sausage • Brockmann's Chocolate • Ecco Il Pane • Millstone

Stroll with us through Canada. Learn about the wines and meet some of their winemakers. Taste Chardonnays, Merlots, Cabernets, Icewines and more at the January program. Domaine Combret, Grey Monk, Mission Hill, Saturna, Summerhill and Tinhorn Creek will all present selections at this walk-around event.

This is a rare opportunity to sample these international wines right in our own backyard. Get a taste of British Columbia, and you’ll soon be planning a visit across the border. The exchange rate favors Americans, beautiful touring sites beckon, and several of the wineries have lovely guest chateaus or resorts nearby. Sample the flavors of Canada, and then head out to discover the wine country of our neighbor to the north.

Okanagan Valley is officially recognized as a winegrowing appellation. Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) is an optional designation wineries in this region can choose. VQA wines must be entirely from grapes grown in British Columbia, and when a label states a year and a variety, at least 85 percent of the wine must be of that grape and vintage. VQA decals indicate that the wines have been screened by a professional tasting panel to meet quality standards.

Marking the border between Canada and the United States is the 49th parallel, where our Cascades become the Canadian Coastal Mountain Range. This geologic mass blocks Pacific Ocean moisture and creates desert conditions in the southernmost end of the Okanagan Valley. Domaine Combret and Tinhorn Creek are situated in this region.

Gravelly volcanic soils contribute to the terroir of Domaine Combret wines. Founder Olivier Combret studied wine science in France, and is a 10th generation winemaker. In 1993 his Chardonnay became the first Canadian wine awarded a medal at Chardonnay of the World in Burgundy, France, and have received awards six years in a row.

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards won prestigious Red Wine of the Year honors for their 1998 Merlot, crafted by winemaker Sandra Oldfield, at the inaugural Canadian Wine Awards this past November. Their 2000 Chardonnay was awarded a Bronze medal at the event.

Anthony von Mandl, proprietor of Mission Hill Family Estate Vineyards, envisioned a future for the Okanagan Valley as a wine region 20 years ago. Canadian Wine Awards honored his enterprise as 2001 Winery of the Year. The Taster’s Guild International Wine Judging and All Canada Wine Championships both awarded Gold medals for the ’00 Pinot Blanc, and Taster’s Guild gave the ’99 Cabernet Merlot a Silver.

The Gray Monk Estate '98 Unwooded Chardonnay won a Gold at the Atlanta Wine Summit; Silver at Northwest Wine Summit, All Canada Wine Championships and Okanagan Fall Wine Festival; and Bronze at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Proprietor George Heiss pioneered Pinot Auxerrois (an Alsace white blend grape) in British Columbia, with first vineyard in 1975.

Saturna Island Winery, located on a sparsely populated isle between Vancouver and Victoria, is surrounded by wildlife and an environmental reserve. Vineyards are nestled between the Pacific and a soaring sandstone and granite cliff face. Their '98 Pinot Noir won an Intervin Bronze award. Saturna Lodge and Restaurant provide country inn comfort near this island destination winery.

Opened in 1987, the Summerhill Estate Winery has 45 acres of organically certified vines. Their Riesling Icewine was judged Best of Varietal at the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival. The Cipes Brut, named after proprietor Stephen Cipes, is produced in a méthode traditionelle process and aged in a replica of the Cheops pyramids. Eherenfelser is a dry white German grape named after a ruined castle near the Rhine.

Hester Creek Estate has 70 acres of French varietals, including some of the oldest Merlot in the Northwest first planted in 1972. Their tasting room and visitors center was built from salvaged barn boards in accordance with a pioneer design. The '99 Pinot Blanc won Golds at Northwest Wine Summit and San Francisco Wine Festival.

Walter and Gorden Gehringer of Gehringer Brothers Estate acquired their winemaking skills at universities in Germany. Following a seven-year microclimate evaluation, they purchased land in the Okanagan in 1981 and four years later produced their first vintage.

Max Popejoy, Cosmopolitan Catering Company, will be doing food selections to complement this array of wines. His logo includes the message: "Think Global ... Eat Cosmo." Max's work is a culinary blending of cultures, and his choices for the program emulate an international flavor of the Vancouver restaurant scene.

Other food sampling includes these products made in British Columbia.

The Village Cheese Company is sending several farmstead artisan cheeses that were made at their micro cheese plant in a process based on the estate winery concept.

Freybe Gourmet Foods, a 156-year-old family business founded in Germany and continued in Canada for six generations, will have an assortment of tasty sausage products.

Brockmann's Chocolate has provided mint, mocha and raspberry flavor European-style truffles for a sweet treat.

Assorted hand-shaped Italian breads available throughout the event are by Ecco IL Pane, a name that means "here is the bread."

Top off the evening with a freshly brewed cup of Millstone Coffee, a company that believes: "Like wine, coffee is prepared to please even the most discriminating and varied tastes."

Doug McCracken, Business Development Officer for the Canadian Consulate General in Seattle, has helped coordinate this program and will be at the event with information about British Columbia wines. Meantime, visit Wines Of Canada, an educational web site about the industry. A really cool "moving pictures" feature on the British Columbia page is worth a peak. Also follow links to learn how you can purchase Canadian wines.

Click here to see a list of past Seattle Programs