wine profile

A blind trust is a financial trust in which the executors have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust. In this case, our Blind Trust is a wine in which the winemaker has full discretion over the blend, so you’ll just have to trust us.

The Blind Trust White was produced between 2011 and 2014 but hasn’t been made since. The 2023 vintage is the second version of this reimagined wine. Only 92 cases produced.

Winemaking Notes

Our winemaking choices for this vintage include whole cluster pressing for a fresh fruit profile and partial malolactic fermentation to provide a soft, round texture on the palate. Much of our winemaking approach relies on blending which brings together the unique characteristics of each varietal and creates layers of flavours and complexity. As well, we employ a range of fermenting strategies including neutral French oak barrels and puncheons which accounted for 69% of the blend and aged for 6 months. The remaining 31% was fermented in stainless steel.

If you want to blind taste the Blind Trust, read no further. Spoiler alert: this year’s ‘blend’ is 100% Sauvignon Blanc. After trialing several blend options, we decided on no blend!  

Vintage Notes

Okanagan Valley vineyards experienced a season like no other in 2023. The end of the 2022 season was abnormally warm, going from summer weather at the end of October to winter overnight and a deep freeze in December which adversely affected the plants. Early bud dissections revealed extensive damage and the resulting yields were very low, especially in our Syrah, Malbec, and Semillon plantings.  

Although the Okanagan Valley had a slight delay to the growing season with cooler than average weather through April and May, the weather very quickly changed to a long, extended period of hot, dry days through the balance of the summer. We saw bud break at our Naramata vineyard at the beginning of May and kicked off our harvest by picking the first fruit on August 23rd for our traditional method sparkling wine. This was a full month earlier than vintage 2022, which was a very late and more moderate summer. Most of our varieties ripened a week or two earlier than normal due to the warm weather and lower yields. The low yields also brought good concentration to the flavours and ripe tannins for our Bordeaux-styled reds.

Vineyards

Lavoie Vineyard on the Naramata Bench