Wine Profile

The 2023 vintage produced a classic expression of Merlot. The nose is filled with aromas of red cherry and Italian plums. The palate offers a mix of red currants and rose petals along with graphite and cloves. This young wine manages to be round and velvety with an undercurrent of dusty tannins. With a long-structured finish and bold flavors, this will pair nicely with baked pork ribs, sirloin steak or rack of lamb. Drink from 2026 through 2035.

winemaking notes

After hand picking, we double hand sort the grapes followed by whole berry fermentation. The whole berry fermentation was done in stainless steel tanks. The wine was then barrel aged for 20 months in French oak barrels, of which 35% is in new oak.

vintage notes

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.

vineyard source

Fruit is from NKMIP Vineyard in Osoyoos