Canadian Grapes to Wine
VINTAGE 2005, Page 16
How the winning Canadian wines were made....
{Please also see David's article The Latest Round ... Canada vs. Bordeaux.}
CedarCreek Winery 2002 Platinum Reserve Meritage Colio 2000 CEV Reserve Merlot
Cedar Creek 2002 Platinum Reserve Meritage
2002 was one of a continuing string of very good vintages in B.C. when the grapes were picked for the CedarCreek 2002 Platinum Resrve Meritage which topped the Canada - Bordeaux tasting in addition to its other honours including a Gold medal at the 5th Canadian Wine Awards sponsored by Wine Access magazine which contributed to CedarCreek's being named Winery of the Year in the Competition.
Winemaker Tom DiBello said that the Meritage was a blend of 45% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. The grapes mainly came from southern Okanagan vineyards together with some from CedarCreek's estate vineyard in Kelowna and their Greata Ranch vineyard between Summerland and Peachland.
The Merlot and Cabernet Franc averaged 15 Brix while the Cabernet Sauvignon came in at 26.7 Brix.
Tom's protocol included a three to six day cold soak period after crushing. CedarCreek employs a gravity system in which the crushed grapes and juice are wheeled into the winery from the covered crush pad in a moveable vat and emptied into the top of the fermentation tanks from a central elevated platform.
After fermentation, the skins are emptied into one off the vats which is then lifted by elevator back up to the crushing and pressing level, avoiding pumping.
A selection of yeasts including BM45 were used for fermentation. Cap management was done entirely with what Tom has christened the 'kathunker', which he pioneered in the Okanagan. This is an air injector that introduces a large bubble at the bottom of the fermentation tank which gently stirs the skin cap when it breaks the surface.
After pressing Tom employed microxidization of the wine in the tank, another technique he introduced to the Okanagan. When the CedarCreek winery facility was expanded and transformed in 2001, Tom replaced a portable unit with a computer controlled central microxidization system capable of independently serving multiple tanks and which allows the careful monitoring and control that this sensitive approach demands.
The microxidization process continued for two months during which time the wine was otherwise unprotected. When Tom felt the wine was where he wanted it, it was inoculated with malolactic culture and put into barrels.
The barrel program at CedarCreek is among the best in Canada and the Meritage rested in premium French oak, 75% new, for 22 months. During this time Tom said that it rested on lees with absolutely no racking.
He said that the tannis were ideal and only a very light fining "like nothing" with minimal egg white and a bit of light gelatin was done to get any stray yeast or Brett cells out. The wine was unfiltered.
And there we are, a wine made with premium grapes, advanced but non-invasive handling, and developed in quality French oak.
While a few Okanagan winemakers have adopted some of the techniques that Tom uses, last summer at the B.C. Wine Institute Enology and Viticulture Conference, Tom was pleased when one of the sp[eakers, Jeff McCord of StaVin Inc. of California, supported his views in a presentation on 'Practical Application of Micor-oxygenation as a tool in winemaking' which illustrated not only the mellowing effects of the procedure, but also the side uses such as handling stuck fermentations and H2S control withouthte use of Copper Sulphate.
Colio Estate Wines 2000 CEV Reserve Merlot
Both expert and wine enthusiast tasters at the Canada - Bordeaux tasting in Ottawa on October 15 agreed that the 2nd place wine among the 18 from Ontario, B.C. and Bordeaux was the Colio Estate Vineyard 2000 Merlot which wine writer Tim Pawsey described as 'soft and plummy'.
To find out how it was made we talked with Colio's famous winemaker Carlo Negri whose wines we have admired for many years, particularly some memorable Lembergers in the mid 1990's.
The Merlot grapes for the 2000 were grown in the Colio vineyards in Colchester south of Kingsville on the shores of Lake Erie. Carlo recalled that while 2000 was a good growing year it was not the best, however while quantity was less than average, the quality was correspondingly high.
Incidentally, this wine was the only Canadian wine to win a Silver medal at VinExpo in Bordeaux in 2002.
The fruit was harvested at Brix 20.7 sugar with the usual moderate acid of around T/A 7. Carlo chaptalized with 1% sugar to increase the effective Brix level to 21.7.
Carlo said that after crushing, the fermentation was begun promptly with no cold soak period, using French red wine yeasts such as DV10. Cap management was done with an automatic system which activated a gentle overhead sprinkler once every hour.
Fermentation and maceration took place over two weeks before pressing out. Asked whether malolactic culture was introduced, Carlo said he never uses it except for experimentation.
He recalled that with this wine he left it in barrel before bottling for 18 months which is a longer time than usual. The barrels were 30% new with a 60% French and 40% American oak split.
Speaking generally, Carlo said that he doesn't like rotary fermenters that much, feeling they are too heavy on extraction, particularly with hybrid reds.
In an aside, he said that the 2002 CEV Merlot is also very good and won Gold and Best of Show at the Ottawa Wine and Cheese Show. In the 2002 growing year both high quality and high volume were produced.
Earlier this year Carlo was honoured with two special achievements: the Tony Aspler "Cuvee Award of Excellence" for his quarter of a century of contributions to oenology and viticulture and The Ontario Wine Awards "Winemaker of the Year".