Start planning now for the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival’s 2010 edition, featuring the wines of Argentina and New Zealand, with a focus on rose as the wine category. Not to say there won’t be loads of brawny reds and delectable whites, but next year’s Festival will be an opportunity to sample some of the best roses in the world – sparkling, dry, off-dry, sweet . . . and more!
The featured regions for 2010 were announced with fanfare by Tony Beatty, Vice-Chair of the Playhouse Winefest Board of Directors, with the support of the Consul General for New Zealand, and Mr. Jose Alberto Zuccardi, representing the winemakers of Argentina. This announcement occurred at the height of the incredibly successful 2009 Festival – 98% of all events were sold out; over 25,000 people attended the seminars, dinners and wine/food competitions, and wandered the tasting room sampling more than 1,700 wines.
To whet our appetites for 2010, the presentation featured demonstrations of tango dancing and kappa haka by a New Zealand dance troupe. Argentina and New Zealand representatives both indicated their pride and delight at representing the wines of the southern hemisphere, and emphasized the contrasting and complementary nature of their signature varietals. After the announcement, themed lunches were hosted by both New Zealand and Argentina, as well as by other participating countries.
Later in the day, Debbie and I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Zuccardi again in the Festival tasting room, where we tasted a range of his wines. Many of you will know his wine Fuzion, which flies off the LCBO shelves by the case. As we discussed the wines, he explained his desire is to introduce Canadians to an accessible and quality wine that they can drink regularly. “In Argentina, wine is a part of our life, our culture. Since Canada is our second most important export market, we want to create the opportunity for Canadians to make wine a regular part of their lives, as we do.” We tasted his organic tempranillo, Santa Julia (35% of Familia Zuccardi vineyards are certified organic), as well as his Q Malbec, a varietal wine called Caladoc (a spicy hybrid of Malbec and Grenache), and one of his premium wines, Zeta.
Later in the evening, we had the opportunity to introduce Mr. Zuccardi to some interesting BC wines (he’s a fan of Viognier, and enjoys sparkling wines). Among the wines he tried were Twisted Tree’s Viognier Roussane, Township 7’s Seven Stars Sparkling, Sumac Ridge’s Steller’s Jay Brut, and several vintages of Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin. He was impressed with the range and quality of wines from the Okanagan, especially considering that the modern BC wine industry is only about 20 years old.
The themes of growth, diversity, uniqueness and quality were repeated in the seminars and structured tastings I attended during the Festival. In 1990 in BC, there were only 1,500 acres under cultivation for the production of wine. Today, there are 9,100 and over 160 wineries selling a broad range of varietal and blended wines, from sparkling to ice wine. And, as was pointed out, since only 4% of BC is arable land, the industry does not have the opportunity for significant expansion, so it will always be a relatively small producer on the world scale.
However, BC has unique terroir. Consequently, it produces unique wines that are taking their place on the world stage, winning competitions as prestigious as the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London. There was a strong sentiment among BC wine critics and writers, as well as among the proprieters and winemakers, that the industry has come into its own, and that it is time to “take our wines to the world”.
A number of key themes emerged from the seminar discussions. Among them, the emphasis on the quality and the variety of the terroir. The slopes above Lake Osoyoos can ripen Cabernet Franc to the extent that there are no green leafy notes (Michel Rolland was quoted as saying he felt this was the only place in the world where Cabernet Franc would reach its potential). On the Black Sage Bench, sandy soils and sun-drenched slopes produce award-winning Shiraz. And across the way, the Golden Mile is renowned for great Merlots, as well as highly aromatic white wines. Further up the valley, there are small, family owned wineries in the Summerland/Peachland area producing outstanding Rieslings and Gewurztraminers. And, south as well as north of Kelowna, the climate, aspect and terroir are ideal for Pinot Noir, among other varietals.
Winemakers expressed pride in the unique expressions of varietals grown in the Okanagan valley. For instance, it was emphasized that most Bordeaux-style blends of the area have Merlot as their base varietal. In the Okanagan, Merlot expresses itself as a more structured, tannic wine than in other regions of the world. And given the ability to fully ripen Cabernet Franc, its chocolaty notes take a more prominent role in the blends than in other international regions. The climate of the area also produces a high degree of acidity in the grapes. Said one winemaker, “Acidity is our friend.” As wine lovers around the world move away from “big fruit bombs”, winemakers in other areas are taking a variety of steps in the vinification process to try to increase the acidity in their wines. In BC, this acidity occurs naturally, creating a better balance between the expression of fruit and acidity. Consequently, many of the winemakers spoke of the opportunity this creates for them to “let the terroir express itself in the wine”. While they all emphasized the criticality of good quality grapes, driven partly by management of yields, exposure to the sun, adequate water and other viticultural interventions, they also indicated that in the cellar, the natural quality of the fruit means a light and focused touch during fermentation and aging of the wine. Said one winemaker, “I am the viticulturalist and the winemaker, but 80% of my time is spent in the vineyard.” The result – a truer expression of the nature and quality of the specific terroir.
Don’t you just wish you could taste some of these fabulous BC wines – aromatic Gewurztraminers and Riesling, crisp bright sparkling wines, elegant Pinots, intense spicy Shiraz, and bold, ageworthy blends, to name just a few.
Then start planning now for Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival 2010. Put the dates in your calendar – April 19-25, 2010. The event will be held in the brand new convention centre. Not only will you be able to taste the wines of BC, you’ll have the opportunity to revel in the wines of the featured regions, Argentina and New Zealand, and taste wines from other major winegrowing centres such as Italy, Spain, France, Australia, and many others.
In future blogs, I’ll be writing more about the winemakers and wines of BC , as well as the 2010 Playhouse Winefest, so stay tuned. Cheers!
Susan
