The GOODS from La Stella

Osoyoos, BC | The final numbers are in for LaStella’s 2011 harvest. A total of around 33 tons of grapes destined for whites and rosés and 24 tons for reds marks a slight increase in white wine production and a slight decrease in red wine production.

Overall, head winemaker James Cambridge thinks 2011 will produce outstanding wines from the winery’s vineyard sites in the South Okanagan. The vintage didn’t get off to a terrific start, says James: “Early and often rains in May and June had all of us worried, with no end of horrible thoughts creeping into our minds.” Fortunately, the weather did a complete 180 in July and James credits his vineyard team for their hard work: “they performed timely shoot thinning, leaf removal, and ultimately, and for me most crucially, bunch thinning.”

In the end, harvest was a little later than usual, but James thinks the results are going to be amazing: “Flavours are great, alcohols and PH will be lower and the acids are lively, leading to what I think will be a sensational vintage.” On top of all that, the fruit arrived at the winery in almost perfect condition: “the fruit is the cleanest I have seen in all my years in the Okanagan. There were zero fungal issues do deal with. This makes fermentation much easier, and more importantly, causes me less stress!”

For more information visit LaStella.ca and sign up for their email newsletter, which is published around once a month.

DETAILS

8123-148th Avenue, Osoyoos, BC V0H 1V0 | MAP
Tel: 250-495-8180 | Fax: 250-495-8160
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.lastella.ca

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Gallery

The People Make It Happen

Wine Maker: James Cambridge
Viticulturalist: Severine Pinte
Vineyard Manager: Jody Subotin
General Manager: Rasoul Salehi

About La Stella

LaStella was created to capture our vision of la dolce vita: fine food, wonderful wine, great music, and the good things in life. At LaStella, we celebrate the sun that ripens our grapes and brings warmth to our life, and we share that with everyone who visits us.

LaStella is situated at Osoyoos Lake in the sunny South Okanagan valley of beautiful British Columbia. Here our vineyards produce great fruit and we craft them into such proprietary wines as Allegretto, Vivace and Maestoso. Each wine has its own story — and to convey this unique story we name our wines after Italian musical motifs.

LaStella has assembled an all-star cast to lead the production of BC’s best wines. Head winemaker James Cambridge, Viticulturalist Severine Pinte, Vineyard Manager Jody Subotin and General Manager Rasoul Salehi work tirelessly to deliver award winning wines vintage after vintage.

Please visit the winery when you visit the Okanagan and join our email newsletter for the latest news from wine country. Visit us online at www.lastella.ca on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lastellawinery and twitter at twitter.com/lastella_winery.

The History

LaStella was created to be the embodiment of the Tuscan way of life. For us, we are making more than wine. We are making our own fun. We are making something different yet reassuringly familiar.

LaStella is situated at Osoyoos Lake in the South Okanagan valley of beautiful British Columbia. The winery opened its doors in May 2007 with its first vintage of 2006. This included Vivace Pinot Grigio, Lastellina Rosato, Allegretto Merlot (Pie Franco) and the very low yield, highly complex Maestoso Merlot.

In 2008, 4 clones of Brunello (Sangiovese Grosso) have come to production. Soon the super Tuscan expression from the Okanagan will come to life.

In the Vineyard

Fortunately for us (and you), the Okanagan valley happens to be one of the best wine regions with its unique climate and variety of latitudes and soils. There is a perceptible difference in temperature and greenery, from the lushness of the north to the sage ridden desert in the south.
According to WineBC, the area between Oliver and Osoyoos is the northernmost tip of the northern most desert in the world; Sonora Desert. Summers are generally very hot with July and August being warmer than Napa Valley, but the evenings are markedly cooler. Osoyoos has 1450 growing degree days and 8 inches of average annual rainfall (WineBC.com). Low rainfall, high heat units and a dry environment allow us to farm in a sustainable manner with all the respect the land deserves.

In the vineyards we do a blend of organic and biodynamic practices, which we call ‘non-interventionism’. Along with our sister winery; Le Vieux Pin, we have around 50 acres of small parcel, prime vineyards in Oliver’s Golden Mile and Black Sage Bench as well as vineyards at Osoyoos lake. We have very distinct soil composition in our vineyards that result in very unique and distinctive wines. We also contract grapes from quality minded growers who grow organically and sustainably. We practice low input viticulture and employ dry farming. As a result our yields are very low and help concentrate the flavours and complexities in the fruit. Our average yield is 2 tons per acre and for some of our wines as low as 1 ton per acre, compared to the widely accepted 4-8 tons per acre yields used with quantity focused producers.

In addition to the above, the underpinning of our success is passion, friendship, dedication and commitment to excellence.

Awards

The Wine Access 2008 Canadian Wine Awards

Gold Medal | LaStella 2006 Maestoso Merlot
Bronze Medal | LaStella 2007 Vivace Pinot Gris

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