The GOODS from Summerhill Pyramid Winery

Kelowna, BC | Like no other winery, Kelowna’s Summerhill Pyramid Winery has been a gathering place for wine enthusiasts, artists, farmers, environmental advocates and progressive thought leaders to come together and share their stories and ideas, while thinking outside the bottle. This summer, Gerry Jobe, acclaimed Okanagan-based bartender, joined Summerhill Pyramid Winery as consulting bartender to create a cocktail program that puts the spirit back in spirits.

After a massive lobby (and much patience), Summerhill can now add spirits and craft beer to the wines already on the menu in its Sunset Organic Bistro. As the first BC winery in the ALR (Agricultural Land Reserve) to have this new license, they are taking advantage of this in a way that expresses the winery’s unique personality.

The winery has linked up with Jobe to oversee their spirits menu, and take their cocktail program to an unparalleled level. Recognized by Western Living magazine as one of their “Top 40 under 40”, Jobe is an award-winning and passionately creative bartender.

As a lifetime resident of the area, Jobe feels the need to establish a vibrant and stylish cocktail culture in Okanagan. At Summerhill, he is teaching and empowering the team to create “outside the bottle” cocktails that include a unique story as an essential ingredient.

All Summerhill cocktails created by Jobe utilize speciality techniques and ingredients hand-foraged on the sweet aromatic land of Summerhill’s own biodynamic permaculture gardens, including wildcrafted medicinal herbs and syrups aged in the Pyramid. Unconventional cocktail techniques are applied to the creation of each drink, including employing vibrations from Tibetan singing bowls, intentionality and biodynamic rhythms.

The winery can say with confidence that no one is making cocktails that express the Okanagan in this way. For example, ‘Unified Field’ features a house-made lavender and sage blossom kombucha reduction with vodka which are influenced with vibrations from Tibetan singing bowls to bring harmony to the experience at Summerhill. It is topped with Cipes Brut and garnished with lavender.

The ‘Santa Fortuna’ includes foraged elderflower, lilac and wild rose petal reductions which are shaken with grapefruit and tequila and topped with Cipes Rose.

‘Lithia’s Rhythm’ includes foraged choke cherry blossoms which were first reduced into a simple syrup, and smoked over the fire during the summer solstice drum circle in the winery’s onsite Kekuli (an earth house). Placed around the Kekuli fire, vessels of this reduction were influenced by the rhythm of the drumming and dancing, and treated with energy work and quartz. This reduction was combined with organic Pinot Gris, lemon and Woodford Reserve Bourbon.

Quotes:

“Jobe is more than a consulting bartender at Summerhill. He is a storyteller, artist, and cocktail activist recreating a rich, lively, spiritual and meaningful cocktail culture in the Okanagan. This is the start of a journey for us to celebrate the land, the history, and to create something beautiful.” – Ezra Cipes, CEO, Summerhill Pyramid Winery

“Creating stories, experiences, moments and memories within spirits just happens to be my medium. I create cocktails that transport the drinker back to their childhood, their happiest moment, or the first time they heard their favourite album. When Ezra approached me about creating the cocktail program at Summerhill, I couldn’t wait to get started. Summerhill is the perfect foundation for creating cocktails that are full of balanced flavour while celebrating nature and the surrounding land.” – Gerry Jobe, consulting bartender, Summerhill Pyramid Winery

Cocktails with a Sense of Place | All cocktails and applications were conceptualized by Gerry Jobe utilizing ingredients he hand foraged on the Summerhill property with the assistance of property foragers Scott and Gabriel Cipes. Energy applications to the ingredients were inspired by the science of the effects of energy in liquid by Robert Hooke, Masaru Emoto and Emile Conrad and assisted by Daniela DeMarchi of Era Life Science. Join in celebrating the land and the spirit of Summerhill captured in these deliciously balanced cocktails.

Taste For Yourself | The Sunset Organic Bistro, featuring Summerhill’s wines and custom cocktails, will remain open daily this Fall and offers lunch (11am – 3pm), a grazing menu (3 – 5pm) and dinner (5 – 9pm). The Bistro also serves brunch on Sundays from 11am – 2pm.

DETAILS

4870 Chute Lake Road | Kelowna, BC | V1W 4M3
Telephone: 250-764-8000 | 1-800-667-3538
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.summerhill.bc.ca | Facebook | Twitter

GALLERY

THE PEOPLE

Ezra Cipes: CEO
Eric von Krosigk: winemaker/viticulturist
Jesse Croy: winery chef
Gabe Cipes: biodynamics/permaculture
Stephen Cipes: founder/proprietor

ABOUT SUMMERHILL PYRAMID WINERY

Summerhill Pyramid Winery is a pioneering Okanagan Valley winery established in 1991. Owned and operated by the Cipes family, the winery has been a leader in organics, converting their own vineyard holdings to organic status shortly after the property was acquired in 1986, and helping to convert over 200 acres of Okanagan vineyards to certified organic status since then. The home vineyard in Kelowna is, as of 2012, BC’s first Demeter certified biodyamic vineyard. Summerhill considers their plots to be ‘vineyard ecosystems’ rather than viewing them as industrial farms. The philosophy of winemaking is that organic and biodynamic grapes, grown in harmony with the ecosystem, is the starting point for authentic, expressive, terroir driven wines. The portfolio of Summerhill wines has earned Summerhill the title of ‘Canadian Wine Producer of the Year’ from the IWSC in London, England (2009).

Summerhill has also been at the forefront of sparkling wine production in the Okanagan. The winery was founded with the production of Cipes Brut, a traditional method cuvee based on Riesling and Chardonnay, and has gone on to garner international acclaim for sparkling wines, including a gold medal from France (Chardonnay du Monde, 2000) and a trophy from England (IWSC, 2010), both for the estate grown Cipes Gabriel Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine.

The winery is also home to the Sunset Organic Bistro, featuring seasonal Okanagan wine paired cuisine in a rustic, relaxed atmosphere. Executive Chef Jesse Croy draws from the bounty of regional organic farmers, including an onsite half-acre biodynamic vegetable patch.