The Tasting Room: Possibly The Very Best Pinot Noir In Canada…
January 10, 2010
by Terry David Mulligan | We start with a two part visit to the cellars of Foxtrot a legendary Naramata Bench winery that to this day cannot be found without some real digging for info…which is exactly what we do. If they truly make the best Pinot Noir in Canada, why can’t anyone find them or their wines? Read more
“Cellared In Canada” Fiasco Slowly Spinning Towards Drain
October 2, 2009
Good news from the Vancouver Sun:
Two of Canada’s largest winemakers said Thursday they are going to change the labeling of their bulk import wines in response to consumer backlash over selling them as B.C. wine.
They never intended to mislead consumers, John Peller, president of Andrew Peller Ltd. and Eric Morham, president of Vincor Canada, said in an exclusive interview with the editorial board of The Vancouver Sun. New label concepts are already in the works, they said.
“We’ve heard the feedback loud and clear,” said Peller.
I think it was the monkey throwing its own feces that did it.
JoieFarm’s Humble Beginnings Revealed In The Financial Post
September 21, 2009
The Financial Post has an illuminating bit of background on how the Naramata Bench’s award-winning JoieFarm came into being… Read more
Wine Branding: From “Joie” To “Joie Farm”
February 4, 2009
Heidi and Michael up at Joie in Naramata have done a slight rebrand of their winery for trademarking reasons, sticking a “Farm” after the name. It will henceforth be called JoieFarm. We’ve accordingly updated their Scout page and made a mental note, but I was always fond of the original brand so I know it’ll take more than that. I have several bottles with the old branding in my wee cellar so I just cracked open their ’06 Noble Blend to fight the confusion (paired with cold chicken from the fridge). Every time I take a swig I exclaim “JoieFarm!”, and though my sleeping children are a little upset at this, I’m pretty sure I’m winning.
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Their statement below:
We, Heidi Noble and Michael Dinn, would like to announce that we have made a small change to our name from Joie Wines to JoieFarm for trademark purposes. The reveal of the updated logo is included above and will be made public with the private release of our 2008 vintage, February 17th-24th, 2009.
The name JoieFarm reflects the development of our project over a five year period from producing wines out of other winery facilities, exclusively from growers’ grapes, to the building of our own winery and the planting of our own vineyard.
Even with the exciting addition of estate fruit, we will continue to work closely with the 20 dedicated farming families who supply the majority of our grapes on long-term contracts. JoieFarm will continue to be focused exclusively on the aromatic varietals of Alsace, Burgundy and Champagne, in pursuit of complex, naturally balanced wines that compliment the cuisine of the West Coast of Canada.
Since 2002, our project, originally known as Joie, has evolved from a guesthouse and on-farm cooking school into a 9,500 case winery and vineyard. This has been an exciting process and to mark this evolution our new trademark, JoieFarm, signals the increasing control and improvements we have made to our wines and our deep connection to the place we call home.
Along with the rebrand comes a completely revamped website. Looking good.
View Joie Farm’s Scout Page
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Scout Magazine is dedicated to supporting and promoting cool, interesting, and independent Vancouver businesses through the publication of their press releases and event information. To get your sales, promotions, news and events up on our front page, send us an email here and we’ll do our best to share it with our readers.
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Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival
October 5, 2008
Details
Tickets: 604-873-3311
Toll free: 1-877-321-3121
Web: www.playhousewinefest.com
E-Mail: info@playhousewinefest.com
Twitter | Facebook
Gallery
The Team
Festival Executive Director: Harry Hertscheg
Director of Operations: Trish Metcalfe
Marketing Manager: Matthew Pinch
Festival Administrator: Visnja Vukelich
Box Office & Information Coordinator: Melanie Wickes
Publicist: Shannon Heth
Gala Manager: Kelly Snider
About The Festival
The Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, Canada’s premier wine show, runs from March 28th to April 3rd, 2011. The Playhouse Wine Festival is one of the biggest and oldest wine festival events in the world. In 2011, the theme region will be Spain and the global focus Fortified Wine. The Festival features a week of special events including the Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction, wine seminars, wine minglers, winery dinners, and lunches and brunches at fine restaurants and hotels. The Playhouse Wine Festival is produced by the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Society, which has three mandates: provide an informative, educational and entertaining wine experience for public and trade; be a premier marketing opportunity for the wine industry and Festival partners; and raise funds for the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company. Since its inception in 1979, the Festival has raised over $7.2 million to enable Western Canada’s leading theatre company to mount 223 productions and develop extensive community outreach and educational programs.
The Shore Club generously presents the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival.
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Tinhorn Creek
October 5, 2008
Details
32830 Tinhorn Creek Road Box 2010 Oliver, BC V0H 1T0
Telephone: 250-498-3743 | Toll Free: 1-888-484-6467 | Fax: 250-498-3228
Email: winery@tinhorn.com | Web: www.tinhorn.com | Twitter | Facebook
GALLERY
The People Who Make It Happen
Sandra Oldfield – Winemaker & Owner
Kenn Oldfield – Chairman & Owner
Andrew Moon – Viticulturist/Vineyard Manager
Korol Kuklo – Assistant Winemaker
Shaun Everest – General Manager
About Tinhorn Creek
On a hillside overlooking vineyards, sagebrush, and the old gold mining creek that is its namesake, Tinhorn Creek Vineyards has been owned and operated by the Shaunessy and Oldfield families since1993. The winery is located south of Oliver, BC, at the junction of Highway 97 and Road 7 in the famed Golden Mile wine-growing district. This area, named for its rich history of farming that dates back to the early 1900s, is home to several quality wine producers. Tinhorn Creek sources fruit exclusively from its own vineyards: 150 acres of prime land on two very distinct benches. This land lends to the creation of terroir-driven wines that are classic illustrations of the place they are grown. The 100-acre Diamondback Vineyard on the Black Sage Bench is planted with a mix of red and white varieties, primarily Pinot Gris, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The 50-acre Tinhorn Creek Vineyard on the Golden Mile Bench is also planted with a mix of red and white grapes, but primarily features Gewürztraminer.
Farming their own vineyards using sustainable practices allows Tinhorn Creek full control over the quality of fruit delivered to the crush pad for each vintage. The winery produces wines in two tiers under one dynamic and compelling label. The single-varietal series includes a Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and Merlot. Only worthy wines are selected each year for the winery’s top tier, winemaker Sandra Oldfield’s signature wines, named the Oldfield Series. This tier provides Oldfield with a playground for experimentation and is a creative showcase for the best wines from each vintage. All Tinhorn Creek wines evoke the unique terroir of the region: the sage-covered desert terrain.
Tinhorn Creek was the first winery in Canada to bottle its entire portfolio with Stelvin screw-cap closures ensuring consistent aging and a guarantee that the wine will be enjoyed as it was intended.
Nichol Vineyard
October 5, 2008
Details
RR1 S14 C13 -1285 Smethurst Rd | Naramata, BC | V0H-1N0
Telephone: 250.496.5962 | Fax: 250.496.4275
Email: info@nicholvineyard.com
Website: www.nicholvineyard.com
Twitter | Facebook
Gallery
People
While it was not always apparent to Ross Hackworth that he would one day be a Naramata winery owner, as a person who appreciates fine wine, he had enjoyed the wines from Nichol Vineyard for a number of years before he bought the winery from founders Alex and Kathleen Nichol.
It’s fitting that Ross would purchase a winery in Naramata, as he grew up there and his family ran an orchard in the area. Ross started his adult life with an education in business, and based from Vancouver worked as a sales executive for many years with a major pulp and paper company. Always interested in wine and attracted to the craft, Ross would spend his spare time making wine as a home winemaker. He would make enough wine to enjoy with family and friends, but with a full time career that involved much travel he could not get too serious about winemaking. Instead, Ross’ frequent business travel and entertaining with fine dining opportunities exposed him to wines from all over the world and helped him develop his palate.
While Ross was leading an executive lifestyle, meanwhile, the Nichols opened the Naramata winery in 1993 after converting an orchard into a vineyard; in doing so they planted the first Syrah in the Okanagan: the first Syrah in Canada. While skeptics of the then-new industry thought they were crazy to plant Syrah on a cold climate site, the resulting wines likely inspired many others to plant what is now one of the Okanagan’s important red varieties.
In 1999, Ross returned to Naramata to spend weekends helping his friend restore what is now the Heritage Inn and Spa. In the process, he reconnected with his roots and bought a home in Naramata. After making wine as a hobbyist for so long he decided to take the leap and as he says, legitimize his winemaking, by taking the step of winery ownership. As he sought his own vineyard, the Nichols were preparing to retire. Serendipity. Ross and the Nichols worked out an agreement for Alex to mentor Ross for a couple of vintages, as Ross recognized that home winemaking and owning a winery are very different things! Ross was an apt student, for the quality of Nichol wines quality of Nichol wines has continued to improve.
Together they worked on the 2003 to 2005 vintages. Ross also spent long hours with Kathleen Nichol and learned the specific viticulture requirements for managing this premier site. Transition to full owner operator was completed in February of 2006.
In the vintages since, Ross has remained true to the site and fundamental Nichol style. While investing in a new winery facility, equipment and plantings of Syrah, the focus has remained on the land and it’s unique cold climate location.
About Nichol Vineyard
Village Grown, World Class, True to Our Roots
Nichol Vineyard, known among Canadian wine lovers in the know, has been operating in Naramata Village in British Columbia using 100% Naramata fruit since 1993.
Owner and winemaker Ross Hackworth’s focus is to maintain a small estate winery, striving to grow world-class wines. The recognition Ross has been receiving for his wines is testament to the work he is doing at the tiny Naramata winery. Since 2006 he has been at the helm creating premium, limited vintage wines, carrying on the tradition of the winery’s original owners and namesake, Alex and Kathleen Nichol.
The vineyards sit on a pocket of land tucked against steep, heat-radiating red granite cliffs, and are perfectly situated: under the former Kettle Valley Railway and above the deep blue Okanagan Lake. This site offers the ideal place to grow grapes that produce wines with intense fruit and bright acidity.
Looking west across from the vineyard and over Okanagan Lake, you can see the shores of Summerland and the landmark Giant’s Head Mountain. The soils at Nichol Vineyard were created during the prehistoric time when volcanic activity and glaciation provided the till, granite, bedrock and silt, which all come together to create a unique, rugged site that generates fine wines.
Our Wines
Since 1993 Nichol has been creating wines exclusively from grapes grown in Naramata. Our vineyards, on a pocket of land tucked against steep heat-radiating rock cliffs, are the ideal place to craft wines demonstrating intense fruit and refreshing acidity. Our soils – glacial till, granite shards, bedrock and silt – create a site that is extreme and unique. Click here to browse and purchase our wines.
Elephant Island Orchard Wines
October 5, 2008
Details
2730 Aikins Loop, Naramata BC | V0H 1N0 | RR1 S5 C18
Follow Naramata Rd 9 km North to Aikins Loop
(if you get to Naramata you’ve gone to far)
Phone: 250.496.5522 | Fax: 250.496.5521
Email: info@elephantislandwine.com
Web: www.elephantislandwine.com
Gallery
The People Who Make it Happen
Owners: Miranda & Del Halladay
Winemaker: Del Halladay
Consulting Winemaker: Christine Leroux
About Elephant Island
Elephant Island – Not your typical wine moniker…not your typical wine.
Fusing classic wine making processes with an unconventional line-up of fruits – Stella cherries, organic Bartlett pears, Goldrich apricots, Heritage raspberries, and Black Currants. Tradition with a twist, wine with a spine…this is what we aspire to create at Elephant Island. Over the last 6 years, and many bottles (ok we’ll be frank – cases) of ‘experimenting’ we have expanded the Elephant Island repertoire to include bone dry wines, lip-smacking dessert style wines, fortified wines, a port style wine, and even methode champeniose sparkling wines. All told in the 2008 vintage over 260,000 lbs of fruit were processed to produce 6,000 cases of wine.
Recognizing that our 20’s were spent consuming large quantities of beer (and being only shortly into our 30’s) we brought professional winemaker Christine Leroux in to the fold. Thank goodness Christine was up for a challenge – sure the science of winemaking is the same but in the world of Elephant Island you’re dealing not with 1 fruit with 30 different varietal expressions, you deal with 13 fruits and the exponential permutations that follow. Together we have learned what works and what doesn’t…and we’ve drunk a lot of wine. Bottom line: exceptional fruit – nothing else, stainless steel aging, and defining a style that suits the fruit.
Wines
From bone dry wines, to lip-smacking dessert style wines. Check out the line-up and reviews at www.elephantislandwine.com.
Pet Projects
The Cocktail Program – In the company of good friends and a bottle of Grey Goose, the cocktail project was born. Mixing a little Apricot Dessert Wine 2004 with a little more Grey Goose was dangerously delicious…imagine what the professionals could come up with. Enter Chris Stearns, mixologist extraordinaire, and the results are more elegant, more refined and double the drinking pleasure for our dessert wine customers. Artisnal, handcrafted and locally grown the dessert wines offer the new generation of mixologists a beautiful addition to their well.
The Little King – A sparkling wine made in the traditional method (Methode Champenoise) crafted in the memory of our infant son Rex who died in 2002. Rex died as a result of suffocation in his mother’s hospital bed when he was 3 hours old. The Little King is dedicated to his memory and to tell his story. Committed to preventing through sharing, Miranda and Del donate all proceeds from the sale of the wine to the Rex Halladay Memorial Fund at BC Children’s Hospital which was formed to support the education of regional and rural hospitals in best codes of practice for peri- and post-natal care.
Breweries & Wineries
March 11, 2008
the following wineries are Scout supporters…
Blue Mountain
2385 Allendale Rd, RR#1 Site 3 Comp 4 | Okanagan Falls BC | 250-497-8244 | www.bluemountainwinery.com | Blue Mountain is a family run vineyard and winery located in the picturesque South Okanagan Valley…EXPLORE BLUE MOUNTAIN
CedarCreek Estate Winery
5445 Lakeshore Road | Kelowna | MAP | 250-764-8866 | www.cedarcreek.bc.ca | After over 20 years of wine growing experience, we believe that we have the right varietals planted in the right sites. We grow the…EXPLORE CEDARCREEK ESTATE WINERY
ELEPHANT ISLAND
2730 Aikins Loop | Naramata BC | 250.496.5522 | elephantislandwine.com | Fusing classic wine making processes with an unconventional line-up of fruits – Stella cherries, organic Bartlett pears, Goldrich apricots…EXPLORE ELEPHANT ISLAND
JoieFarm
2825 Naramata Rd, Site 5 Comp 4, Naramata BC | 1-866-422-5643 | 250-496-0073 | www.joiefarm.com | JoieFarm is owned and operated by Heidi Noble & Michael Dinn and is located on their farm on the beautiful…EXPLORE JOIEFARM
Laughing Stock Vineyards
1548 Naramata Road | Penticton, BC | Tel: 250-493-8466 | www.laughingstock.ca | Located on the picturesque Naramata Bench, Laughing Stock Vineyards is a serious enterprise with a lighthearted attitude….EXPLORE LAUGHING STOCK VINEYARDS
La Stella
8123-148th Avenue, Osoyoos, BC | 250-495-8180 | www.lastella.ca | 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…EXPLORE LA STELLA
Le Vieux Pin
34070-73th Street Oliver, BC | 250-498-8388 | www.levieuxpin.ca | Le Vieux Pin named after the majestic old pine tree on the northwest corner of our vineyard is situated on the East Bench of Oliver, in the South…EXPLORE LE VIEUX PIN
Mission Hill Family Estate
1730 West Bank Rd, West Kelowna, BC | 250-768-7611 | www.missionhillwinery.com | Located in the heart of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, Mission Hill Family Estate is a family-owned winery…EXPLORE MISSION HILL
Nichol Vineyard
RR1 S14 C13 -1285 Smethurst Rd, Naramata, BC | 250-496-5962 | nicholvineyard.com | Nichol Vineyard, known among Canadian wine lovers in the know, has been operating in Naramata Village in BC using…EXPLORE NICHOL VINEYARD
R&B Brewing Co.
54 East 4th Ave | Vancouver, BC | MAP | 604-874-2537 | rbbrewing.com | R&B Brewing Co. has always been, and will always be, just about as independent a microbrewery as you’ll come across…EXPLORE R&B BREWING CO.
Red Truck Beer Company
1015 Marine Dr, North Vancouver | 604-682-4733 | www.redtruckbeer.com | The Red Truck Beer Company is a Vancouver-based craft microbrewery. We make two signature beers: Red Truck Ale, a rich…EXPLORE RED TRUCK BEER CO.
Road 13
13140-316A Ave., Oliver BC | Toll free: 866.498.8330 | www.road13vineyards.com | Road 13 is the location of our winery and two of our vineyard sites: the Home and the Castle. Our land was first cultivated in…EXPLORE ROAD 13
Stoneboat Vineyards
7148 Orchard Grove Lane, Oliver BC | Toll Free: 888-598-2226 | www.stoneboatvineyards.com | Located along a winding country lane in Oliver, BC, on the rocky soils of the lower Black Sage Bench…EXPLORE STONEBOAT
Whistler Brewing Co.
1045 Millar Creek Road, Whistler, BC | 604-731-2900 | www.whistlerbeer.com | At the Whistler Brewing Company, we share a passion for creating unique, world-class craft brewed beers. Using traditional brewing…EXPLORE WHISTLER BREWING CO.
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