Okanagablog: Tasting And Touring At Mission Hill

As noted in a mobile post yesterday, I’m up in the Okanagan staying at Mission Hill for a few days. I woke up this morning (following a near-debaucherous evening at Jamie Maw’s place), shook out the Syrah and Heineken cobwebs, and took my coffee up to the winery. Following a tour of the kitchen with Matt Batey, the new winery chef – replacing Michael Allemeier, more on that here – I wandered around the wintry grounds, listening to the bells chime and contemplating the seasonal extremes of the world’s deserts before the gates opened to the public. It was fortuitous timing, as I’d never had the place to myself before. Snaps below.

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I also had the good fortune of tasting Mission Hill’s new Perpetua and Quatrain labels (among a half dozen others) with Ingo Grady and resident sommelier Jesse Harnden (tasting notes by Rhys Pender). Two very charming chaps whose enthusiasms for their wines are infectious.

Tonight, Matt Batey and Michael Allemeier are cooking with Ned Bell at Cabana. I’m really looking forward to it, and will report back upon my return to Vancouver tomorrow (it’s unlikely I’ll be able to find my laptop under the table once this evening winds its way down, so you’ll have to bear with me – occupational hazards, et cetera). Late on Thursday or Friday I’ll put together a lengthy field trip film that will see plenty of shots and clips from every day that I’ve spent up here. So far so awesome…

“Locals” With Michael Allemeier

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Andrew Morrison is a west coast boy who studied history and classics at the Universities of Cape Town and Toronto after an adolescence spent riding skateboards and working in restaurants. He is the editor of Scout Magazine, the weekly food and restaurant columnist for the Westender newspaper, a contributor to Vancouver and Western Living magazines, and a proud board member of the Chef’s Table Society of BC. He lives and works by the beach in Vancouver.

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Chef Michael Allemeier Leaving Mission Hill

Mission Hill Family Estate has announced that chef Michael Allemeier (interview) will be departing the winery this summer on August 1st. He will be replaced as Winery Chef by Matt Batey, who is promoted from the position of Terrace Chef to lead all of the winery’s culinary programs. Read more

The New Siblings Of Mission Hill’s Oculus

Mission Hill winery has been busy lately lauching its new range of wines to wine lovers across the country and I just finished a mini-tasting of them. The Legacy Series sees two new labels joining Oculus on the MH’s most premium series. The new siblings are Perpetua and Quatrain, and they are both quite impressive.

The first of these wines, 2006 Perpetua, is a single-vineyard Chardonnay from Osoyoos. It is perhaps a bit of a surprise for Mission Hill to produce a single-vineyard wine. In the past they have been proponents of blending from a number of sites for the sake of consistency. A few years ago when I asked the winemaker, John Simes, if he would be making more single-vineyard wines I think his answer was “I hope not”.

Although the vineyard name isn’t featured on the label, it does appear in the marketing materials. I’m curious as to whether or not we’ll see the Perpetua coming only from this one site year after year. There is definitely a growing trend towards exploring terroir, and it will be interesting to see if Mission Hill, with their expanded Small Lots Program, starts to produce more of these wines – a Pinot Noir or Syrah perhaps? Or maybe something from their new organically farmed vineyard in the south of the valley?

So what does it taste like? It’s another luxury Chardonnay, given all the royal treatment from vineyard to bottle. In fact, the bottle itself is fantastic, with the front label a glued-on piece of tin with the wine name stamped into it. As for what’s in it, the wine is ripe and fruit forward with lots of (good quality) oak, stone fruit and custard. It shows good texture, intensity and length with some nice lemon and minerality. It finishes a touch hot, even though it’s only 13% alcohol. The oak is nicely done, well integrated and adds some interesting toasty-nutty flavours. Bottom line: this is a pretty serious Chardonnay, one comparable to many California big wigs around the same price of $35.

The 2005 Quatrain is not too different from the Oculus with the notable exception of a chunk of Syrah added to the blend. The goal is for it to be ready for consumption earlier than the Oculus, so as to give you something to drink while you wait for the big “O” to mature for 5 or 10 years (side note: we recently tried both the ’97 and ’98 vintages and both were still drinking very well).

The Quatrain seems to achieve this goal well with lots of soft, ripe plum, Christmas cake and spice, quite a full body and a nice kick of peppery Syrah flavour to give it some complexity. The blend is dominated by 57% Merlot and 28% Syrah, and these varietals dominate. Overall: good quality. The price is $48.

The 2005 Oculus has also recently hit the shelves and I think this could be the best vintage yet. It was from about this vintage that the quality initiatives Mission Hill was putting into place really started to show their impact. Low yields in the vineyards, sorting the fruit and oak fermentation vats have all amped up the quality of these red wines. The ’05 combines the usual Cabernet and Merlot flavours with much more texture and weight than in past vintages. It still has the structure to age, but will probably taste pretty nice along the way if you can’t wait for 10 years in the cellar. Price is $70.

Regardless of whether or not this is a good time to be releasing a new high-end series, kudos to Mission Hill for the commitment to quality from vineyard to cellar. The big guys like Mission Hill and Vincor often get the short end of the stick when it comes to recognition for wine quality, but they are doing as much, if not more, than anyone else to do everything they can to make the best wines possible.

It is also great to see more single-vineyard wines from the big wineries (Vincor also has some excellent Jackson-Triggs and Inniskillin single-vineyard wines) hitting the market. As wine drinkers, we can now really start to explore the BC terroir.

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Rhys Pender is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Visit his company Wine Plus+ online at www.wineplus.ca.