Smoke and heat. Everyone wants to know how/if/how badly/how long they may affect the grapes and wine. The answer? So do we! Heat domes and wildfires in grape growing areas are new enough phenomena that we are learning so much year by year. The good news for us on the Naramata Bench is that we…
Continue reading The Elephants in the Vineyard: Smoke & Heat
We faced harvest this year with no idea of what we might find. The “heat dome” in mid-June brought record temperatures at a highly unusual time for wine-growing regions. As this period is typically when we see “bloom” – flowering of these self-pollinating vines – I expected to see anomalies in both time of ripening…
Continue reading Hindsight 2021: How was Hillside’s Harvest?
Our July 2020 blog post gave an overview of what happens in the vineyard through the summer and how critical good vineyard management is. “The quality of the fruit and the health of the vines are ensured through good canopy management. The canopy is made up of all the green growth which arises from the…
Continue reading Summer in the Vineyard 2022
Through the summer of 2010, Hillside hosted a number of “terroir tastings” from barrels, illustrating the similarities and differences between four blocks of 2009 Merlot from the Naramata bench and one Oliver block. The difference was obvious—almost a Sesame Street segment of “one of these things is not like the other” –the wine from Oliver…
Continue reading The down & “dirt”y on our single vineyard Merlots?
As we celebrate budbreak, that magical period when the grapevine buds come out of dormancy, reconnect with the vine’s vascular system to draw up the nutrients stored in the root system through the winter, and unfurl two tiny leaves and a teeny pre-grape cluster, we wonder what the season will bring us. Each growing season…
Continue reading Sustainability and Resilience
Part 1 of 3: My Love of the Naramata Bench Terroir When I was considering the move to Hillside from Mission Hill, I thought these people were insane, planting Malbec this far north in the valley. I knew how hard it was to ripen Bordeaux varieties, even as far south as Osoyoos. But I tasted…
Continue reading All about the Naramata Bench Terroir: Part 1 of 3
Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit with Hillside! This year, the Lunar New Year begins on January 22, when we will welcome the Year of the Rabbit! Read on for some of our favorite Hillside wines to pair with classic Chinese dishes. Veggie Chow Mein + Muscat Ottonel The fresh & floral flavor profile &…
Continue reading 2023 – Year of the Rabbit 🐇
What is happening in the vineyard? Well…so much has happened since we last talked! The vines have gone from bare trunks with 2 or 3 shoots to a lush jungle of green. Bud Break occurred in the first week of May (about a week later than “normal”) pushing tiny leaves up out of the shoot…
Continue reading Summer In The Vineyard
Part 2 of 3: Why do we use oak in winemaking? The white edition… Wooden barrels are used in winemaking for benefits that far outweigh simple flavour contribution from the oak. Wine changes by virtue of being in a small wooden vessel. These changes can be physical – the actual evaporation of small amounts ofwater/alcohol…
Continue reading Why We Use Oak In Winemaking: Part 2
Chatting with Kathy about the unoaked Pinot Gris taught me a few lessons on not only wine making but also terroir. The fruit for this wine comes from an area close to Kathy’s home in Naramata, surrounded by peach and apple orchards. The aromatics coming off the wine are familiar but I cant place them.…
Continue reading Peach Honey Glazed Chicken