Our latest Winemaker's Blog Series touches on an important and timely topic - Sustainability and Resilience.
Our award winning winemaker Kathy Malone brings us a new installment of her beloved Winemaker's Blog Series, educating us on why vintage matters and how to navigate this when enjoying older bottles.
Featuring an interview with Dr. Pat Bowen of the Summerland Research and Development Centre
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 fruit was “benchmark” dark plum Merlot, while the Naramata-sourced fruit was more complex and in addition to the classic merlot flavours, all shared a flavour component attributable to the soil.
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So here we are. You have the background on the Naramata Bench and the BC system of sub-Geographic-Indicators, now it’s time to explore how they came together. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
An appellation or geographic indicator (GI) is a means of delineating “terroir” geographically. Terroir refers to the set of conditions that contribute to the character of the fruit, and therefore the wine, such that it stands apart from its neighbors. These conditions range from very broad—latitude/longitude, west-facing vs south-facing, frost-free days etc, to very specific-soil type, prevailing wind direction, even cultural considerations. READ MORE HERE.
- by Kathy Malone
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 the wines and was impressed. . . confused, but impressed. Spending the summer of 2009 on the bench, I got a sense of how we were able to achieve this level of ripeness. Read on: THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.