With three of the best vintages in recent memory (2012, 2013, 2014), most agree: it's a pretty good time to be making red wines in the Okanagan Valley.
However, it's already been several years that Bill Lui has been thinking seriously about what it would take to make the best red wine the Okanagan can produce.
After building a successful pharmaceutical business and working in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, Lui (who moved to B.C. as a youngster) decided to study wine. He schooled locally, took winemaking courses at California's UC Davis and tasted extensively through Bordeaux's First Growth wineries.
Late last year, Lui launched the inaugural bottling of One Faith, a project undertaken with the aid of pioneering Harry McWatters (consultant, VQA guru and founder of Sumac Ridge estate).
The name is a reflection of Lui's devout religious conviction, as well as an homage to famed Opus One, the Rothschild-Mondavi Napa Valley collaboration.
There's no question that Lui is truly dedicated and unswervingly passionate about his goal: "To produce Canada's first First Growth, an exceptional wine of unparalleled quality."
However, his comments have pushed a few buttons in wine circles.
"First growth" is a term rarely, if ever, used outside of Bordeaux, where it designates a parcel of vines known to produce wine of the highest possible quality. Introduced in 1855, it can be employed by only the legendary châteaux of Bordeaux: Haut-Brion, Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Mouton-Rothschild.
Even though he's already declared "One Faith Vineyards is Canada's premier First Growth wine," Lui is anxious to clarify that he uses the term as an aspiration rather than a fait accompli.
"It could be some years before that," he says.
Lui was anxious to source the best fruit available, so he turned to McWatters for Bordeaux varieties grown in his Sundial Vineyard (the portion of the original Black Sage vineyard that McWatters declined to sell to Constellation Wines, retained for his own Time Estate winery).
For winemaking he turned to Anne Vawter, a respected Napa vigneron. Vawter (whose grandfather was born in Trail, B.C.) visits the Okanagan six times a year to work on the project from vineyard to barrel.
Despite being from elsewhere, the winemaker she's "passionate about finding that Okanagan character and not making a global wine."
Vawter adds that she likes the iron ore (almost oxide) streak she sees in the Black Sage character. The last thing she wants to do, she says, is to make perceptibly sweet, over-unctious wine. So far, she's been impressed with the quality of the fruit she's had to work with.
Opening up in the glass, One Faith 2012 (45 percent Merlot, 30 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 25 Cabernet Franc) yields vibrant aromas of vanilla, damson and dark berry fruit, with a still-youthful palate showing sweet fruit, cassis, leather, and chocolate notes, appealing viscosity with good balance of oak and fruit, integrated tannins, and a lingering, slightly mineral finish (91 points, limited supply).
There's an inherent risk (some would call it a calculated gamble) in bringing to the market a singular wine heralded with such a bold statement.
Only time will tell (as will blind tasting beside comparable wines and vintages) if One Faith can justify its gutsy "first growth" Okanagan claim or its equally bullish price: $495 for a three bottle case. More at onefaithvineyards.com.
Belly's Best Racine Minervois 2012 (Languedoc) Another great example of what's up in doc: mainly Grenache with 20 per cent Syrah, yields spice and plummy notes before a juicy, well-rounded, and gently spicy palate. Think cassoulet, grilled herbed sausage or just anything meaty, red and barbecued (90 points, BCLS $18.99).
Tim Pawsey writes about wine for numerous publications and online as the Hired Belly at hiredbelly.com. Contact: [email protected].
