Canadian wines have evolved tremendously in the past few decades, earning a spot on the global stage. British Columbia, whose diverse terroir and microclimates yields increasingly exceptional quality, is drawing the gaze of the world’s best. The proof is in the bottle: B.C. wines dominated the recent 2022 judging of the WineAlign National Wines of Canada, and Kelowna’s CedarCreek Estate Winery proudly took home the top honour: Winery of the Year.
There are no tricks or secrets involved in earning this coveted award (if only!). But, in speaking with CedarCreek team members, a few recurring themes prevail: a laser focus on making quality wines, in the best and most sustainable way possible, while continually improving year-over-year, backed by great teamwork and support. This way of doing things goes back to a pivotal moment, when Anthony von Mandl, seeing great promise in the cool-climate North Okanagan vineyards, bought the winery from the Fitzpatrick family and made the strategic decision to move to 100 per cent organic farming and winemaking, hand-picking viticulturist Kurt Simcic from his native New Zealand to lead the effort. Matched with winemaker Taylor Whelan, the likeminded duo hit the ground running. With Whelan’s background in the field of ecology, it’s no surprise many of his and Simcic’s hours were and continue to be spent in the vineyards talking, quite literally, about the birds and the bees.
“Going organic was the spark that started everything that we’ve worked on to change the entire business. It’s been more profound than I expected it to be.” Whelan notes, adding that, while both he and Simcic would like to take full, individual credit for the Winery of the Year accolade, it’s really more of a Lennon-McCartney song-writing partnership. “We take equal credit for each other’s work.”
The profound changes at the vineyard level and the resulting wines are due to small but incremental changes that have added up over the years. Going organic was the catalyst, but in taking out conventional pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, Simcic added back much more. Cover crops were introduced to promote better soil health. Resident hens rove the property, aiding in pest control, aeration and fertilization of the soil, and their eggs are expertly prepared at the winery’s own HomeBlock Restaurant, whose kitchen scraps are composted and returned back to the soil. There’s beekeeping and a worm farm, and we’d be remiss not to mention the wee herd of Highland cattle that’s equal parts benefiting the soil and charming as heck. All that’s missing is a proverbial free-range partridge in an organic pear tree.
As a result, the entire ecology of CedarCreek has changed, evolving from a quiet monoculture of grapevines to one that’s flourishing with life. “The biodiversity of the property has exploded; we’ve seen so many new species show up in the vineyards since we started this process,” Whelan says. “The populations of different bird species have gone way up, we’re seeing coyotes, prairie dogs, bears, you name it. The web of life is stronger and I think that has contributed to the vineyards being more resilient and able to withstand different stress better than in the past, and in turn providing better fruit.”
The biodiversity isn’t the only positive change that’s emerged—it’s also what’s ending up the glass. Kurt notes, “For example, the Aspect Riesling Block 3 was originally quite high vigour, with really big bunches and berries but, in going organic, removing the conventional fertilizers and watering more deeply, the flavour profile of the fruit is changing. It’s been quite dramatic; that block in particular is showing spectrums of flavour that it’s never shown before and more balance than ever. And because we do everything by hand we can capture those parcels when each one is ripe, all to make better wine. “
And better wine, it is. In fact, it’s the best. The competition at WineAlign’s National Wine Awards (NWA), which aims to establish a benchmark for Canadian wines, is stiff. The judging panel is a veritable lineup of 24 local and international industry rockstars, carefully curated over the last two decades by WineAlign co-creators Anthony Gismondi and David Lawrason. If you think tasting 90-plus wines over several days sounds like a walk in the park, you’re sorely mistaken. It takes a palate that’s been finely tuned from years of wine evaluation, intense focus and stamina. All wines are blind tasted, organized by varietal or style and prepared at the perfect service temperature in polished glassware by an impressive support team, tasked with pouring a staggering 1,890 entries from more than 250 different producers.
At this year’s judging, which took place in late June in Niagara Falls, CedarCreek notched an impressive 19 wines on the NWA list: two platinum awards, four gold, eight silver and five bronze. One of the two wines that snagged the Platinum honour is the CedarCreek Aspect Collection Block 5 Chardonnay, a top pick for both Simcic and Whelan. “It truly reflects everything about the way the vines have changed, how Taylor and I select the block when it’s ready to be picked, and how it evolves in the winery,” Simcic says. The Home Block vineyard is especially significant: it’s where the winery itself is nestled and it earned CedarCreek a gold for its Home Block Riesling and silver for its Home Block rosé. “I think it shows that the Home Block has a pretty strong vineyard for whites, pinot noir … and shows that across our sites we’re farming in a quality way,” echos Whelan.
As for what’s next for CedarCreek, both winemaker and viti agree that the future is bright. Per Simcic, “Even with this recent accomplishment, I still think we can be doing things better yet, in farming, in winemaking and into the future. I would say that not getting complacent about what you do is probably the key to how we’ve gotten here.” Whelan, overjoyed and humbled to receive Winery of the Year, adds, “I’ve always wanted CedarCreek to win this; in terms of an accolade by itself it’s great, but for me it just indicates we’re on the right track.” —Janet Helou
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