by Rhys Pender MW
There is also a lot of thinking and planning going on, decisions made that shape the wines we eventually crack open and pour in the coming months or years.
Better than the sum of its parts?
Blending is a key skill the winemaker will perfect over the winter months. Some wines may be rounder and softer, others more tannic and firmer, some crisper, others sweeter; every grape and vineyard will offer slightly different flavours and aromas. Winemakers experiment for hours, conducting bench trials to find the best combination of the various wines maturing in the cellar before blending them for bottling. “When I blend my Dreamcatcher, I look for balance between sweetness and acidity I often think of ripe pineapple and tree fruits like firm but ripe Okanagan peaches.
I grew up eating fruit straight off the tree. Dreamcatcher blend is my way of creating fresh-picked Okanagan stone fruit flavours in a glass of wine,” says Nk’Mip winemaker Justin Hall. Baby it’s cold outside If a winery has left grapes on the vine, in the hope of making the world-famous Canadian Icewine, a winemaker may get called to venture back out into the
and tannin. Rosé wines, the result of short skin contact, can range from barely noticeable pink tinges to deeper pinks, depending on how long the skins are macerated. The pale colour of the Quails’ Gate Rosé is the result of just four hours of skin contact. A few winemakers are even resurrecting the ancient style of macerating white wines on the white grape skins, resulting in orange- or amber- hued wines.
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