Tasting Note Pinot Gris is, of course, widely grown in B.C., with most versions aiming somewhere between a light, crisp Italian grigio style and a fruitier, bolder yet dry Alsatian style. But this morphs into something completely different under the tutelage of consulting winemaker Olivier Humbrecht MW from Alsace. See more of this story in the backgrounder. It lands on the far right of Alsace, almost into a later harvest, grand cru style. Not that it is sweet, but it is amazingly ripe and rich. It is showing considerable mature gold colour. It has a soft, super-ripe nose of honey, peach pie and spice. It is full bodied, quite elegant, smooth and creamy, with soft acidity. Very well balanced and elegant if low in acid (typical of the variety). The length is excellent to outstanding. A wine to admire onto itself with a light chill, but at the table needs very rich Alsatian/Germanic cuisine. 

Backgrounder Phantom Creek’s estimable vineyards on the Black Sage Bench, first planted in the 1990s by Richard Cleave, were purchased by the Bai Family of Vancouver in 2016. One of the first missions was to convert the large acreage to organic and biodynamic viticulture, which was carried out by Olivier Humbrecht, France’s first Master of Wine, who owns the renowned biodynamic Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace. He immediate saw the Okanagan’s climatic similarity to Alsace (northern latitude, dry and warm rain-shadow conditions) and focused on elevating white varieties, leading with pinot gris. But Black Sage was almost too hot, so they planted a cooler site called Evernden in the cooler Similkameen Valley, again all organic with blocks identified and processed separately. They undergo long, slow press cycles and indigenous yeast fermentations in large oak foudres made by esteemed Austrian cooperage Stockinger. It can be aged well over a year in foudre before being bottled without fining or filtration. The result is one of the richest pinot gris you will ever encounter from B.C., or almost anywhere for that matter. This was tasted in Ontario where it is available at LCBO Vintages stores. The 2023 is not yet showing on the winery’s website, but the 2022 is posted at $58.