It was a mild winter day when I first drove into the Okanagan Mountain Park in East Kelowna to visit with Anita and Peter at Scorched Earth Winery.
The boutique family Estate farm and winery owes its name to the surrounding landscape of scorched earth, which still shows the burnt trees from the 2003 wildfires.
The original 5-acre vineyard was planted in 1989, but fire retardant dumped on the vineyard to fight the 2003 wildfire caused the vines too much damage to salvage. The old vines were removed and the land resculpted to take it back to the basics. The soil was really lacking in nutrients so with 40 dump truck loads of organic compost, the vineyard has been converted to organic and replanted with 4 blocks of Pinot Noir French clones. Different rootstocks were chosen for varying soil conditions. The vines include Pinot Noir clones – 115, 667, 777 and 828. The result was an Organic Vineyard practising sustainable organic viticulture.
The location provides the best the Okanagan Valley has to offer – a pinot perfect south-west exposure providing lots of sunshine. The vineyard slopes down to Okanagan Lake, providing great airflow and a cooling effect for the vines. The microclimate is actually similar to Naramata, although the soil structure is very different.
There are also about 3 acres of unplanted land at the top of the vineyard for future expansion.
The Wine Cellar
Anita and Peter have converted their garage into a wine cellar for Scorched Earth Winery. They have invested in one of the few German-made grape de-stemmers specifically design for Pinot Noir. This delivers 95% whole grape clusters for fermentation. Scorched Earth uses only French Oak barrels to age all their wines. The aged barrels are shipped to a nearby winery for bottling.
The Summer Visit
We had an excellent visit back to the Scorched Earth Vineyard in August. The wine tasting facilities at the top of the vineyard had just opened. Peter poured the newly released Syrah and it was a perfect afternoon to talk about wine and breathe in the view of Lake Okanagan.
Harvest 2019
Harvest this year was interesting. Initially we thought that we would have a stellar year as there was no smoke in the vicinity. Unfortunately mother nature decided to add a bit of rain at the end of the season causing the grapes to plump up resulting in lower sugar levels. For us, it was a better year than 2018, as we were not put on fire evacuation notice. Also, the resident bear family moved away and only one resident bear remained. He was quite gentle and ate much less than the family did the previous year, so our yield was better and we had significantly less damage to the vines.
The wines are still great just that the end result will have lower alcohol levels. Still looking forward to the end result. We will have to wait 3 years to really see!
Anita Scorched Earth Winery
The Wines
Scorched Earth Winery Rose´ 2017 ($17.95)
There is an interesting story behind the label for this wine. The vineyard resident Bear family, mother and 2 cubs, really like the Organic Pinot Noir. The working dog and the “bird banger” is usually enough to chase the bears away. Failing that they often prefer to visit the neighbour’s orchard but this year they have a taste for Pinot grapes that could not be ignored! The bears ate almost 5 tons of ripe grapes! So Peter had to share the Rose´ block (clone 667) with the local wildlife. He was able to save enough to hand create 175 cases for 2017.
The saved organically grown Estate Pinot Noir was hand-selected, hand-picked and hand-sorted. The Rose´ is made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes and is not blended with any other grape.
12.2% Alcohol, <2 g/L Residual Sugar. A glorious salmon coloured Rose´ with lovely notes of strawberry, grapefruit, watermelon, and lemon peel. Crisp, lush and completely dry with refreshing acidity. 91 Points.
Scorched Earth Winery PASK Pinot Noir 2015 ($21.95)
The wine label carries the initials of the family under the name of PASK, a play on their initials to suggest: “pass the Pinot Noir for another glass.”
100% organically grown from the estate vineyard, aged 17 months in 30% new French oak. They had experimented with French oak barrel makers for the first three years and have now landed on the barrels that go best with the Estate terroir.
This is a blend of 115, 828 and 777 Pinot clones. Each cluster was hand-selected and inspected 3 times to ensure only the best of the young Pinot Noir grapes made it to the barrel. 95% whole grape fermentation with Burgundian yeast. This medium body Pinot has aromas of violets, black cherries and a hint of vanilla and tobacco. On the palate black cherry, blackberry, red plum and earthiness. Firm tannins and well-balanced acidity lead to a long lingering finish. A fruit-forward Santa Barabara style pinot and an excellent value wine. 400 cases produced. 13.9% Alcohol. 93 Points
The Scorched Earth Pinot Noirs tend to be more oaked than the average BC Pinot Noir and appeal to the more experienced wine drinking segment.
Scorched Earth Winery PASK Merlot 2016 ($22.95)
Premium Merlot grapes were sourced from the Black Sage Bench in Oliver. Hand-selected, hand-picked, hand-sorted and hand destemmed. Aged only in French oak barrels – 50% new. Only 100 cases made.
This is a full-bodied Merlot. Aromas of blackberries, plums, and dark spices. The palate is full and rich with a firm, ripe, dusty tannins and sage, black liquorice and roasted red capsicum to go alongside the cocoa powder and espresso. This is a smoother wine than the 2014 vintage. 91 Points
Scorched Earth Winery Syrah 2016
An elegant medium-bodied elegant Rhone-style wine. Grapes are from a Black Sage Bench vineyard. Medium-bodied with flavours of blackberry, blueberry, chocolate and mint with a hint of white pepper on the smooth finish. 90 Points
Please visit the Scorched Earth Winery website to order any of these excellent BC wines.
Future Plans
The long term plan is to stay a predominantly Pinot Noir winery and to expand total production eventually to 2,500 cases.
Great news – Scorched Earth Winery has now opened a tasting room at the top of their estate vineyard with a fabulous view of Lake Okanagan. The wine tastings will be by appointment only.
Note: The original article was updated on August 2019 to include the Syrah tasting notes and May 2020 to include the Merlot 2016 tasting notes.