Darren and Jane Sawin purchased the Priest Creek Family Estate Vineyard in East Kelowna in 2015. First they tried their hand at producing table grapes but found the picking and field packaging costs were too high for a profitable business. They wanted to share their farming roots with their children. Different from farming in Saskatchewan, they learned as much as they could about viticulture and winemaking. Sharing this journey with their family has been a dream for some time, being able to teach the children about farming and business while creating family memories that will last a lifetime.
The children are hands-on learning about the vines and the business. By consulting with award-winning winemaker Jason Parkes and his team at Jason Parkes Customs, the vision of building a winery on the Estate was born.
The Priest Creek wine labels have a European feel to them with a picture of their home in the label background. They bottled 1,400 cases last spring and added another 200 cases of red wine later in the year.
Priest Creek plans to produce about 2,400 cases of wine in 2021. All the red wines are bottled with 25-year corks to allow for longer storage.
Priest Creek vineyard features 25-year-old Gewurztraminer vines. For the balance of the Estate, the family worked hard to change out the table grape crop to wine grapes in 2018 and 2019. There is a combination of three clones ( 828, 667 and 115) of Pinot Noir. Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay have also been planted and the Estate and is now in full production. The vineyard is well situated on the top of the hill. The land receives plenty and sun and with no frost-prone low spots.
The Winemakers
Darren is learning the art of winemaking with the team at Jason Parkes Customs and through courses at Washington State University.
The non-interventionist techniques behind these award-winning wines include marginal and mild pressing, using specialized yeasts, profuse and manual punching of musts and employing 100% gravity flow. Jason Parkes Customs team’s strong work ethic and dedication to producing high-quality wines that fit perfectly within the portfolio designed for Priest Creek Family Estate winery
The Wines
Priest Creek ‘Decota’ 2019 ($19)
A fabulous frizzante off-dry wine for a hot summer day. Decota is a bubbly celebration of their grand opening and of the hard work shared by their family last year. Decota is a unique blend that the winemaker won’t reveal. I detected a hint of Gewurztraminer!
The wine is a beautiful golden colour and has a lovely floral aroma with some pear notes. Flavours of ripe apple and pear and only 10.4% alcohol. 89 Points
Priest Creek Pinot Gris 2019 ($23)
The Pinot Gris underwent Malolactic fermentation. The dry white is a medium-bodied wine with a crisp refreshing taste bringing forward flavours of citrus, pear, ripe apple and butterscotch. 88 points
This wine is delicious to sip alone. It can be enjoyed with fish and chicken, cream sauces, veal, pork and lamb dishes.
Priest Creek Pinot Noir 2018 ($36)
The 2018 Pinot Noir is aged in 500 litres French Oak Puncheons for 14 months. The Pinot Noir has the aromas of raspberry and violets. The fruit-forward wine stimulates your palate with strawberry, cherry, raspberry and blackberry and toasty oak and peppery notes on the smooth finish. This is a wine that will cellar beautifully for the future. 90 points
The Pinot will pair well with a wide range of foods – salmon, chicken, pasta, duck casserole or even stews.
Priest Creek Merlot 2016 ($34)
The grapes are a small reserve lot from the Southern Okanagan. Aged for three and a half years in French Oak, with about 40% new oak. A deep red garnet colour. Lovely aroma of black fruit. Flavours of blackberry jam, black plum, blackcurrant and dark chocolate. The ripe fruit delivers smooth tannins with layers of complexity and depth and a long finish. 14% Alcohol. 91 Points
Priest Creek Cabernet Franc 2016 ($33)
Also aged for three and a half years in French Oak and 40% new oak. The grapes are from the same vineyard as the merlot. The medium-bodied Cabernet Franc opens with a deep and complex nose of black and red berry fruit, earth, toasty vanilla and savoury notes. Flavours of raspberry, strawberry, red plum, green bell pepper, dark chocolate and a long earthy finish. 15.2% Alcohol. 90 Points
For the complete portfolio of Priest Creek Family Estate Wines please visit the winery website.
Future Plans
For the 2021 releases, Priest Creek will be adding Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Syrah, Pinot Noir based Rose´ and the new Merlot “Border Block 2018” to their wine portfolio.
They plan to continue to make 100 to 150 case small lots until they can develop a larger customer base. During the summer of 2021, they plan to expand their winery facilities with an elaborate barrel room and a second tasting area with a basement cellar room where you can have a sit-down wine pairing.
The wine touring companies would like to slow down the number of wineries visited on each tour to 3 or 4 and have a more relaxed visit. We will have a permanent food truck at the winery 7 days a week with a menu that complements our wines. When the wine cellar is completed we will provide a 40 to 60-minute wine experience with a barrel tasting and make the tour a better adventure.
In the next 5 years, we would like to grow to 5,000 – 6,000 cases. Also to create special wines so when you take wine to a dinner party you are the only one that has bought our wine.
Darren Sawin