Monte Creek wines have a new look that captures the nature of the winery, environmental conditions, and processes. Read about the rebrand and tasting notes for the 2018 vintage.
The New Look
Wine lovers will soon discover Monte Creek wines with a new look, as the winery rolls out updated packaging with a modernized logo and aesthetic. The fresh branding better reflects the team’s commitments to quality, ongoing innovation, and sustainable practices that have been Monte Creek Winery’s core values from the start.
“We felt that our brand needed an update to better align with our vision. Over the last eight years, we’ve invested our time and resources into creating a motivated, innovative, and sustainable operation, and the look we had was not reflecting this anymore. We are ready for wine lovers to understand who we are both in the bottle and on the shelf: a premium product that is delicious and sustainable.”
Erik Fisher, general manager at Monte Creek Winery.
The new look came to life when working with designer Adrienne Van Haeren of Signify Design. The design conveys a sense of straightforward authenticity in describing the nature of the winery, environmental conditions, and processes.
The center of the new logo illustrates an M, symbolic of both Monte Creek and the rows of the vineyards. The C on the bottom incorporates the C from Monte Creek and is also symbolic of the ancient lake that formed the terroir. The negative space within the monogram that forms a V, signifies the Thompson Valley. The monogram resembles a thumbprint, to reflect the winery team’s intentional handcrafted process.
To complete the rebrand, Monte Creek’s wines are now divided into Ancient Waters, Living Land, and Pioneer series.
Ancient Waters
The Ancient Waters series refers to the historical geological events that formed the land and prized soils. The first release under this new label is the 2019 Ancient Waters Chardonnay, which is already receiving early praise, including Platinum at the 2021 WineAlign Awards, Double Gold at the 2021 All Canadian Wine Championships and 90 Points from the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards. Other wines to look out for in this series are Riesling, Rosé, and Pinot Noir.
Living Land
The Living Land series is a celebration of the idea that great wines only come from balanced vines and earth that is truly alive and thriving. It speaks to the idea that to grow incredible fruit, you must promote and maintain an environment that is healthy and working with nature, not against it.
The 2020 Living Land Rosé and 2020 Living Land Sparkling Rosé are current examples from this series. The Rosé was awarded a Double Gold at the 2021 All Canadian Wine Championships and the Sparkling Rosé Gold at the 2021 BC Lieutenant Governor’s Awards. The Living Land series also features La Crescent, Chardonnay, Sparkling, Rosé, Piquette, Pinot Noir, Foch, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Merlot.
Pioneer Series
The Pioneer series makes a nod to the history of the area, as it relates to pioneers, frontiersmen, and prospectors – even train robbers like Bill Miner – as they sought their fortunes in the area that is now the home to Monte Creek Winery. Pursuing viticulture in the Thompson Valley embodies the pioneering spirit as well.
“We are at the boundary of cool climate viticulture and it is when wineries push boundaries that exciting, unique, and delicious wines are made.”
Galen Barnhardt
The Pioneer series includes the popular Hands Up White and Hands Up Red blends.
Sustainability is one of the core values at Monte Creek Winery. The team believes in and practices regenerative agriculture, a practice that includes the rehabilitation and conservation of the ecosystem. Examples of the winery’s techniques include a compost program and using cover crop blends with Indigenous species. The winery website has more details for those who wish to learn more about the team’s projects.
The vineyards are farmed organically with permaculture in mind. The team utilizes “chicken tractors” in the vineyard (allowing chickens to graze row by row). Also, a Certified Salmon-Safe farm, certified for its practices that protect and enhance salmon health and habitat through transformative land and water management practices.
Sustainable Practices
Monte Creek Winery’s sustainable practices don’t stop in the vineyards. The onsite Terrace restaurant is 100% OceanWiseTM. The winery team has employed several initiatives that reduce energy consumption and waste, all geared to minimizing the winery’s carbon footprint. Examples of these initiatives include using pigs to eat food scraps from the kitchen, and growing produce that’s used in both restaurant dishes and drinks.
Through its sustainable practices, high-quality wines, and guest visits, the winery’s mission is to become the best wine experience in British Columbia. This experience starts the moment consumers see the packaging on the bottles, which now better aligns with the winery’s values of quality, innovation and sustainability.
The winery invites people to tag them on social media at @montecreekwinery to share their thoughts on the new look. The wines can be ordered by visiting montecreekwinery.com or at select stores throughout British Columbia.
Here is a trio of Monte Creek wines tasted last year.
The Wines
Monte Creek Ranch Riesling 2018 (Sold Out)
Alcohol 11.7%, RS 8.9 gm/ L, pH 2.98, TA 10.1 gm/L.
Fermented in stainless steel to highlight varietal character. Half of the blend was fermented using indigenous yeast and the other half was inoculated with cold-tolerant yeast and fermented as low as 10 C to extend fermentation and retain fresh fruit flavour.
An elegant Trocken-style Riesling. Wonderful aromas lemon zest and both citrus and apple blossoms. Flavours of Meyer lemon, key lime, a bushel of green apples, Anjou pear and flint. This is a crisp and intense riesling. The high acid level is perfectly balanced and is a very food-friendly wine. 91 Points.
Gold Medal winner at 2020 All Canadian Wine Championship, 2019 Pacific Rim Wine Competition and 2019 Okanagan Wine Festival Best of Varietal Awards. Silver medal winner at 2019 WineAlign, 2019 InterVin and 2019 Lieutenant Governor’s Awards.
Monte Creek Ranch Chardonnay 2018 ($19.99)
Alcohol 13.7%, RS 1.8 gm/ L, pH 3.44, TA 6.0 gm/L.
The Chardonnay was fermented for 9 months in French oak.
True lemon in colour. This is a dry medium-bodied Chardonnay. Aromas of citrus, bread dough with a touch of toasted oak and vanilla.
On the palate, pineapple, lemon, peach, caramel, and a hint of honey. Nicely balanced acidity with a rich smooth mouthfeel. 90 Points.
Monte Creek Winery was honoured with a silver medal for the 2017 Chardonnay Reserve through the international wine competition, Chardonnay du Monde®. The 2018 vintage won Gold 2020 All Canadian Wine Championships and Silver 2019 Lieutenant Governor’s Awards.
Monte Creek Ranch Sparkling Rosé Reserve 2018 (Sold Out)
Alcohol 11.4%, RS 20.5 gm/ L, pH 3.2, TA 11 gm/L.
The Sparkling Rosé is 100%, Marquette. This red wine grape with the French name is a new world creation that ripens early and is well suited to cooler climates. The grandchild of Pinot Noir, it is noted for red berry and spice characteristics as well as its adaptability to colder winter climates. Pronounced red berry fruit – ripe strawberry, red currant on the nose, accented by strawberry leaf, strawberry jam and a hint of spice.
This is the perfect patio sipper. A vibrant deep orange salmon colour. When you pop the cork and pour it into your glass there are major effervescent bubbles.
Aromas of wild strawberries and Mandarin orange. Ripe strawberry with fruit juice, jam, orange and leaf comes through clearly on the palate, alongside some spice notes. The bubbles and juicy acidity keep the wine in balance. 90 Points
Perfect alongside a salad with strawberry and goat cheese. Also a great foil to quiche and other hard-to-pair brunch dishes with both sweet and savoury components.
You can visit the Monte Creek Ranch Winery website to purchase the complete portfolio of BC wines here.
For the tasting notes on previous Monte Creek Ranch Wines see Monte Creek Ranch 2018 Award-Winning Wines and Monte Creek Ranch 2017 New Releases.
Gravity Flow Production facility
Gravity flow provides a gentler, less interventionist approach to winemaking—as opposed to moving the wine around with pumps and hoses. Too much force or rough handling can yield too much tannin and oxidization.
“The new production facility at Monte Creek Winery is designed from the ground up with sustainability in mind. It starts with a gravity flow philosophy, where levels of production cascade down the hill to allow natural forces to move the wine, rather than pumps. The building is earth-sheltered to maximize natural earth cooling, like a cave, and this is augmented by drawing all ventilation air through a 50 m. long earth tube, which pre-tempers the air to a constant temperature in all seasons.
The building is designed to operate passively for most of the year, with open windows at a high level to create natural convection, and flood the workspaces with diffused natural light. The heating and mechanical systems are ultra-efficient, and what little energy input they demand will eventually be provided by solar panels mounted above the crush pad. Much like the wine that is produced inside, the building harvests the natural inputs of the sun and the earth.”
Erik Fisher, General Manager
With that being said, we can’t wait to launch this 18,000 sq ft Gravity Flow Production Facility to the Thompson Valley here in Kamloops, BC, where we will be able to produce roughly 50,000 cases with both buildings combined.
Galen Barnhardt, Wine Maker