Four Shadows Vineyard & Winery is located on Upper Bench Road on the Naramata Bench. The new tasting room opened in the spring of 2019 and we enjoyed each new vintage since then.
Before going to the tasting notes for the four new wines here are Wilbert Borren’s comments on the challenges of the 2021 growing season and harvest.
Harvest 2021
“As this year’s harvest and crush draw to a close, we are reflecting on another unique year for our estate vineyard at the southern end of the Naramata Bench. We found the first signs of bud break on April 28th, about a week ahead of last year, followed by flowering in early June. Thankfully flowering was nearly complete with most berries set before the first heatwave arrived in late June, as we experienced up to 46-degree temperatures in our vineyard. Throughout the following periods of sustained heat, drought and smoke, our plants incredibly maintained their health with very little disease pressure throughout the entire season.
Fortunately, the worst of the smoke exposure occurred before veraison, so we believe very little uptake by the grapes occurred. To cope with the heat, the plants retained more water in their roots/trunks than usual, resulting in a more manageable canopy as well as smaller berries which ultimately resulted in lower yields this year.
The low yield, especially in our upper block of Riesling, allowed the crop to ripen quickly and we saw very high Brix while grapes retained high acid levels. While yields were down, we found the amazing quality and intensely concentrated wines coming from the smaller berries. Harvest was complete on September 30th, several weeks earlier than average, with the assistance of our harvest crew of friends, family, neighbours and casual labourers. We’re now wrapping up fermentation in the cellar, getting reds into barrels and looking forward to a little extra time with family this autumn.”
Wilbert Borren | Four Shadows Vineyard & Winery
The Wines
Four Shadows 2021 Classic Riesling ($23.99)
13.6% Alcohol is higher than in previous years due to the extreme summer heat.
A lovely pale straw colour. Aromas of white peach and stone fruit. Flavours of ripe apricots, mango, green apple, pear, honeycomb, lemon and key lime pie.
The wine has a vibrant crisp mouthfeel. The perfect off-dry style Riesling with high acidity and sweetness in natural balance.
This is the flagship wine at Four Shadows. 92 Points.
Four Shadows Pinot Noir 2019 ($28.99)
14.1 % alcohol and barrel-aged. Aromas of cherries, raspberry and a hint of violets and herbs. On the palate, cherries, and cranberries with mushroom and earthy notes. A well-balanced medium-bodied wine with smooth tannins and a long finish. 91 Points.
Paired beautifully with BBQ Salmon and “fresh from our garden” Salad.
Four Shadows Merlot 2019 ($24.99)
14.5 % alcohol. Aromas of black fruit. A full-bodied Merlot with flavours of black currants, blackberries, plum and dark chocolate with a hint of leather and pepper. Smooth ripe tannins with a lengthy finish. Enjoy with your favourite BBQ beef. 91 Points
Bronze Medal winner at 2022 All Canadian Wine Championships.
Four Shadows Zweigelt 2020 ($23.99)
“It’s been fun to add the Zweigelt to our portfolio and it has been so well received. A beautiful, jammy, low tannins, easy-drinking, red summer wine.
I keep thinking back to when we bought this property and had a hard time selling our Zweigelt grapes, to the point that we considered taking them out and replace with a different variety until it was brought to our attention that the Chaberton Winery in Langley was looking to buy more Zweigelt grapes. Luckily none of the Zweigelt vines were replaced and now we keep a small portion of the grapes to make our own Zweigelt wine. (115 cases of 2020 Zweigelt) while the rest is still being sold.”
Joka Borren
A light fruit-forward, easy drink red. Aromas of cherries, black fruit and floral notes. On the palate, the wine is juicy and bright with cherry and cassis flavour, dark chocolate and a hint of white pepper. Medium acidity and long finish. 90 Points.
Bronze Medal winner at 2022 All Canadian Wine Championships.
Here is the link to purchase Four Shadows wines and information on the previous releases – 2021, 2020 and 2019.
Future Plans
“We’re very fortunate to have all of our last year’s staff returning again this year and it’s a great team to be working with. Our tasting room is open 7 days a week. We take online reservations and have room for walk-ins.
This week some of the equipment for our newly built crush pad arrived. We are very thankful to Tightrope Winery and Roche Winery for their help over the last 5 years and are now looking forward to doing our own processing here on site.”
Joka Borren
