Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/688647
{ SOMMjournal.com } 87 consultant, Alain Sutre, who still visits us from France six times a year. Skaha Bluffs is ideal because the lake is shallower than Okanagan Lake to the north, giving us a slightly warmer terroir, yet still cool enough to give our wines a compact, structured feel and pure fruit perfumes with positive herbal qualities—very 'Bordeaux.'" The Painted Rock 2014 Cabernet Franc stood out for its billowing raspberry nose with minty, sweet kitchen herbiness under - pinned by zesty, velvety texturing, although the aptly named Painted Rock 2013 Icon (32% Merlot and 29% Cabernet Franc with Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon) epitomizes the estate with its pervasive cigar box, dried herb, blackcur - rant concentration tucked into a seamless, sumptuous, elegantly balanced, medium- weighted body—again, very "Bordeaux," yet still "Skaha." Lunch at Painted Rock was followed by a Chardonnay Focus tasting presented by seven producers. Val Tait led off with two bottlings of Bench 1775 Winery Chardonnay, describing her citrusy fresh, lean, minerally, vaguely herbal 2014 as "post- modern" in style, and her stainless steel– fermented, flinty, citrusy, mildly leesy 2012 as a wine that has led people to discover that "they really never 'hated' Chardonnay, they just hated the taste of oak." Even more contemporary was the Painted Rock Estate 2014 Chardonnay, which came across as tart, taut, meaty and grippy with Meyer lemon, orange, and a slightly feral, sauvage-like minerality. The citrus and min - eral threads of Okanagan Valley style Chard were also found in a mildly tropical Mission Hill 2013 Lone Pine Chardonnay, a lithe, lilting Burrowing Owl 2013 Chardonnay and a muscular, minerally Meyer Family 2014 Tribute Series Chardonnay. Our next stop was at Checkmate Artisanal Winery, also owned by Mission Hill's von Mandl family. Checkmate is B.C.'s latest temple of Chardonnay—the varietal that originally awakened the wine world to the possibilities of British Columbia in 2004, when a Mission Hill took the title of "Top Chardonnay In the World" at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London. What is remarkable about this project is that it was founded on the prem - ise of taking advantage of global climate change by spotlighting Okanagan Valley's higher latitude terroirs, particularly the higher-elevation Golden Mile Bench VQA (where the Checkmate winery is located) and the adjoining Black Sage Bench (where vineyards are cultivated in meager loamy sand, hundreds of feet deep). GM/winemaker Philip McGahan led us through a 2013 horizontal of the inaugu - ral releases: five Checkmate Artisanal Winery Chardonnays, each focused entirely on single vineyard expression— meaning, barrel or foudre fermentation with minimal influence of oak flavor except to accent the minerality, citrusy acidity and subtle variations of varietal fruit. Says Kristiansen: "All the Checkmates were solid and restrained; long tangy finishes with no sharp edges; pure citrus or apple, some touching upon stone or tropical fruit, and all with lifted, floral, savory notes and pure, elegant minerality . . . I could have spent an hour contemplating those wines!" The meditative mountaintop feel of Checkmate definitely carried over to our next stop on Golden Mile Bench at the neighboring Culmina Family Estate Winery, founded by Don, Elaine and Sara Triggs in 2007. This is another no-stone- left-unturned estate, planted on 1,600- to 2,000-foot elevation slopes replete with seemingly all the white, calcareous stones in the world mixed with sand and silt. Bordeaux viticulturist/winemaker Alain Sutre also consults here, presiding over the micro-block management of primarily red Bordeaux varieties, plus Chardonnay, Syrah and a modest block of Grüner Veltliner on the highest bluff. "Culmina," says Chef Mertz, "is clearly a labor of love by someone who knows what he's doing, after over 35 years in the wine industry." (Triggs was a founder of Canada's enormously successful Jackson- Triggs Winery, now owned by Constellation Brands). The sommeliers could also taste this consummate passion in the Culmina 2013 Checkmate Artisanal Winery GM and winemaker Philip McGahan. A horizontal of the inaugural Chardonnays from Checkmate Artisanal Winery. The Somm Campers at Culmina Family Estate with owner-grower Don Triggs (hat) and daughter Sara Triggs (right of Don Triggs).