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Renaissance Pinot Noir wins Double Gold at All Canadian Wine Championships - June 1/08
Stag's Hollow captured the top award for Pinot Noir at the 2008 All Canadian Wine Championships in May. The 2006 Renaissance Pinot Noir was named best in class of Pinot Noirs over $20 and given a Double Gold Medal!
As our regular Pinot Noir customers know, it has been awhile since we made this wine. To be exact, our last Renaissance Pinot Noir was the 2002 vintage. We have always maintained that we would only put a Renaissance label on a wine we felt deserved to have one so we were extremely happy and proud to hear the 2006 picked up this award before it was actually released!
Only 120 cases of this wine were made and are available now in our wineshop or through our website.
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Futures - Renaissance Merlot 2006 - April 21, 2008
Available May 1, 2008
This year we will be selling futures on only our Renaissance Merlot which will again be very limited. Last year the 2005 sold out during our Futures offering so don’t wait until the end to order this year!
AS in most of our past vintages, this wine is Estate grown. It has been aged in both American and French barrels for 20 months. A big, full-bodied wine, it is a deep violet color showing aromas of blackberry, blueberry, cherry and anise. It is rich and concentrated with beautifully integrated tannins. Finishing with black currant, mocha, and cloves, the flavours linger long after you have taken your last sip! As always, this wine is drinkable now with food but will cellar nicely over the next 5-7 years.
Tastings for the 2006 Renaissance Merlot will occur during the Spring Wine Festival and then long weekends until the summer. During the summer they are available most days.
The price remains unchanged from past vintages at $306.00/case. Futures can be purchased in the wineshop or ordered on our website.
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Spring Newsletter - 2008 - April 21, 2008
Great Start to 2008
Last year was an interesting year for our whites. Our Tragically Vidal sold out on the July long weekend. A record that will easily be broken this year. Our 2006 Sauvignon Blanc was released this same weekend, more than two months later than usual due to its misbehaviour in the cellar. This same Sauvignon Blanc went on to be named the best Sauvignon Blanc in Canada for 2007 at the Canadian Wine Awards and was also in the running for the Best White Wine of the Year. Our patience in the cellar was well worth it but it set our whole schedule off.
This year is a totally different story. Our 2007 Sauvignon Blanc and 2006 Chardonnay are bottled and ready to go and our 2007 Tragically Vidal is already half sold out!
Tragically Vidal 2007
The Tragically Vidal continues to live up to its name. Last year, the deer discovered if they closed their eyes and charged our deer fence, they could break through with few cuts and bruises. As a result, it was impossible to keep them out of the vineyard when the grapes were getting ripe. The deer ended up eating about half of our Vidal crop, a grape they have normally spit out and bypassed. We can only guess that the grapes were really tasty! The bad news is that there is even less Tragically Vidal than last year. We tried our best to increase our volume a bit by adding some Sauvignon Blanc to it. Sauv Blanc has very similar characteristics to the Vidal and the blend proved very successful. This wine still has its beautiful nose and fruit basket of flavours and now also a nice crisp finish.
Sauvignon Blanc 2007
This quintessential Sauvignon Blanc is perhaps the finest we have done…..that is maybe next to the 2006 which as we said went on to win best Sauvignon Blanc in Canada at the Canadian Wine Awards (still have a few cases). Like prior vintages, I would describe this style as a gentler version of a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. It shows gooseberry, pink grapefruit, a touch of grassiness and that great Sauvignon Blanc zing, without being shrill. It is delicious with shell fish and seafood. The 2007 Sauvignon Blanc is available for purchase through our website now or on May 1 during the Spring Wine Festival. For any who did not have a chance to try our 2006 vintage, we have a limited number of cases left. Sauvignon Blanc is a great summer wine….crisp and refreshing and suitable to most lighter meals that we tend to have when it gets hot outside!(which hopefully is soon…… as I look at it snowing out my window in the middle of April!
New Reds at Stag’s Hollow
Over the past few years we have been adding and/or changing the mix of reds in our portfolio. In 2006 a long time grower, who supplies our outstanding Sauvignon Blanc, offered us all the Cabernet Sauvignon he grows. We enthusiastically grabbed this opportunity. Our first blend with this Cab Sauvignon is being released in May. Look for other blends in the future.
In addition, we purchase grapes in the Similkameen, where there can be significant differences in the flavour profiles of the same varietals that we grow in the Okanagan. In years where we feel these differences deserve to be showcased, as wines on their own, we will bottle them as vineyard designates often made in small lots. As a result, there could be different wines each vintage for youto experience.
2005 Stag’s Hollow Vineyard Merlot an elegant, finally structured and complex wine, aged primarily in French Oak. This Merlot has smooth silky tannins which make it very drinkable now. Only 50 cases left.
2005 Harmony Vineyard Merlot- aged primarily in American Oak, this wine feels full on the palate. Fruit is more integrated and complex with a smoky, soft finish. Only 140 cases made.
2006 Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot a lively fruit forward wine, it is a blend of 60% Cab Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 10% Gamay. A beautiful bouquet of blackberry, blueberry and cherry, these flavours follow through on the palate and then finish smooth and soft. A great summer red to open when barbecuing.
Futures – 2006 Renaissance Merlot
Available May 1, 2008
This year we will be selling futures on only our Renaissance Merlot which will again be very limited. Last year the 2005 sold out during our Futures offering so don’t wait until the end to order this year!
AS in most of our past vintages, this wine is Estate grown. It has been aged in both American and French barrels for 20 months. A big, full-bodied wine, it is a deep violet color showing aromas of blackberry, blueberry, cherry and anise. It is rich and concentrated with beautifully integrated tannins. Finishing withblack currant, mocha, and cloves, the flavours linger long after you have taken your last sip! As always, this wine is drinkable now with food but will cellar nicely over the next 5-7 years.
Tastings for the 2006 Renaissance Merlot will be during the Spring Wine Festival and then long weekends until the summer. During the summer they are available most days.
The price remains unchanged from past vintages at $306.00/case. Futures can be purchased in the wineshop or ordered on our website at stagsholllowwinery.com
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2006 Sauvignon Blanc contender for 2007 White WIne of the Year - Dec 1/07
We were proud to find out that in the Dec/ Jan edition of Wine Access, our 2006 Sauvignon Blanc was one of the 10 wines that qualified for White WIne of the year. Our Sauvignon Blanc was the top wine in its class, described as a rich, generous, ripe green melon- flavoured wine.
Our regular customers of this wine will remember our frustration earlier in the year when this wine was not cooperating in the cellar. We were adamant that we would not release it until we felt it was ready despite the huge early demand that we had. It finally hit our shelf on July 1. We were extremely happy with the wine at release and the results at this competition confirm that our patience was worth it.
In early December this wine was also featured on All Points West with Troy Townsin on CBC radio. He suggested if you like New Zealand style Sauvignon Blancs, this one is worth a try. A great wine with turkey, this would be a great addition to your table at Christmas.
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Two Competitions - Five Medals! - October 9/07
Two major competitions announced their awards last week. We received 5 medals in these two competitions . Except for the Sauvignon Blanc, all wines went into bottle the week they were shipped to competition so we are extremely happy with these results!
Okanagan Wine Festival
Silver Medal - 2005 Merlot - Stag's Hollow Vineyard
Silver Medal - 2005 Renaissance Meritage
Canadian Wine Awards
Silver Medal - 2006 Sauvignon Blanc
Bronze Medal - 2005 Renaissance Merlot
Bronze Medal - 2005 Renaissance Meritage
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2007 Fall Newsletter - September/07
A Newsletter at last!
We have had a very busy season this year. Like many businesses in British Columbia, employees have been at a premium, so as a result, Larry and I have worn more hats than usual. I am afraid our newsletter hat got lost! Harvest 2005 and 2006 were great years and and we are hours away from starting our harvest for 2007. The 2007 season has been a wonderful growing year as well so I think everyone can look forward to another wonderful vintage. September has provided exactly the type of weather that everyone needs to finish off their grapes.
Simply Pink – A New Rose? with Attitude!
We have a new Rose? this year but not just your ordinary Rose?. This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Gamay Noir and Chardonnay. It has been made in both traditonal ways. One by doing what is called a bleed on the red grapes and the other by blending red and white. As a result we have created a more complex and sophisticated wine. With raspberries and strawberries on the nose and palete it is a very refreshing wine served chilled. For something different, try this wine at Thanksgiving or Christmas.....it should be a wonderful match!
Pray for a Huge Vidal Crop!
Those who were to our wineshop after the July long weekend, know, that we were sold out of our Tragically Vidal. The Vidal was sold only through ourwine shop this year with limits on purchases at the end and despite that, we still sold out early! We are expecting a larger crop this year and should therefore have more wine for next year. We have started a list for anyone who would like to buy acase or more next year. As I did this year, I will notify everyone on the list via email when it is ready and orders can be placed so that there are no disappointments. Please email us if you would like to add your name to this list.
Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Our Sauvignon Blanc got off to a later start this year however it worked out great in the wineshop. As we sold out of the Tragically Vidal, the Sauvignon Blanc became available. Our 2006 Sauvignon Blanc again has its incredibly intense citrus and grapefruit nose. Each year we aim for a crisp, fruit forward refreshing wine with good acidity to complement seafood, oysters and creamy dishes. This year we detect a bit more gooseberry on the palate which is very characteristic of Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand. As this wine was released late June, we will still have this available through the Wine Festival for you to taste.
2005 Red Wine Releases
2005 Renaissance Meritage - Our second release of our Meritage is 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc and 40% Merlot.You’ll get fine wine value. Thef lavours of each grape complement each other in this traditional blend.Typical of our style is to make the wine approachable at release, but a year ( not a decade!)or two will bring the best out, and it is rare that we have to use a fining agent to achieve this.
2005 Pinot Noir – a dark colored Pinot, it is full of fruit with great structure and smooth tannins. Larryis proud of this one this year as it is elegant, yet complex and definitely worthy of a few years of aging. We made 260 cases and only 90 remain so if you have enjoyed our Pinot Noir in the past don’t miss this one.
New this year are two vineyard designate Merlots. One is from our vineyard in Okanagan Falls and the other from a vineyard in the Similkameen. These Merlots are very different and distinct.
2005 Stag’s Hollow Merlot - elegant in the extreme! Silky, full-bodied and complex but not overbearing. Violet,blackberry, cherries, plum and our vineyard trade mark of sage without any over bearing oak, although aged for 20 months in primarily French barrels. Light cocoa finish with fine tannins. Beautiful to drink soon, but a year or two will be far more rewarding
2005 Harmony Vineyards Merlot –bold in the extreme! Okay, over stated just a tad! A very different Merlot from the Stag’s Hollow Vineyard Merlot, this is a great example of the impact terroir has, as winemaking was very similar for these two Merlots. This wine is more up front and fat on the palate . Rich blackberry, cherries and plum dominate with a herbal note to finish. Great complexity,finishing with soft tannins. Like the Stag’s Hollow Merlot, it is very drinkable now but will be more enjoyable with some time in your cellar.
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2005 Renaissance Futures Available for Purchase - June 1, 2007
This year we will be offering Futures on both our Renaissance Merlot and Renaissance Meritage. They are available individually or as a mixed case of six each. The offering is as follows:
RENAISSANCE MERLOT
Release price - $30.00
Futures Price - $306.00/case
Another Renaissance quality vintage, unfortunately of limited quantity. Only 100 cases will be made this year . A bouquet of cassis, blueberry, raspberry and coffee, these flavours follow through on the palate. A bit jammy it finishes with dark chocolate and silky smooth tannins. We expect this wine to age beautifully over the next 3 to 5 years.
RENAISSANCE MERITAGE
Release price - $35.00
Futures Price - $357.00/case
Our blend this year is 40% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc. A beautiful, complex wine find blackberry, dark cherry and black current weaving through the layers both in the bouquet and on the palate. There is a rich and distinct taste of fresh, sweet jam that awakens your mid-palate. The finish shows distinct cocoa or dark chocolate with nice soft tannins. As in the Renaissance Merlot, the tannins are soft and smooth for such a young wine.
MIXED CASE
6 Renaissance Merlot/ 6 Renaissance Meritage
Futures Price - $335.00/case
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Tragically Vidal Sold Out - July 3, 2007
Tragically.....it is gone! AS expected we were unable to keep this wine around into the summer. Initially at release I had hoped to have it until mid to late July however a month after release it was clear we would not make it. With restrictions on bottles purchased and no tasting, we barely made it to July! We apologize to those who had not been by yet.
On the positive side, we have a new wine....Simply Pink.....that is a nice refreshing summer wine. Not to be likened to Baby Duck that we all try to forget, this is a beautiful dry Rose that is blend of many grapes. This mixture has made for a more complex Rose than you will usually find. It has a nice bouquet of strawberries, raspberries and cranberries which carries through on the palate and then it finishes crisp and clean. It is a great match to fish and seafood especially salmon.
Our 2006 Sauvignon Blanc will also be available for tasting throughout the summer. Every year, we strive to build this wine to be a good alternative to a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and this year after comparative tastings, it seems pretty close! To get there, we have left the wine with a bit more acidity so it is now very crisp and refreshing.
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Georgia Straight in Vancouver picks Renaissance Merlot in top 12 wines of 2006 - January 15, 2007
In his column titled 'Best wines of the year found close to home' dated January 11, 2007, Jurgen Gothe picked our 2003 Renaissance Merlot as one of his top choices for 2006. His discription was as follows:
STAG’S HOLLOW RENAISSANCE MERLOT 2003 ($27.90) This blend of different Merlots from the winery’s various vineyards, as well as some Similkameen grapes, makes a huge fruit-basket wine of major depth—all those berries and lots of cocoa and spice. If you can still find some—doubtful—hold on for a year or two just to see. Otherwise, the next vintage follows in these flavourful footsteps.
We are sold out of the 2003 Renaissance Merlot but our 2004 is still available. The 2004 Renaissance Merlot recently picked up a Silver Medal at the Canadian Wine Awards.
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2004 Renaissance Merlot wins Silver at Canadian Wine Awards - October 23, 2006
Our 2004 Renaissance Merlot picked up a Silver medal at the Canadian Wine Awards. As we had mentioned earlier in the year during our Futures program, when our Merlots were still in barrel, we thought our Merlots from this vintage would be similiar in quality to our best Merlots from 1999. Our 1999 Renaissance Merlot also won a silver medal! The 2004 is very rich in fruit, especially blackbery and plum with smooth tannins and a chocolate finish.
We have also just released our 2004 Merlot this week. It is full of fruit but softer and more drinkable today. It is already proving to be very popular with the restaurants in Vancouver and will not be around for long!
Both wines are available at the winery or on our website.
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Renaissance Meritage wins Silver at Okanagan Wine Festival - October 6, 2006
Our first vintage of our Bordeaux blend won a Silver Medal at the Okanagan Wine Festival! A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc this wine is a beautiful, complex wine with great fruit on the nose and palate. This wine has lots going on as you taste and one discovers new layers and flavours as you continue to sip. A very drinkable wine despite its young age that will continue to improve over the next few years.
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Stag's Hollow Spring Newletter - May 24, 2006
Two Gold Medals at the All Canadian Championships – May 2006
This Spring has been a busy one at Stag’s Hollow with new Spring releases,the Spring Wine Festival, a new building, planting of the Hollow and the All Canadian Championships. The Spring Wine Festival continues to grow and that was evident in our wine shop.
As is typical in the Spring, our first releases were the 2005 Tragically Vidal and 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. What wasn’t typical for us, was entering them into a competition so soon after bottling. We usually like to wait until later in the summer to give the wines a chance to settle. So it was shocking to learn that both the Tragically Vidal and the Sauvignon Blanc won GOLD at the All Canadian Wine Championships in May!
Many of you are familiar with our Tragically Vidal and I think most will agree that we are are getting pretty good at consistency with this wine. Again, this year, it has a wonderful tropical nose which continues on the palate ending with a bit of spiciness . It remains a wonderful Summer sipper!
Our Sauvignon Blanc continues to gain in popularity with it’s clean, crisp mouth feel and this year, it has an even more intense nose of citrus and grapefruit. The nose alone makes you want to buy this wine! Sales during the Spring Wine Festival of the Sauvignon Blanc were brisk. It would appear that there are more people starting to enjoy this great grape. If you enjoyed this wine from us last year, we recommend you get it early as now with a gold medal, we are sure to sell out of it again before the end of the summer.
Landscape Changes at Stag’s Hollow
If you were by the winery in the Fall you may have noticed some construction at the V in our Hollow. If not, you will be in for a big surprise when you visit this year. We have spent the winter under construction on a new winery building. Upon completion, this building will house our production facilities as well as our wine shop. We intend to move the cellar over to our new building over the next few months. We are looking to next year before the wine shop moves. After all, we just finished the wine shop in our current location a year ago! I have refused to move this time until the wine shop is fully complete!
Our new building has over 6000 sq feet of floor space so we expect to have room for all our barrels for a few years now! Over the next few years we intend to increase our production by about 1000 cases, but still remain small at about 4500 cases.
Our new building was built to be energy efficient, utilizing ground source energy to heat and cool the facility. In May 2006, before completion of our building, we were recognized by Natural Resources Canada as an Industrial Energy Innovator for our voluntary commitment to promoting energy-efficient industrial practices.
Tofino Food and Wine Festival – June 2-4, 2006
This year is the fourth year for this little Festival held in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Tofino in June is a wonderful place to be. The weather is Spring like, the crowds of people are minimal, and the food is exceptional. It is a quiet place that seems to be at the end of the Earth as the road ends there. Tofino is a place to spend a quiet weekend walking on the beach, checking out tidal pools, surfing, fishing or just relaxing! In the evening treat yourself to a meal in one of many exceptional restaurants. There aren’t many small places with so many great restaurants.
The Food and Wine Festival in Tofino is one of the best festivals we attend as a winery. The food at the garden party is provided by most of the restaurants in Tofino. They all try to outdo each other so the consumer is treated to some incredible tapas style appetizers.
Wineries and restaurants are spread out through the Botanical Gardens so one can wander at will, tasting and eating at a leisurely pace. If the weather cooperates, it is hard to find a better place to be on a Saturday afternoon.
On Friday evening, we will be presenting our wines at the Schooner Restaurant with a special sampling of oysters and crab in their new Upstairs lounge. Tickets are limited and can be purchased by calling 250-725-3664. On Saturday evening we will be at Shelter who will be barbecuing an array of foods to be paired with our wines. Reservations can be made by calling Shelter at 250-725-3353.
Lastly, on Monday, June 5, we will be doing a winemakers dinner at the Wesley Street Café in Nanaimo. Reservations are required through the Wesley Street Café at 250 -753-6059. We expect to be well fed by the time we get back to Okanagan Falls!
Planting the Hollow
Well, we finally decided it was time to plant the Hollow. It has always been our plan to do this but every year we just seemed to run out of time and we had never made a definite decision on which grape or grapes would work best. Well, we finally made that decision over the winter and committed ourselves to getting started. With the new building consuming so much of our time, we are now wondering what we were thinking!
The Hollow is no easy undertaking as it is very steep and it is a gravel pit. A shovel does not even dent the surface! It has been a long and difficult job but as we write this, the first plants are being planted. It is exciting as we are planting Temprinillo, a red grape common to Spain. According to Jancis Robinson, this grape is Spain’s answer to Cabernet Sauvignon and is the grape ‘that puts some spine’ into so many Spanish reds. To date, this grape is scarce in the Okanagan. We are looking forward to adding this unique red to our portfolio and discovering how it adapts to our Okanagan climate. As it thrives in the higher Atlantic-influenced zones of Spain, we expect it to adjust well to our climate.
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Stag's Hollow wins Gold on both new Spring Releases - May 2006 - May 19, 2006
We had a great start to the season with both of our new Spring Releases winning gold at the All Canadian Championships in May.
2005 Sauvignon Blanc - an incredibly intense nose of citrus and grapefruit with these flavours following through on the palate. It is crisp and clean and very refreshing for Summer.
2005 Tragically Vidal - our Summer wineshop favorite! Similiar to previous years, this wine has a wonderful tropical nose with pineapple and tropical flavours which follow and last long on the finish.
Both these wines sold out last year before the end of the season so don't wait!
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Pocket Wineries produce rocket reds - Wine review in Georgia Strait, Vancouver by jurgen gothe - April 13, 2006
'Stag's Hollow 2003 Renaissance Merlot($27.90) demands respect right off the top. Because it has nearly 15% alcohol, you'd expect it to have a few spikes, but its just as round and pillowy as can be-more proof that Merlot is something we are really getting good at on B.C.'s sunnier slopes. It's a blend of different Merlots from Stag's Hollow estate vineyards as well as Harmony-One in the Similkameen. The fruit basket is in this stunning wine of great depth and richness: "blueberry, blackberry and plum" (don't recall getting noticeable blueberry flavours in a Merlot before, but they're certainly abundant here), as well as nuances of cocoa and spice'--back label commentators are getting good at the game of verbalizing elusive flavour components. When they say "three to five years", I think they are being modest: there's a decade's worth of lovely life in this bottle.'
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Stag's Hollow wins Four Medals at Okanagan Wine Festival - October 12, 2004
After a very busy year, we were rewarded with 4 medals at the Okanagan Wine Festival in Penticton. Four wines were entered into the competition and four medals were received so we were extremely pleased. Our medals are listed below.
Silver Medals
2002 Renaissance Merlot
2002 Renaissance Pinot Noir
2003 Sauvignon Blanc
Bronze Medal
2003 Simply Noir
All above reds were released in the Fall and have good availability however the Sauvignon Blanc is limited.
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