Stag's Hollow Winery News

12 Wines of Christmas...Wine #7 revealed

The 7th wine of our 12 Wines of Christmas is our newly-released 2019 Renaissance Merlot. Whether a roast beef, roast lamb or a pan of roasted root veggies, our Renaissance Merlot will pair beautifully. Bon appétit!

Our Estate Merlot block has ideal terroir for Okanagan Merlot: a free-draining gravel soil profile and a southwest facing slope to gather the intense afternoon heat. Having tended these vines for over 25 years, we feel we have learned how to grow exceptional Merlot on this site, even in the most difficult of years. Despite the fact that these older vines are already quite self-limiting, with 2019 being one of these cooler, more challenging vintages, we had to be a bit more rutheless than usual with our cropping levels. More fruit than usual had to be dropped, but the result is an immensely elegant Merlot that is well deserving of cellaring.

All fruit was hand-harvested, bunch-sorted, destemmed and gravity transferred to one 1-ton fermenter. Approximately 70% of the berries were left whole and uncrushed. After a 3 day cold soak, the must was warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts. The cap was punched down by hand 3 times daily, and at the ideal tannin extraction, the must was drained of free run juice and the skins were lightly pressed. The wine continued its fermentation in French oak barriques (50% new & 50% 3rd-fill) through to dryness and then through Malolactic conversion. It has been left to mature undisturbed for 18 months before blending, and is set to be bottled without fining or filtration in August 2021.

Varietals: 85% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc
Alcohol: 14.0% alc./vol.
Residual Sugar: 1.2 g/L
Total Acidity: 6.32 g/L
pH: 3.5
Harvest Dates: Oct 17, 2019
Bottling Date: Aug 2021
Release Date: Nov 2021

12 Wines of Christmas...Wine #6 revealed

The 6th wine of our 12 Wines of Christmas is our 2020 Pinot Gris. It’s time to trim the tree and turn up the holiday music! We’ve created a playlist on Spotify just for this... CLICK HERE to listen to the Stag's Hollow staff favourites! Cheers!

Although 2020 proved to be a very diferent growing season to 2019, we were so happy with our first vintage of Pinot Gris that we set out to achieve a similar style in 2020. Thankfully, the weather permitted us to hang the 3rd pick a little longer, and really capitalize on the honey and spice notes that developed through the extended ripening. Owing to vintage variation, to achieve the balance we’ve achieved in the finished wine, we left a little less residual sugar this year, resulting in a slightly drier wine.

Fruit from this block was hand-harvested in 3 separate picks: the 1st for acidity and brightness, the 2nd for balance and complexity, and the 3rd for richness and flavour. Lot #1 (47%) was pressed and cold-settled for 48 hours, before being racked to a stainless steel tank, warmed and inoculated. Lot #2 (29%) was cold-settled for 24 hours, and then racked to stainless steel barrels, warmed and inoculated. Lot #3 (24%) was cold-settled for 24 hours, and then racked into 4 500L French Oak barrels (50% new), warmed and inoculated. After 3 months of regular batonnage, all 3 lots were blended, together stabilized, filtered and bottled.

Varietals: 100% Pinot Gris
Alcohol: 13.5% alc./vol.
Residual Sugar: 11.8 g/L
Total Acidity: 6.2 g/L
pH: 3.2
Harvest Dates: Oct 2020
Bottling Date: Apr 2021
Release Date: June 2021

12 Wines of Christmas...Wine #5 revealed

The 5th wine of our 12 Wines of Christmas is our 2019 Syrah. Sometimes after a long week, you just need a good bottle of wine to enjoy without thinking. It’s Friday - pour yourself a glass, turn on some music, sit back and relax. Cheers!

2019 was a cooler than normal vintage in the Okanagan. Because of this, we aimed to showcase the more delicate, feminine side of cool-climate Syrah. We feel that by lessening the maceration time and new oak for this wine, we were able to capture a fresher, more vibrant style of Syrah that is still complex and full of flavour, but perhaps a bit more approchable, and very food-friendly.

Hand-harvested grapes were sorted, destemmed into 1-ton open-top fermenters. After a 3-day cold soak, both whole-berry ferments were warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts. The ferments were punched down 2-4 times daily and as soon as the primary ferment had finished, were pressed into French oak barrels (35% new). After malolactic fermentation, the wine was aged for an additional 15 months on fine lees before being blended together and bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Varietals: 100% Syrah
Alcohol: 13.8% alc./vol.
Residual Sugar: 1.7 g/L
Total Acidity: 6.3 g/L
pH: 3.67
Harvest Dates: Oct 18, 2019
Bottling Date: June 2021
Release Date: September 2021

12 Wines of Christmas...Wine #4 revealed

The 4th wine of our 12 Wines of Christmas is our 2019 Pinot Noir, Stag's Hollow Vineyard. It’s Thursday and we have a special treat. See below for the recipe for Prosciutto-Wrapped Breast of Chicken & Flambéed Wild Mushroom Sauce from Chef Jordan Ash from Flambé @ Home. Mmmm. It’s going to be delicious together. Enjoy!

Our Stag’s Hollow Estate Vineyard is home to the oldest of our Pinot Noir plantings. Now almost 27 years old, these well-established vines are among our most reliably-ripening, and intensely-structured. This particular blend is a co-ferment of the two Dijon clones planted to this block (115 & 667).

The grapes were 100% destemmed, without crushing, leaving as much whole berry fruit as possible. After a 48 hour cold soak, the must was warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts. Hand punch-downs started at 3 times daily and tapered off to once a day as tannins progressed. Free run juice was drained off and the skins were pressed off as soon as the primary ferment was completed. All lots were racked into 300L French oak barrels (16% new, remainder 2nd fill & 3rd fill), where each lot rested, untouched, for 12 months, before being blended, stabilized and bottled.

Varietals: 100% Pinot Noir
Alcohol: 13.5% alc./vol.
Residual Sugar: 1.1 g/L
Total Acidity: 5.7 g/L
pH: 3.6
Harvest Dates: Oct 10, 2019
Bottling Date: May 2021
Release Date: August 2021

12 Wines of Christmas...Wine #3 revealed

The 3rd wine of our 12 Wines of Christmas is our 2020 Tragically Vidal. Get in the spirit & enjoy making Christmas cookies while sipping on some Vidal - check out Erin's recipe for Tilly's Butter Cake Bites below. Cheers!

Vidal is always one of the last grapes to come in each year. We’ve found, over the 25 years of working with it, that waiting until just after the first frost to pick seems to be Vidal’s sweet spot. The grape’s tough skins finally soften enough that we are able to maximize flavour and aromatic expression, and there is a slight raisining that happens in certain pockets of the vineyard, that contribute to that beautiful honeyed bouquet. This year, the Vidal was so powerfully aromatic that we decided to blend in less Orange Muscat than usual. We also included a small amount of skin-fermented Vidal to boost textural complexity on the palate.

Our Estate-grown Vidal was destemmed, lightly crushed, and gravity transferred to membrane press, where the juice was gently pressed and pumped into tank. After settling for 48 hrs, the clarified juice was racked and transferred into another stainless steel tank before being inoculated with a select yeast culture. It enjoyed a long, slow, cool ferment, preserving as much of the aromatics as possible, before being arrested prior to sugar dryness by chilling the wine to 0°C. As we have come to do over the last few vintages of Tragically Vidal, we blended a small portion of our Orange Muscat into it, further boosting the aromatics, and giving the wine a slightly more floral direction.

Varietals: 98.7% Vidal, 1.3% Orange Muscat
Alcohol: 12.3% alc./vol.
Residual Sugar: 14.5 g/L
Total Acidity: 7.4 g/L
pH: 3.15
Harvest Dates: Oct 2020
Bottling Date: Feb 2021
Release Date: April 2021

12 Wines of Christmas...Wine #2 revealed

The 2nd wine of our 12 Wines of Christmas is our 2019 Simply Noir. If you need a Secret Santa gift, let’s help you with this. Spread the love of our wine with your friends and colleagues - what a great gift to receive. Use the gift bag that was included in your Advent pack - you’ll be the rockstar Secret Santa!

This wine is always a treat to assemble. Gamay and Pinot Noir have always made up the majority our our Simply Noir, but in recent years, we’ve found that there are a few other varieties that fit really well with the wine’s profile. We discovered with the 2017 vintage that Dolcetto was quite a natural match, with its natural youthful exuberance and rusticity. This year, though, we were able to play around with a small lot of Zweigelt. Using carbonic maceration really played up the savoury edge to this grape, and it was a welcome addition to the blend. A surprising favourite among our spring releases.

Each lot was hand-harvested, sorted, destemmed and lightly crushed into open-top 1-ton fermenters, with the exception of the Zweigelt, which was gently transferred as whole clusters to a closed stainless steel tank, under a blanket of CO2. The Gamay Noir, Pinot Noir, and Dolcetto were all cold-settled before being warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts. The Zweigelt was fermented by carbonic maceration. Once alcoholic fermentation was complete, all lots were drained and pressed into individual stainless steel tanks and neutral French oak barrels (15%), where malolactic fermentation was completed. The final blend was assembled, stabilized, lightly filtered and bottled in March 2020.

Varietals: 63% Gamay Noir, 28% Pinot Noir, 5% Dolcetto, 4% Zweigelt
Alcohol: 13.5% alc./vol.
Residual Sugar: 1.7 g/L
Total Acidity: 5.72 g/L
pH: 3.55
Harvest Dates: Oct 9, 13 & 14, 2019
Bottling Date: March 2020
Release Date: April 2020

12 Wines of Christmas...Wine #1 revealed

The first wine of our 12 Wines of Christmas is our 2020 Syrah Rosé. It’s Monday - so let’s keep it easy - pick up your favourite cheeses and bread to make a gourmet grilled cheese to pair with this wine. Enjoy!

This wine is as beautiful to drink as it is to look at. The grapes, grown specifically with this wine in mind, are truly the star of the show here. In the cellar, we wanted to intervene as minimally as possible, and by doing so, we were able to achieve a really harmonious and varietally-expressive rosé.

Our dedicated rosé block was hand-harvested, sorted, destemmed and pressed immediately; minimizing maceration time as much as possible. The pale juice was transferred gently into a stainless steel tank, where it was cold settled for 48 hours, and then racked, warmed and inoculated with a selected yeast strain. The ferment was kept cool (under 13C) in order to maximize aromatic expression, and was racked and chilled upon completion. The wine was then stabilized, filtered and bottled.

Varietals: 100% Syrah
Alcohol: 13.0% alc./vol.
Residual Sugar: 1.9 g/L
Total Acidity: 6.37 g/L
pH: 3.43
Harvest Dates: Oct 9, 2020
Bottling Date: March 2021
Release Date: July 2021

2021 Awards List

2021 Wine Align National Wine Awards of Canada
Gold - 2018 Syrah
Gold - 2018 Renaissance Syrah
Silver - 2020 Syrah Rosé
Silver - 2018 Tempranillo
Silver - 2018 Pinot Noir Stag's Hollow Vineyard
Bronze - 2019 Heritage Block
Bronze - 2017 Renaissance Merlot

2021 BC Lieutenant Governor's Wine Awards
Gold - 2018 Renaissance Merlot
Gold - 2018 Syrah
Silver - 2020 Albariño
Silver - 2020 Syrah Rosé
Silver - 2019 Pinot Noir Stag's Hollow Vineyard

2021 Cascadia International Wine Competition
Gold - 2018 Syrah
Silver - 2018 Renaissance Syrah
Silver - 2018 Dolcetto

2021 Decanter World Wine Awards
Silver - 2017 Renaissance Merlot
Silver - 2018 Syrah
Bronze - 2018 Renaissance Syrah
Bronze - 2018 Renaissance Pinot Noir
Bronze - 2019 Albariño

October Restaurant Partnership

We're continuing to partner with several restaurants this year to provide some prize-winning opportunities for you, who have helped us get through the past year, and to help support the restaurants that carry our wines. For the month of October, we are featuring Sparkling Hill Resort, in Vernon. If you'd like to check out their website, Instagram or Facebook, please do so and give them a follow or a like.  Thank you!

Contest is running from October 1st - 31st, 2021, with the draw taking place on Monday November 1st. The prizewinner will be notified by Stag's Hollow Winery. All orders of 6 bottles or more placed through stagshollowwinery.com or in our wine shop during that time will be eligible to win - one contest entry for every 6 bottles purchased.

Prize includes $100 gift card for Sparkling Hill Resort in Vernon BC, along with a bottle of Stag's Hollow wine to pair with the meal. Gift cards valid for eat-in dining. Bottle of Stag's Hollow wine to be the prizewinner's choice, based on selection available at the restaurant at the time of prize redemption. No substitutions or cash prize equivalent.

September Restaurant Partnership

We're continuing to partner with several restaurants this year to provide some prize-winning opportunities for you, who have helped us get through the past year, and to help support the restaurants that carry our wines. For the month of September, we are featuring  Chorizo & Co., in Victoria. If you'd like to check out their website, Instagram or Facebook, please do so and give them a follow or a like.  Thank you!

Contest is running from September 1st - 30th, 2021, with the draw taking place on Friday October 1st. The prizewinner will be notified by Stag's Hollow Winery. All orders of 6 bottles or more placed through stagshollowwinery.com or in our wine shop during that time will be eligible to win - one contest entry for every 6 bottles purchased.

Prize includes $100 gift card for Chorizo & Co. in Victoria BC, along with a bottle of Stag's Hollow wine to pair with the meal. Gift cards valid for eat-in dining (take-out dining option is at the restaurant's discretion, if available). Bottle of Stag's Hollow wine to be the prizewinner's choice, based on selection available at the restaurant at the time of prize redemption. No substitutions or cash prize equivalent.