Hester Creek Estate Winery

Here’s a twist: a back label quoting Goethe, the great German poet. “Plunge boldly into the thick of life and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.” The winery has taken to putting such erudition on many of its back labels, as tangential as that is with wine.

The Goethe aphorism might have been inspired by the winery’s recent tumultuous history. When the 2004 vintage was being made, Hester Creek was on its way to receivership. In 2005, the winery was acquired by Prince George businessman Curtis Garland, who has begun to restore Hester Creek’s image and the potential of the vineyard.

Last summer, Garland hired a seasoned winemaker from Ontario. Robert Summers has almost 20 vintages under his belt and recently had been the national winemaker for Andrew Peller Ltd. In addition to make his first Hester Creek vintage last fall, Summers has put his hand to finishing the wines he found in the cellar when he arrived.

This wine was aged in both French and American oak barrels and, judging from the vanilla aromas and the round texture, the wine got a reasonably long aging. But not to the point of overwhelming the fruit with wood. The fruit still tastes sweetly of black cherries. An easy-drinking red. 85 points.

Reviewed April 6, 2007 by John Schreiner.