Dirty Laundry Vineyard

Until the summer of 2005, this Summerland winery was known as Scherzinger Vineyards, named after the ex-Bavarian woodcarver, Edgar Scherzinger, who first planted Gewürztraminer on the property in 1978. The name was changed a few years after Scherzinger sold the winery and retired. The new name comes from the tale, possibly apocryphal, of a Chinese laundry in the town a century ago that locals called “dirty” because it fronted for a brothel. The new name drew so much attention that the winery, which previously struggled to sell 1,000 cases a year, has been sold out by the end of summer two years in a row. A new owner now has taken over to finance a major expansion, including a new winery, over the next several years.

The winery’s Gewürztraminer strategy is to make three versions. Threadbare Vines is bone dry, with orange peel and rose petal aromas and spicy flavours. The wine has a satisfying Alsace-style richness. Woo Woo Vines ($17.90) is essentially the same wine with just a touch of residual sugar to give the wine a little more flesh. Madams’ Vines ($19.90) is the fully ripe Gewürztraminer, the sweetest and plumpest of the three, well balanced so that the finish is rich and tropical. The style is a matter of preference. They all score 87 points.

Reviewed July 15, 2007 by John Schreiner.