Quails' Gate Estate Winery

The Chenin Blanc vines at the Quails’ Gate vineyard in the north Okanagan are 12 to 15 years old. Tony Stewart, the winery’s president, recalls that his peers at the time discouraged planting the variety, contending that Chenin Blanc had a poor reputation and the wine would be hard to sell. Quails’ Gate persisted and now is the Okanagan’s major producer of this variety. In 2006 the winery made 3,300 cases.

Winemaker Grant Stanley fermented the wine in three different batches. Twenty percent was fermented in two-year-old French oak barrels. The remaining 80% was divided between two stainless steel tanks. One was fermented to total dryness while the other was stopped with some residual sugar. The objective was to balance the acidity in the final wine, which is finished with an imperceptible four grams of sugar per litre.

The wine jumps from the glass with aromas of honey, honeydew melon and citrus. The palate is exuberant, with flavours of green apples, melons, lime and minerals. The wine’s racy acidity gives it a crisp, zesty and lingering finish. 89 points.

Reviewed July 25, 2007 by John Schreiner.