Summerhill Pyramid Winery

Stephen Cipes, the former New York developer who opened this winery in 1992, moved to the Okanagan in search of a clean environment in which to raise his family. Soon after buying a house set in a vineyard, he ordered an end to spraying and began the slow process of moving to organic viticulture. Aside from his personal desire to live in a clean environment, he decided that his winery would specialize in sparkling wines. Those, he believes, need to be made with the cleanest possible grapes.

Today, Summerhill has succeeded in having the majority of its contract growers switch to organic viticulture. That type of grape growing can be done reasonably easily in British Columbia’s Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys; because of their very low rainfall and the natural barriers created by bordering mountains, the disease pressure on the vineyards is comparatively low. Only the organic ban on using treated wood for trellis posts – most Okanagan vineyards used treated wood posts – prevents more growers from getting organic certification.

This Gewürztraminer, in the winery’s reserve tier, bursts with clean, fresh aromas and tropical flavours of peaches and mangos with a hint of spice. The slightly off-dry finish adds to the wine’s fullness and prolongs the lingering finish. 87 points.

Reviewed December 14, 2007 by John Schreiner.