Haywire wines are made at Okanagan Crush Pad (OCP) in Summerland, BC, and are co-owned by Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie. I have followed Haywire wines since their inception. I like them as they try to be as organic and un-interventionist as possible, letting their wines tell their stories. They make a range of wines; red, white, and bubble for our enjoyment. I received their latest releases for review. All the wines, except for the bubble are under screw cap.
One thing that you may notice for the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris is the “Raised in Concrete“. This is quite significant. OCP spent considerable time and money to purchase concrete egg-shaped fermenters for some of their wines. Concrete is neutral, letting the grapes and yeast work together to produce their flavours and aromas. In addition, the egg shape, creates a circulation within the fermenter that keeps the yeast, and must and everything else in the fermenter in contact with each other, to fully bring out the flavours in the wine.
My Reviews of Haywire Wines
Haywire “Baby Bub” 375 ml bottle – This is a sparkling rose wine, made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. that you can take on a picnic, and share with your significant other, while enjoying a nice meal and beautiful BC scenery. It is a pale red cherry in colour and has a very nice creamy, light pink bubble when being poured. It has medium intensity nose, with light lees, sour red cherries, and strawberry aromas. The lees aroma coming from the bottle fermentation and aging. It is dry, but quite fruity so gives it a feel of being slightly off-dry. I like the combination of light acidic prickle on the tongue with the slightly creamy bubble. It has bright fruit flavours of red fruits, red cherries and strawberries, followed by green apple. It has a mouth-watering finish with sour cherries and green apples, and some minerality. Medium plus length.
Rating: 
A best of BC bubble that comes creamy bubble, acidity and bright red fruit flavours.
Haywire Sauvignon Blanc “Raised in Concrete” 2013 – Nice nose showing pine needle, gooseberry and greenness, together with stone fruit and citrus aromas. You also get a bit of yeast, and lime rind which becomes more prominent when you let the wine decant for a while. It is dry yet quite round and has a thicker mouthfeel than you may expect for a Sauvignon Blanc, thanks to the secondary malolactic fermentation for this wine. It has light pineapple with stone fruit, citrus and apple notes (with the apple flavour coming after decanting). You get acidic prickle and mouth-watering finish, together with some yeast on the finish. This is more complex than a straightforward Sauvignon Blanc, and more restrained with the fruit flavours.
Rating: A more serious, heavy-weight Sauvignon Blanc from the Okanagan. Somewhere between Old and New World styles.
Haywire Pinot Gris “Raised in Concrete” 2013 – Ripe pear skin colour in the glass. It has a medium intensity nose with more stone fruit and lesser amount of pineapple, and a hint of lime. Dry with a nice light acidic prickle on the tongue. Quite mouth filling, almost oily feeling. The acidic prickle gives way to a round smoothness mid palate, and then back to the acidity again on the finish. I get more pears, followed by peach, pineapple, a hint of lime and some almonds, or yeast. It has pepperiness on the finish, along with acidity/astringency, and pears on the finish. Just like the Sauvignon Blanc, this is a slightly bigger version than you may normally expect from this grape.
Rating: Enjoy the acidic prickle and roundness play on this wine, together with the stone fruit flavours.
Haywire Pinot Noir 2012 – Medium minus translucent ruby from rim to the core. It has a very pretty nose, showing cinnamon, nutmeg, baked apples, red cherries and a hint of perfume. With a few minutes of air, you also get cranberry and tea leaves on the nose. It is dry, medium weight and shows some roundness. You first get violets on the palate, followed by red cherries, raspberries, and a whiff of nutmeg. Again with a bit of air, you will also get tea leaves. There is some silkiness to this wine. It has a medium plus length, and finishes with sweet spices and red cherries. The acidity in the wine is not overpowering and provides support to the fruit flavours. This is a very “feminine” wine, in style, aroma, and flavour.
Rating: 
Great style with very nice red fruit aromatics and flavours. Highly recommended.
Egg Shaped Fermenters
If you would like to find out more about these fermenters, read this article I wrote about them and OCP. Enjoy!
