Haywire Canyonview Chardonnay 2012 is quite different from any other Okanagan Chardonnay that I can remember tasting. I had to nose it and taste it several times. What was it that this wine in the glass was telling me? The aromas straight from the bottle were quite wild and different. But before I go on to provide you with my notes about this wine, I thought a little background on the wine would be beneficial.
The grapes for this wine from the a single terraced bench vineyard hovering above Trout Creek in Summerland. According to Haywire, the grapes are hand-selected, picked over two different harvests, then concrete-fermented, and underwent an extreme lees stirring regimen, with multiple times per week, for three months, and no malolactic fermentation. Indigenous “wild” yeasts were used to ferment this wine.
My Review
I tasted this wine 3 times to see how this wine, with the wild ferment would change. I tasted it first upon opening, second time was 4 hrs later, and the third time was 24 hrs later. The wine has a medium lemon colour in the glass. The nose at first was showing all kinds of aromas; some that I would expect with Chardonnay such as citrus, lime and apple, but other aromas, such as grilled pork chop and pine needles, were quite unexpected. You never know what aromas you may get from a wild ferment. With swirling over a 10 minute period, the stone fruit became more prominent and a hint of honey appeared. Four hours later there was still the wildness but maybe to a lesser degree, with more peach, citrus and honey on the nose. 24 hrs later, it was mainly dried apricots, honey and lees on the nose.
Moving onto the palate,this wine was round; almost viscous, and had a fairly heavy mouth feel (which I attribute to the extreme lees stirring), which persisted in my 4 hr tasting and 24 hr tasting. There was acidity from the start, but it grew towards the finish. Pears, apples, and hints of apricot, peach, almond, and lime flavours to which honey, lees and black currant leaf were added toward the finish. There was also minerality that showed but only after a bit of swirling in the glass. The flavours did not change as much for the two subsequent tastings.
This really was a complicated wine, at least on the nose. I would suggest that you pour the wine into your glasses, but wait at least 15 minutes before taking a sip.
Rating: 
A complex wine on the nose, making you take notice, and treating you nicely with stone fruits, apples, honey, minerality and more on the palate.
This wine costs $23 and you can order it through Okanagan Crush Pad at this link.
