I have been enjoying tasting and writing about Winemaker’s CUT Estate Winery‘s wines since they first released their wines. Owners Michal and Martina Mosny undertake sustainable farming, hand harvest their grapes, adhere to zero pesticides, low sulphur use, and let the wines develop naturally to express the characteristics indicative of their Deadman Lake Vineyard.
Big news is that Winemaker’s CUT Estate Winery has grown in the past year. They added two new vineyards: the Chahal Vineyard owned by long time Oliver grower Swaran Chahal, located just north of Oliver, and the Slow Vineyard owned by Jeff Harries, located on the Naramata Bench. Both of these vineyards are sustainable. With new vineyards their wine portfolio has increased as well, now having eight wines to satisfy your wine thirst. Winemaker’s CUT has divided their wine portfolio into three wine labels:
CUT WINES
CUT wines are their Estate wines and their small batch unique Heritage wines. All wines are single varietal and have the same soil profile – dark brown chernozem mixed with shale, rich in minerals, which they note shows its character in these wines.
CUT Estate wines:
- Winemaker’s CUT Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2019 (BC $26)
- Winemaker’s CUT Estate Rosé 2019 (BC $26)
- Winemaker’s CUT Estate Syrah 2018 (BC $34)
Have you ever tried Slovakian wines? Gruner Veltliner and Muscat Canelli would be two of the grape varieties you would taste made into wine in their Heritage wine series.
CUT Heritage Wines:
- Winemaker’s CUT Heritage Gruner Veltliner 2019 (BC $26)
- Winemaker’s CUT Heritage Muscat Canelli 2019 (BC $24)
I will be covering the above 5 wines in this article, but they also have their Bohemian and BOHO wine labels, which I will introduce here, but will taste and write about in a separate article.
BOHEMIAN WINES
They note that their “Bohemian Wines exemplify the uniqueness of Okanagan Valley single vineyard blends. Bohemian wines are made in extremely small volumes. Wines carefully hand-selected from our finest barrels and only produced when the vintage is appropriate. Wines are blends of predominantly Bordeaux grape varietals. Bohemian Cuvee rouge 2018 and Bohemian Cuvee blanc 2019 (release day is in Fall 2020)”
BOHO WINES
They describe their BOHO wines as “BOHO wines are informal (boho—informal); to make us realize that having a wine made naturally can still result in the flavors we love, and even amplify them in a clean yet fruity style.
BOHO Beat (white aromatic blend) and BOHO Zen (red blend)”.
My Tasting Notes
CUT Estate wines
Winemaker’s CUT Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2019 (BC $26) – this wine is fermented with wild and organic yeast, and 10% spends time in Slovakian Oak. It has a light pear skin colour. It has a medium minus intensity nose showing a mix of apples, white flowers, citrus/lime, and ripe peach. With some swirling the citrus lime gets stronger and a few more minutes of swirling you get some green bean aroma. There was a big change to the aromatics the next day. I had lots of green fruit, lime and pine needles, along with hints of each and honey. The wine is slightly off-dry, with higher acidity that leaves a prickle on your tongue. It is round and has a thicker mouthfeel, but the acidity is there to give it backbone. Apples, peaches, apricots and floral flavours. There is also some minerality to the wine. With decanting the apple flavour was subdued and the wine had a more steely feel to it. It has a medium plus length finishing with jalapeno pepper, followed by citrus, pith, ripe peach, and apple at the very end. An elegant wine.
Rating: 
– 
A very elegant Sauvignon Blanc. No over the topic aromatics or flavours you get from some New World versions. This has very balanced stone fruit flavours with nice acidity.
Winemaker’s CUT Estate Rosé 2019 (BC $26) – is a blend of 90% Cabernet Franc and 10% Syrah. There is straight press, with no skin contact. It is fermented with a blend of wild and organic yeast in 100% stainless steel. It has a pale salmon skin colour in the glass. A lighter intensity nose showing sweet crab apple, apple blossom and strawberries. With decanting the aromas covered watermelon (which dissipated quickly), peach, crab apples, and strawberries. It is slightly off-dry with higher acidity and body, and pronounced flavours. Lots of sweet fruit flavours; red fruits, fresh strawberries, cut apple and some candied red fruits. It is semi-round. Just a touch of tannins. The wine has a medium plus length finishing with tart red fruits and lees, and lastly cut apple. With decanting the apple, strawberries and red fruits continued, but I also picked up red cherries. This is a light bright red fruit and apple flavour rosé wine.
Rating: A solid, delicate rosé wine. Crab apples, strawberries and red fruit flavours. Light, bright sweet fruit. Acidic backbone.
Winemaker’s CUT Estate Syrah 2018 (BC $34) – the grapes spend 3 days cold soaked followed by wild/spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel tanks. Then it undergoes full malolactic fermentation and ageing for 6 months in a blend of American, French, and Slovakian oak. This wine is a dull yet translucent to the core medium garnet colour. I am guessing that this wine is bottled unfiltered. It has a medium minus intensity nose showing smokiness, rich cassis, ripe black fruits, toasted oak, along with some meatiness, vanilla and cocoa. With a little time swirling in the glass, the wine also offers ripe raspberry aromas. With a longer decant, along with the fruit aromas previously mentioned I also pick up black pepper, nutmeg, floral, and black olives. It is dry, round and smooth with a full mouthfeel, yet not heavy. Sweet ripe black fruits, cassis, plums and toast on the palate to start, along with touches of vanilla and oak. Black pepper on the mid-palate to the finish. After a bit of swirling you get floral and raspberry flavours becoming more evident. The tannins are light and fine grained. The acidity is there to give the fruit bright flavour, without leaving a prickle on your tongue. With decanting I get more tart fruit and oak along with black olives, but the wine still overall has lots of ripe black fruit, cassis, raspberry and floral. It finishes with cassis, plums, black pepper, and oak flavours and light drying tannins. A well structured Syrah. Ready to drink now but could age for a few years too if you prefer.
Rating: A well structured Syrah. It has toned down cassis and black fruit nose. Full body with ripe black fruit favours accompanied by floral, raspberries, black pepper and fine tannins.
CUT Heritage Wines
Winemaker’s CUT Heritage Gruner Veltliner 2019 (BC $26) – this wine cold soaks for 12 hours followed by 34 days of fermentation using wild and organic yeast. Then 15% of the wine spends time in Slovakian oak. This wine has a medium bright straw colour. A medium intensity nose with soft/subtle aromas of citrus mixed with white flowers, lime and a touch of peach. No change on the nose with decanting. It is off-dry, medium plus body and acidity. It is roundish with an acidic backbone for structure. It has a waxy mouthfeel. You get flavours of green apples, citrus, lime and some peach from mid-palate to finish. With swirling you also get orange flavour. The wine has pepperiness and steeliness toward the finish. With decanting it has a lighter mouthfeel along with less apple flavour and more floral and peach, and tropical fruit. It finishes peppery with tart citrus and apple and some pith. Medium plus length.
Rating: A light floral and citrus nose leads to a fuller bodied wine with citrus and apple flavours and an acidic backbone.
Winemaker’s CUT Heritage Muscat Canelli 2019 (BC $24) – 50% of the grapes are from the Chahal vineyard and 50% from the Slow vineyard. The grapes are pressed with no skin contact. 100% stainless steel fermentation with wild and organic yeast for 19 days. This wine is bright water white with just a tiny hint of straw colour. There is quite noticeable bubbles clinging on the edge of the glass. It has a clean, pronounced nose with lots of oranges, orange skin, lychee, and orange blossom. A sweet nose. With some swirling you get some lime aromatics as well. The lime aroma increases with further decanting. It is off-dry with medium-plus body and acidity, and pronounced fruit flavours. It has a roundish, thicker mouth feel. Medium acidic prickle on your tongue. Citrus / orange primarily, along with lychee, a touch of orange blossom and lime skin. A medium-plus length, finishing off dry with pith and lingering orange flavour. Flavours stayed the same with decanting. A fun wine. Open and enjoy.
Rating: A quality wine that has orange / citrus aromas and flavours. Nothing complex, just lots of fruit to enjoy along with bright acidity to enjoy.
Thank you to Martina & Michal for providing me these wines to review.
Where Can I Buy These Wines?
You can order Winemaker’s CUT wines online. Swirl Wine Store in Yaletown also carries their wines. The Rosé is available at Marquis Wine Cellars. It may be at other private wine shops.
