I was very sad to hear that Chris Jentsch suddenly passed away at the age of 58. He was a towering man, with a very friendly personality and a generous heart. My condolences to his wife Betty, who together with Chris, ran their C.C. Jentsch Cellars winery in the Oliver area.
The first time I met Chris was during Cornucopia 2015, the year that their 2013 Syrah won the best Syrah out of a field of 12 top international Syrahs during The Judgment of BC. He and I were at ease chatting together about his Syrah and their other wines, and that started our friendship.
Whenever I attended a BC VQA Trade event in Vancouver, Bloom and COLOUR, in the Spring and Fall respectively, I would look for Chris’ table and be sure to have a good chat with him about his current wines and how he is doing. Whenever I asked him for a wine donation for a charity, he donated generously. I selected Chris’ family’s wines many times from these VQA events as favourites and chose their wines many times for wines to enjoy with various holidays throughout the year, and made my top wine lists at the end of each year.
In 2018 I drove out to the Oliver area and made a point of visiting C.C. Jentsch Cellars. Chris was waiting for me and spent the time to take me through the winery, showing what they are doing, plus went out to see some of the vineyards behind the winery.
I really enjoyed my chats with Chris and will miss them. I do have some bottles of C.C. Jentsch Cellars’ wines and will need to open one and toast Chris. He will be greatly missed.
Here is a URL of all articles I have written about C.C. Jentsch Cellars if you would like to know more about Chris and their family’s wines.
