Pinot Noir Abides in Vancouver Island’s Cowichan Valley
by Brent Gushowaty
Sitting in the Southeast corner of Vancouver Island, the Cowichan Valley lies not far from the Salish Sea and is centered at one degree of latitude South of the Canada/U.S. border. The climate is classified as maritime Mediterranean. It sits in the rain shadow of the Vancouver Island Range, one of the protective necklaces of mountains that run along the center of Vancouver Island. Though a decidedly cool climate, the average temperature in the Cowichan Valley is one of the highest in Canada. It has a long frost-free growing season, and the rain that does fall is mainly in Winter.
Cowichan Valley Sub-GI
The Cowichan Valley was the first region outside the Okanagan Valley to be recognized as a sub-GI in June of 2020. The 350 square kilometer Cowichan Valley Sub-GI surrounds the city of Duncan. The vineyards range in elevation up to about 250 meters. Virtually all the fourteen Cowichan Valley wineries have some pinot noir planted, and ten consistently produce still red pinot noir. The total pinot noir vineyard area of pinot noir is presently boutique level, about 25 hectares, though more is coming fast.
The commercial era of wine production in the Cowichan Valley dates to the very early nineties, but a confluence of people and events in the last ten years, combined with the uniqueness and excellence of its cool climate pinot noirs has helped the area begin to receive the wider recognition it deserves.
Some of the first pinot noir vines were planted in and around 1990 at Venturi-Schulze Vineyards, Blue Grouse Vineyards, Zanatta Winery (then Vignetti-Zanatta) and Alderlea Vineyards. For a wine industry that is only thirty years old, having the right grapes in the right vineyard sites from the beginning is crucial because, despite thorough research beforehand, there are no guarantees that a particular grape variety will thrive and produce superior wine there. Fortunately, many pioneers guessed right when they planted pinot noir in the Cowichan Valley. Other wineries such as Glenterra Vineyards, Averill Creek Vineyard and Emandare Vineyards, also have older vines that helped set the baseline there for pinot noir wines.
Kinder Vintages Reveal Cowichan Valley’s Potential for Pinot Noir
Some Cowichan Valley winemakers say that before 2010, the riper vintages were running about three out of ten with vintages, such as 2006 and 2009 being a couple of rare standouts. But it was a quartet of warmer vintages from 2013, to 2016, along with increasing vine age and other factors, that provided an essential boost to the profile of Cowichan Valley pinot noirs and demonstrated their real potential.
Cowichan Valley pinots generally differ in style from those in the central and Northern Okanagan Valley where most of B.C.’s wineries are located. Cowichan Valley pinot noirs tend to be lower in alcohol, higher in natural acidity, less matched to oak in the winery and show a more layered transparency of focused fruit that evokes the lighter end of Oregon pinots. The fruit profiles differ slightly too, with central Okanagan pinots generally showing primary cherry, and strawberry notes and wood-influenced touches of vanilla and baking spices. In the more Northern part of the Okanagan, above Kelowna, the wines increasingly display “soprano” red fruits like cranberry, chokecherry, pin cherry and fresh pomegranate.
Cowichan Valley pinot noirs, on the other hand, show savoury blueberry, blackberry, mulberry, marionberry and other lighter-to-medium berry fruits, as well as a note of wet forest floor savour. Overall, the more delicate touch of oak in the Cowichan Valley also seems to result in finer-grained, less robust tannins than their Okanagan Valley counterparts. This all speaks to the wide range of styles in quality B.C. pinot noir. They are all a work in progress.
Link to the original, full article https://www.bcpinotnoir.com/p/
