Tag: Andrew Etsell

In November 2020, I interviewed a few BC winemakers about their current harvest. From their discussions, I determined that overall the growing season was average, but there was a cooler rainy spring. August and September had good weather. Harvest started a little later than usual. Rain and the crazy snowfall in October influenced smaller yields, but there was still some…

Have you ever wanted to sit down with a winemaker and have them tell you about the bottle of wine you are enjoying with them?  What was the harvest like?  Did they use indigenous/wild yeasts to ferment the wine?  What oak barrel treatment did they use, if any?  Where is their vineyard located and what makes it unique or special?…

In October the Wines of British Columbia sent out a brief media release about the current state of the 2019 Harvest, stating “…Despite a wetter than average September, winemakers are overcoming the challenges they are faced with right now crediting skilled vineyard management and embracing the lower sugars and alcohol levels they are seeing in the wines so far…” It…

Have you tried wines from Singletree Winery?  They are a local, Abbotsford, BC winery that produces wines from their own grapes in the Fraser Valley, but they now have another vineyard located on the Naramata Bench.  This is also the time of the year that BC wineries release the latest vintages of their white wines.  Below is a press release…

In early October, the Wines of BC issued a press release and noted “BC’s annual grape harvest has arrived amid cooler temperatures in mid-August and early September. With the long, moderate season, wineries are indicating nice flavour development, beautiful acidity and increased crop levels for an exciting 2018 vintage…Above average Growing Degree Days this spring in BC contributed to an…

2017 was a terrible harvest in France due to poor weather conditions through the growing season, producing the smallest grape harvest since 1945. In the United States, Napa and Sonoma Valleys were hit by forest fires which although was late in the harvest, still affected later ripening grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon. The Valleys were also suffering from a heat wave, causing…

BC is a large province, with a varied climate from maritime to alpine.  Our grape growing regions for wine production vary from the coast, to slightly inland (think the Fraser Valley), to our hot interior (the Okanagan or Kamloops for example).  With all this variability in climate, you would think that grape harvests would all vary and the wines that…

For the Etsell family, farming is in their blood, with their roots firmly entrenched in the Fraser Valley; first with turkeys, and now into viticulture and wine making. Their farming roots extend to the label, where they are called “Singletree Winery”. What is a singletree?  It is a wood and iron harness yoke with three iron rings circling a wood…