Tag: Okanagan Crush Pad

Last year I was invited to try some of the wines from the new Singletree Winery, located in Abbotsford, BC.  A family run opereation by the Etsell’s, they planted their grape vines in 2011 and opened a wine shop in 2015.  Andrew Etsell grows the grapes, and is assisted by Okanagan winemaker, Matt Dumayne from Okanagan Crush Pad, to produce…

Here is my last wine review for 2015.  It has been an amazing year of trying wines from around the world, and meeting with wine makers from around the world.  BC’s winery list continues to grow, and winery regions as well.  I look forward to what surprises 2016 will offer us.  Happy New Year with much prosperity to all my…

It has been a long voyage of discovery for me to find out what type of relationship Riesling grapes have with the soils of BC, or as some may say the terroir of the area.  As mentioned in previous articles, it started with the idea, then contacting all BC wineries that produce a Riesling wine, to ask for a sample…

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”.  Lao Tzu This spring, I took my first step, with the thought that maybe the different soil types in BC affect the aromas and flavours of our grapes.  How to test that thought?  There are so many different varieties of grapes.  I settled upon testing this theory with Riesling.  It…

Sometimes you get some free time and can take a quick trip to the Okanagan.  That recently happened to me.  I wanted to visit at least 2 new wineries to me on this trip. I stayed in Kelowna, and checking the latest winery map, I saw that I have been to all in the area before, so I fixed my…

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…

I am a lover of Riesling.  It allows the wine maker to produce wine in many styles, from bone dry, to a lusciously sweet ice wine.  While we here in BC have talked about making very good aromatic white wines, I have not yet seen a systematic analysis of our aromatic grapes, Riesling in particular, and how the wines differ…

Red, white, and rose wines, newly released from Okanagan Crush Pad reached my door for tasting.  Just in time for our spring and upcoming sunny summer weather.  The wines in question I received: Mike B Riesling Cabinett 2014 ($24.90) Haywire Gamay Noir Rose 2014 ($22.90) Haywire Pinot Noir 2013 ($24.90) Mike B Riesling Cabinett 2014 This wine is the result…

BC Pinot Noir is well known to some wine drinkers, but maybe not enough.  Probably most people think of Burgundy, or Oregon, or New Zealand. But we do produce some decent Pinots here in BC.  I recently received a bottle of Haywire Canyonview Pinot Noir 2012 to review.  It comes with a screw cap but that doesn’t mean it cannot…

Wine grapes from two different vineyards plus native yeasts from each vineyard, produces two unique wines.  The winery in question is Haywire and the wines were made at Okanagan Crush Pad, in Summerland, BC.  The two wines I tasted from Haywire were: Haywire Switchback Vineyard Pinot Gris 2012 Haywire Canyonview Vineyard Chardonnay 2013 The Switchback Vineyard was the first vineyard…