LIGHTNING ROCK
rosé al fresco
It was 11:00am and we were sitting on a dock just south of Penticton, in the Okanagan Valley. With our feet dangling over the edge, sunshine streaming through the gaps in the clouds, we opened an unlabeled bottle of wine made by an unnamed winery. The electric ruby wine was so stupendously aromatic we couldn’t help but grin. From the first sip to the last drop we were smitten. We needed to know more.
ORGANIC vineyardS IN SUMMERLAND
The next day we drove North to the small town of Summerland to meet Tyler Knight, part of the duo behind Lightning Rock. At this point they hadn’t decided on packaging, or even a name for their new project - it was simply wine in a bottle. Tyler and his wife Jordan are ex-Okanagan Crush Pad winemakers who were presented with the extraordinary opportunity to farm their own small plot of land and make wine for themselves.
High above the lake their steep vineyard is composed of decomposed granite and limestone. They farm sustainably, nurturing the soils so their Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Viognier vines can show the true character of their site. The east facing site benefits from morning sunshine and reflected light off the lake. Although the vines are only a dozen years old, they are already well established.
Over the last three years they’ve added two new vineyards to their roster. Canyonview is immaculate, sitting comfortably in Trout Creek Canyon. St Catherine has some of the Okanagan’s oldest vines, but after years of neglect it’s a serious undertaking. Despite their proximity to their home site (Elysia) they fruit couldn’t be more different.
farmer fizz & beyond
Jordan and Tyler are enamoured with all things fizzy. Their love of Champagne has lead them to start an ambitious sparkling wine program, focusing on single vineyard, mono-varietal wines, aged on lees for extended periods. To compliment these traditional method wines, they’ve started producing micro-lots of Pet-Nat (petillant naturel). They vanish quickly, but this year we were able to snag a small allocation.
Their terroir driven still wines are equivalently praise worthy: a spicy and savoury Syrah, two contemplative Pinot Noirs, a Burgundy-doppelgänger Chardonnay, and energetic renditions of Viognier and Rosé.
GROWN AND MADE ON THE TRADITIONAL LANDS OF THE: NŁEʔKEPMX TMÍXʷ (NLAKA’PAMUX) | SYILX | OKANAGAN
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $53.00
CSPC: 816174
2020 elysia pinot noir
The fruit for this cuvée comes from their exposed granitic home vineyard high above the lake in Summerland. They played around with different percentages of whole-clusters, ranging from 25-75% inclusion. After 21 days on skins the wine was pressed off into neutral barrel. The wine underwent an eight-month élevage before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $53.00
CSPC: 877889
2020 canyonview pinot noir
Canyon View Vineyard is located in a small valley in Summerland, a five-minute drive from their winery. The site is immaculate, perfectly pruned, not even a single leaf out of place. Tucked away from the lake, this is a unique mesoclimate, windy, warm, with alluvial river-stones and sandy soils. They played around with different percentages of whole-clusters, ranging from 25-75% inclusion. After 21 days on skins the wine was pressed off into neutral barrel. The wine underwent an eight-month élevage before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $53.00
CSPC: 828022
2020 canyonview chardonnay
Canyon View Vineyard is located in a small valley in Summerland a five-minute drive from their winery. The site is immaculate, perfectly pruned, not even a single leaf out of place. Tucked away from the lake, this is a unique mesoclimate, windy, warm, with alluvial river-stones and sandy soils. The grapes were whole-cluster pressed straight to puncheons (10% of which were new, 30% second fill, and 60% neutral). After élevage and racking, it was bottled unfined and unfiltered. 13% ABV, 3.1 pH, 7.3g/L TA
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $53.00
CSPC: 848518
2020 elysia syrah
The fruit for this cuvée comes from their exposed granitic home vineyard high above the lake in Summerland. The Syrah was destemmed onto pressed whole-cluster viognier (10%) for fermentation. The wine is gently pumped over to keep the cap damp until fermentation is complete. It is then pressed into neutral barrel for a modest élevage. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered. 13.5% ABV, 3.52 pH, 6.2g/L TA
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $53.00
CSPC: 848516
2020 canyonview blanc de noir
Garth Purdy has been farming this site since 2003. It is located in a narrow gully called Trout Creek Canyon in Summerland. The sandy soils are punctuated by hunks of granite. Whole clusters of Pinot Noir were gently pressed into neutral barrel for fermentation and malolactic conversion. The wine is bottled with a liqueur de tirage in January. After a year on lees the wine is disgorged and finished without dosage
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $38.00
CSPC: 816173
2019 viognier
The grapes for this cuvée were hand harvested from their estate vineyard located beneath Giants Head in Summerland. This particular block of vineyard is planted on exposed granite bedrock. The grapes were gently crushed, and the juice spontaneously fermented in concrete. After six months on lees the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered. 12% ABV
