It's a thrilling time for winemaker Taylor Ballantyne to be joining Lunessence Winery in Summerland.
The vineyard had just been certified organic and he's already helping elevate Lunessence to even greater heights.
"I want to honour previous winemaker Maxime Legris' style because he brought Lunessence a long way in viticulture and quality wines," said Ballantyne, who was most recently assistant winemaker at Tantalus in Kelowna for three years.
"But I also want to keep moving forward and innovating and building complexity in the wines."
That innovation has already started with the 2022 harvest he just oversaw.
He'll continue to concentrate on wines made from grapes from single vineyards at the Summerland estate and will capitalize on the higher acidity in the grapes harvested to make intense, fruit-forward and beautifully balanced wines.
"Yes, push organics and push complexity," said Ballantyne with a laugh.
"Basically, it's just being a good steward of the land and the wines. But it is a labour of love, takes a lot of time and commitment and holding yourself to a higher standard."
Three Lunessence wines Ballantyne is particularly proud of are the 2021 Gamay ($28), the 2021 Estate Single Vineyard Blanc de Noir Rose ($24) and 2021 Estate Single Vineyard Riesling ($25).
He had a hand in finishing and bottling the light-and-juicy Gamay this fall and the Blanc de Noirs and Riesling were crafted by Legirs.
Ballantyne likes Legris' versions, but will add his own touch for the 2022 vintages, making the Blanc de Noir more serious, but still approachable, and the Riesling a little more off-dry to match the racy acidity.
Lunessence remains open through the fall and winter for tastings and sales by appointment only.
Make an appointment at LunessenceWinery.com.
Brooker's gone
After just a few months at Summerland's Okanagan Crush Pad as CEO, Darryl Brooker has moved on to an undisclosed job in the US.
Brooker was brought on board at The Pad (which makes Haywire, Narrative, Free Form and Bizou+Yukon wines) to reorganize the business for growth and figure out a succession plan for founders Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie.
"While his tenure was short, we accomplished the equivalent of two years of reorganizing and programming," said Coletta.
Before joining The Pad, Brooker also had a short stint at cannabis company Flowr Corp. as CEO and before that was a long-time president and winemaker at Mission Hill Winery in West Kelowna.
Stepping up to take on an expanded role is The Pad's newish general manager, Craig Pingle, who was previously guest experience manager at Mission Hill for three years.
Ukraine's in
While it may be fighting off an invasion by the Russians, Ukraine has found time to join the International Organization of Vine and Wine.
Ukraine becomes the 49th member of the organization and joins such famous wine nations as France, Italy, Spain and the US and countries you may not have known produce wine, such as Uzbekistan, Moldova, Norway and Uruguay.
Ukraine has 41,400 hectares of vineyards and produces about 660,000 hectolitres of wine annually.
Until the war, Ukraine wine consumption and exports were increasing.
By way of comparison, the Okanagan has about 4,500 hectares of vineyards (11,100 acres) and production and consumption is on the rise.
Membership in the organization gives wine-producing countries access to information, cooperation and services of a network of 1,000 experts from around the world.
The 43rd World Congress of Vine and Wine and General Assembly took place earlier this month in Baja, Mexico, another region you may not be familiar with for producing wine.
Steve MacNaull is a NowMedia Group reporter, Okanagan wine lover and Canadian Wine Scholar. Reach him at [email protected]. His wine column appears in this space every Friday afternoon.
