The View from Lunessence Vineyard and Winery
Giant’s Head Mountain
About 500 metres above Okanagan Lake, Summerland’s Giant’s Head Mountain is a remnant volcanic dome and can also be seen from Penticton and Naramata. A Roche Moutonnee (sheepback), This formation was created through glacial erosion and plucking called regelation. Pressures of thick glacial ice on the upside of mountain, melting, refreezing, filling up the cracks in the rock as well as on the rock itself created the terraced chunks of rock that look like the wooly back of a sheep. Giant’s Head is also home to a host of vineyards and wineries with incredible views and beautiful wines.
Lunessence Vineyard and Winery
It was a super hot day in Summerland (read stinking hot) when we arrived at Lunessence Vineyard and Winery. In addition, because we did not have a GPS, we missed our first appointment with Lightning Rock Winery driving around in circles trying to locate it, but more on that winery later.
Never was I so happy to see a friendly face and a chilled glass of wine than when Lunessence’s General Manager, Cameron Walker, welcomed us onto the winery’s patio with its incredible views and a beautiful spread of wines.
I have to say Cameron is one of a few in the industry I have met who exudes the kind of passion for wine that he has. I think he could talk about Lunessence’s wines and wines in general all day, along with the winery’s commitment to organic farming practices. These practices are with a view to building resiliency in the vineyard to withstand even the most challenging seasons, which 2022 was. That said, I have been tasting their wines through July and August 2023. In a word, they are marvellous. In general, they are elegant, refined, harmonious and well-crafted.
Along with the winery’s well-known Pinot Noir Small Lot Series (2022), the winery has produced two other wines under this label — a second release of the very unique and elegant Vin Gris produced from the Gamay Noir grape, and a new release of an amazing, crazy plushy, ultra-balanced 2022 Chardonnay. Whether you are Chardonnay lover or not, you don’t want to miss tasting this vintage because the previous small lot Chardonnay, produced in 2019, was awarded one of the top Chardonnays in the country, and the 2022 release is better. Also, try the Gamay Noir 2021! It’s smoky, plushy with a mouthful of red berry, ripe dark cherry fruit, velvety and harmonious with a lingering kiss of chocolate on the finish. A serious and seriously good Gamay Noir.
Summergate Vineyard and Winery
Our next visit was to the very charming Summergate Winery. The 18-acre vineyard and winery is not only a family affair, it is a community affair. Mike and Gillian Stohler started Summergate Winery 15 years ago. The estate vineyard is planted in Muscat Ottonel, Riesling, Kerner, Siegerrebe and Pinot Noir grapes (the winery will be making their first organic Pinot Noir in 2023!). The winery is certified organic and employs sustainable vineyard practices such as reduced crop yield, canopy and vineyard management without petro-chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Estate grown grapes are hand-harvested, gently pressed and cool-fermented in small batch stainless-steel tanks. Wines are fruity fresh, crisp and zippy!
Every year, Gillian and Mike invite over 200 people from the wine community to take part in their Harvest Days. This sounds like a bunch of fun where volunteers gather to harvest grapes over a two-day period, enjoy a BBQ, drink wine and take pride in how they’ve contributed to the harvest and making of these dangerously drinkable wines. For more information on Harvest Days, contact the winery at info@summergate.ca.
Some of my faves from this winery included their dangerously drinkable Muscat Ottonel, fragrant with orange blossom, ripe stone fruit, soft citrus and soft tropical fruit flavours. Delish and easy to love at 12.6% abv., off-dry with 15.3 g/l residual sugar spot-on balanced with food-friendly acidity. Enjoy it chilled on its own or with sushi.
The 2022 Solstice (organic) is a blend of equal amounts of Riesling, Muscat Ottonel, Kerner & Siegerrebe. Solstice is a very crisp and refreshing, off-dry, medium-bodied white wine, lush with ripe yellow apple, pear, starfruit and an amazingly long, fresh citrus zesty finish.
Produced from Organic Muscat Ottonel, Riesling and Kerner grapes, Summergate’s 2021 Moscato Frizzante is dry (10 g/l residual sugar), medium-bodied and zesty with fresh grapey, ripe yellow apple and citrusy flavours delivered on a fine perlage. I love this easy-to-love frizzante and pair it with brunch dishes, but it’s so refreshing and yummy, enjoy it chilled on its own on the patio or beachside.
Lightning Rock Vineyard and Winery
Yes, we did finally make it to Lightning Rock Winery and it was so worth it! Talk about stunning views and gracious hosts. The winery is, in fact, not that difficult to find and is close to Lunessence Vineyard and Winery. At the time we were travelling, road work was being done on the Gartrell and Giant’s Head Road intersection, so there was no access to the winery from there. Another option is to take Happy Valley Road to Hillborn Street and Giant’s Head road where you will come upon the winery’s signage.
Sommelier, Katrice Summerland and Events Manager, Tracy Kubek greeted us with open arms and a wine tasting that included several wines, ready to taste and placed on a picnic table under the shade of a big Maple tree. A beautiful breeze was wafting off the lake and I couldn’t have been more content.
Lightning Rock Winery is an independent, small-scale winery and is owned by Ron and Tracy Kubek. The winery is situated at the Elysia Vineyard, where a huge granite rock sits halfway up a volcanic ridge, split in two, and said to be that way because it was struck by lightning. I can believe it. The winery employs natural and organic farming methods and the estate vineyards are lush in Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Viognier, Gamay and Syrah grapes. Less than 3,000 cases of elegant and true to terroir wines are produced from here each year.
Love, love, love Lightning Rock’s Waters and Banks Sauvignon Blanc Pét Nat (2022). So floral and fresh with aromas of honeyed Acacia, summer florals and flavours of poached Asian pear, tropical fruit, beeswax, citrusy and grassy notes on a delicate fizz wrapped up in soft acidity. Grapes for this vintage were whole-cluster double-pressed, fermented in concrete tank and bottled. The wine was so named after the winery’s previous owners, Terry Waters and Cathy Banks. Chill and enjoy it on its own or with an Arugula salad topped with a honey citrus dressing.
The winery had a fun, foot stomping time when they made Elysia Vineyard rosé (2022): Andy, the winery’s cellar hand, dressed as a skeleton on Halloween and and trodden the grapes for this 100% Pinot Noir rosé. After three days on the skins, grapes were whole cluster pressed to neutral French oak puncheon and stainless steel tank, fermented with ambient yeasts and cold stabilized. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered, giving so much bright strawberry, fine herb, watermelon and savoury herb flavours to this fruity, dry, medium-bodied and bright rosé.
Now, the Elysia Vineyard Viognier 2018 is unique indeed. The grapes were sourced from limestone and decomposed granite soils from a vineyard planted in 2006 overlooking Okanagan Lake to the east. Equal amounts of Viognier grapes were spontaneously wild fermented in concrete and neutral oak puncheons, then resting for six months on its lees and the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered. The top note on this dry, just medium-bodied wine is fresh ground coffee (really, I even confirmed it with the winemaker), then notes of honey, baked brie, beeswax, pear compote, flinty notes and citrus blossom flavours fill the mouth. Very unique and interesting!
Of course, the best was saved for last and while I still had a palate. Lightning Rock’s winemaker, Sébastien Hotte brought out a treat for me — a barrel sample of the winery’s 2021 Chardonnay. This vintage was so fragrant with summer florals, fresh on the palate with sun-kissed apple and citrus blossom flavours, rounded, silky, bright and mouth filling with a textured and lingering chalky finish. Absolutely no rough edges on this Chardonnay. I’m looking forward to tasting it in bottle.
Next up… the gift of TIME
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