Jun
11
Written by:
John Gerum
6/11/2008 2:12 PM
St. Hubertus Wines
Last week I had the honour of meeting and interviewing Andy Gebert co-owner and grape grower from St. Hubertus Winery just south of Kelowna. The vineyards were first planted in the 1920's and Andy and his brother have been owners since the early 90's. Andy believes in using as little chemicals as possible in his 76 acre vineyard and tries to let nature balance it out. The site enjoys a number of different soil types from clay to sand and rocky, gravelly soils. This is ideal to plant many different types of vinifera vines including Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Schonberger, Merlot and Pinot Noir among others.
The fires in 2004 burnt down some of the winery and surrounding trees but everything seems to be back to normal with the addition of a new winery and warehouse building. The site faces west so the vineyards receive sunshine late into the evenings in the summertime which helps ripen the grapes to perfection. The more full bodied or oaked wines are bottled under the Oak Bay label, and the more fresh and fruitier are aged in stainless steel tanks and are labeled St. Hubertus in honour of Andy's Swiss background.
Andy led me into the tasting room to sample the newly released 2007 whites along with several 2006 reds. Andy remarked that 2007 was a challenging vintage but in the end the lower yields and hard work in the vineyards resulted in superior fruit.
First up was the 2007 Dry Riesling. This ripe wine punched out tons of peach and citrus flavours with a crisp medium bodied style. The wine was not too dry just a perfect balance of acid and sugars. The Riesling was blended from three different vineyards within St. Hubertus.
The Oak Bay 2007 Gewurztraminer is a fruit punch mélange of lychee, melon and spice. Medium bodied, off dry and soft this wine would be a welcome addition to any patio this summer, great with spicy Asian cuisine.
Chasselas is the famous white grape grown in Switzerland and the St. Hubertus 2007 Chasselas is true to the traditional style. Clean, bright fruit and a fresh clean finish ideal for creamy pasta sauces and soft cheeses.
One of the better surprises was the 2006 Pinot Meunier. Juicy fresh fruit bursting with cherry, raspberry notes balances nicely with spice and a touch of smoke. Bright acidity make this an ideal partner for salmon, tuna and poultry dishes.
The 2006 Pinot Noir showed light clean red berry fruit up front and clean acidity and toasty spice at the finish, an ideal salmon wine.
All these wines are true to where they are grown and Andy and his team does a great job in expressing the full potential of these grapes in every glass of St. Hubertus.