Mar 8

Written by: John Gerum
3/8/2010 12:09 PM 

These days in BC and elsewhere it refers to wines produced in low quantity and high quality at small facilities no larger than a garage. These "hand made" wines are all the rage as the cost for these wines is reduced due to the low overhead for these operations.

The newest garagiste winery is Black Cloud hailing from Penticton, BC. The winemaker is Bradley Cooper who is also the winemaker for Township 7. He has released his first and only wine, the 2006 Black Cloud Pinot Noir. At a recent interview and chat in our tasting room he explained that in the future he would like to release three different quality levels of the Black Cloud each one named for a cloud formation such as nimbus or cirrus.

The only varietal that Bradley plans to craft is Pinot Noir, a difficult grape to grow and ferment. I asked him why he choose Pinot Noir given its' difficult nature. Bradley remarked that when he was in college all his classmates gravitated towards sweet white wines such as Hochtaler. He was different, "I drank and enjoyed California Pinot Noir from Paul Masson and that's were my love of Pinot Noir began."

He has control of the vineyards he sources his grapes from in the Okanagan Falls area. The vineyard is composed of glacial alluvial soils which are ideal for the Pinot vine. The vines are quality 667 and 115 clones from Burgundy that are used for the worlds' most famous and best Pinot Noirs'. The yield is quite low also, about two to four tons per acre which is perfect for higher quality Pinot Noir. These smaller vineyards only produce a few hundred cases of wine per year so the wines will be sold out quite early after they are released.

Bradley also indicated he may try to bottle some Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris in the future but for now will stick with the Pinot.

This will be quite a short review as Black Cloud only has one wine so far but the Black Cloud, Pinot Noir 2006 is a well put together wine.  On the nose I detect cassis, cherry and a smoky, spicy component. On the palate ripe fruit and firm but smooth tannins complement the balanced acid levels. An interesting note is a whiff of a sweet sherry or cognac cask, very different than other Pinot Noirs at the same price point in BC. The wine also hints at earth and mineral flavours.

I'm looking forward to future wines from Black Cloud and other small producers in BC. It proves that Garagistes are not a 'pie in the sky' idea but are firmly grounded as part of the BC wine experience.