Introducing: BELOW THE ROAD ROSÉ
/Can’t wait to try Hillsides’s new rosé made from Gjoa’s Vineyard merlot, cabernet sauvignon and our viognier.
Hillside Estates wins prestigious 2023 British Columbia Lieutenant Governor's Platinum award with Gjoa's Vineyard Viognier
/Gjoa’s Vineyard Viognier has come along way! Lieutenant Governor's wine awards
Gjoa's Vineyard receives sustainable winegrowing BC certification
/A proud day for our vineyard, 16 years in the making. We were talking about “organic” and “sustainability” long before the words meant a whole lot to farmers out this way. What a change we have seen in the last 5 years, and it is very cool how some of the big vineyards and wineries, like Mission Hill, have gone this direction. Here’s to many more vineyards and wineries getting certified with SWBC!
Halloween Harvest at Gjoa’s Vineyard - one for the record books
/Well it was quite the year at the vineyard. Late spring and lots of rain into June…we needed sun and heat, lots of it. There was some nail biting and fretting, like farmers do, but September and October were kind to us, and we had a successful Halloween harvest. Three days later it SNOWED and it snowed and it snowed…we spent 2 days trying to save our trees (only 130 baby trees) from the wet snow.
Gjoa's Vineyard Merlot - Hillside Estates gets prestigious awards in 2022
/2018 Gjoa’s Vineyard Merlot, Hillside Estates gets Judges selection in the running for “Best in Class” at Alberta Beverage International Awards in 2022.
2018 Gjoa’s Vineyard Merlot, Hillside Estates gets a silver medal at the National Wine awards of Canada in Niagra Falls, ON in 2022. https://www.winealign.com/awards/2022/07/26/2022-nwac-merlot
largest and broadest competition for Canadian Wine since inception 21 years ago
24 judges tasting 1890 entries from 250 wineries
most important peer competition local wineries can enter
Great job Hillside Estates and Gjoa’s Vineyard!!
What is winter like on the Vineyard?
/It was a chilly winter this year. Temperatures reached lows of -23 for a couple of weeks, and this is not “normal” like everything else seems to be these days. Hopefully, Gjoa’s Vineyard did not sustain too much winter damage. We are hearing that the Naramata Bench may have 10-25% losses, but our neighbours to the North in Kelowna have not faired as well. Time will tell how the valley was impacted.
Photo of the west side of our vineyard in January 2022
2013 Gjoa's Vineyard Merlot chosen for charity OneSky Community Resources
/2013 OneSky Gjoa's Vineyard Merlot Giving Edition!
Buy the 2013 "Giving Edition" Gjoa's Merlot and Hillside will donate $10 for every bottle sold!
OneSky Community Resources has been providing quality supports and services to communities throughout the South Okanagan/Similkameen for over 50 years. From care for newborn babies to services for seniors, we are proud to serve over 600 individuals and their families every day.
2013 Gjoa’s Vineyard Merlot Giving Edition
https://www.hillsidewinery.ca/product/2013-Gjoa-s-Vineyard-Merlot-Copy
Animals on the vineyard
/Its a blessing and a curse! We have a stream through our vineyard that runs into an environmentally sensitive ravine. We attract alot of wildlife including deer, our family of racoons, bunnies, our kitty (bobcat), coyote, a lonely male peacock, the odd bear (don’t be scared, they stay down at the barn), and vast numbers of quail (our favorite). The bird situation is fairly diverse, and if you are lucky, you will see the owls that hang out at dusk…listen for them. George is our pet orangutan, who asked to be included. We agreed although he is rarely seen.
Quail are our free ranging chickens at the vineyard
Red Tail Hawk Saved
/Sadly, our netting on our vines trapped a red tail hawk post harvest 2021. John and I came to the rescue, a blanket, some scissors, gloves and we set aside our fear to save this beautiful bird. It had some massive talons and beak, but the hawk let us rescue him. We now regularly see him flying over the vineyard. It was a fabulous feeling to see him get up, fly to a post, and then fly to a nearby tree.
Baby Owl
/We have 2 baby Great Horned Owls…mom is always close by.
Spring
/With Spring comes new beginnings!
Giant Pencil Crayons on the Vineyard
/What else could we do with this birch tree that was dying? We brought it to life as art!
Gjoa's Vineyard Merlot 2013 makes the Globe and Mail with a 90 score!
/WATERS ON WINE
Ward off winter’s chill with these nine wines
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED 2 DAYS AGOUPDATED JANUARY 13, 2021
This week's recommendations feature a mix of mostly full-bodied merlots with some blends and a richly concentrated shiraz.
News reports of an imminent big chill due to polar-vortex activity in the atmosphere helped shape this week’s wine recommendations. Forecasts suggesting cold air from the Arctic is set to descend into parts of Canada further south than normal inspired a search for wines that could wake up one’s taste buds.
The projections also raised concerns about potential damage to vineyards in the affected areas as a result of extremely low temperatures. Some grapevines can weather prolonged cold snaps better than others. Merlot and sauvignon blanc vines, for instance, aren’t as winter-hardy as riesling, vidal or baco noir.
Vine Alert is a program conducted by the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute at Brock University that monitors the cold hardiness of vineyards throughout Ontario during the dormant period. Recent reports suggest the crop for the 2021 harvest could be significantly affected by sustained temperatures of -23.1 C. Following previous polar-vortex incidents in 2014, 2015 and 2018, growers in Niagara witnessed lower-than-anticipated yields across affected varieties due to bud damage. In some instances, they needed to replace damaged or dead vines as a result of damage to the roots or trunk of the vine.
A vine’s ability to handle cold weather changes throughout its dormant cycle. The good news for wineries and growers is the predicted cold snap would occur during the maximum cold-hardiness period.
When temperatures begin to increase, vines start to break out of dormancy. A deep freeze in March, for instance, typically has more dire consequences for grape growers in affected areas than sub-zero temperatures right now.
It’s worth noting that growers have different ways to protect their vineyards from winter injury, ranging from large wind machines designed to create an inversion by pulling warmer air down to crop levels or employing smudge-pot heaters throughout the vineyard to protect against frost.
To my taste, red wines are more suited to warding off winter’s chill, so the recommendations feature a mix of mostly full-bodied merlots with some blends and a richly concentrated shiraz added for good measure. There’s also a couple of whites that made an impression during recent tastings.
Hillside Gjoa’s Vineyard Merlot 2013 (Canada)
RATING OUT OF 100
90
PRICE: $40
This single-vineyard merlot from 2013 is a new release from Hillside that is developing nicely. A flavourful and complex red, this offers ripe plum and cherry notes with savoury and mocha accents. The fruity character is still fresh and inviting. Drink now to 2023. Available at the above price, direct through hillsidewinery.ca.
Fall Harvest
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October 23 our Vineyard was TEMPORARILY transformed into a winter wonderland
It was a crazy year for us at Gjoa’s Vineyard. Besides Covid 19 and all the uncertainty that came with that we had a very cool wet spring that set things back right from the start. Record rainfall in September when we needed the sun and then the earliest snowfall and frost we’ve ever experienced. Yikes. It is said that grapes need to struggle in order to produce good wine so 2020 will be putting that theory to the test.
Our Viognier was picked on Oct 26th, Merlot on Oct 27th and our Cab Sauv on Oct 31st leaving as much hang time as possible. We have not heard back from Kathy Malone the winemaker at Hillside but even though our yield was way down we are anticipating our flavours will be exceptional. Only time will tell.
We will keep you posted.
Keep the Naramata Bench Green - please sign our petition
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Help Us Keep The Naramata Bench Green !
The City of Penticton is considering changing the current Country Residential zoning to higher density residential. This would literally pave the way for the developer, Canadian Horizons, to build a 350+ subdivision on what is currently pristine hillside wilderness.
In addition, there are currently two adjoining properties on the market sacrificing even more of our environment for a high density development. One is a 90 acre parcel adjacent to Three Blind Mice and the other is a 72 acre “nature lovers paradise” that are both offering “vast potential for a further high density subdivision”. This would be the beginning of the end of the Naramata Bench as we know it.
Copy and paste the following link into browser:
http://chng.it/GWbhQFsdLy
If you love The Naramata Bench and don’t want to see it changed forever, please encourage your friends to sign our petition.
You could also contact the Mayor and Council or the media and tell them how you feel about paving over this world class landscape with suburban, cookie cutter homes, street lights, cul-de-sacs and the resulting traffic nightmare.
email: council@penticton.ca City of Penticton 250-490-2400
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Barn Renovation
/Well it took us 13 years, but we finally got to it with a little help from our friends. Thank you to Anthony Trabinger of Spot on Contracting for all his help.
How John does things like put this cool ladder up on the wall by himself is one of those mysteries of my life with a very creative man.
The best part about the barn reno isn’t having room for tractors, and tools, and farm stuff, but its the ping pong table that is now removed off Gjoa’s bucket list…..as well as the score on the blackboard in the ongoing ping pong battle.
2013 Gjoa's Vineyard Merlot Release August 2020
/NEW LABEL! Gjoa’s vineyard, situated just below our winery, was established 27 years ago. These mature vines produce fruit which stands out with deep plum and mocha aromas and a savoury note to the palate, lending sophistication to the finish. So fun to taste and compare with our Dickinson Vineyard Merlot!
$40.00
2019 British Columbia Lieutenant Governor's Wine Awards Results
Bronze Award Winners
Trees and more trees
/We can’t seem to stop planting trees. Actually we have lost a lot of our beautiful birch trees ( 24 over the last few years ) so we’ve been getting young trees established to replace them once the dreaded bronze birch borer. Over the last five years we have lovingly planted 129 trees but this time we have made sure to diversify our selection with species native to our location as well as a good blend of deciduous and conifers.
This new generation of trees will also need less water once they’re established ( ok, maybe not the five cedars Gjoa is sitting beside ) and better suited to our environment, better located for our vineyard and in time will give us additional privacy. The trees we chose down by the barn, including the Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir are very slow growers but we are confident the next owners will have some magnificent trees to enjoy with their grandchildren.
