In April I attended an event at Science World called Origins of Wine: The Golden Mile Bench. Located at the foot of Mount Kobau in Oliver, the Golden Mile Bench was named British Columbia’s first sub-appellation in 2015. This area is unique for several reasons including its calcium and mineral-rich soil, produced by glacial deposits, creating a distinct terroir.
The Origins of Wine event hosted several wineries from the Golden Mile, including one that I had never heard of before, CheckMate Artisanal Winery. That evening CheckMate was offering two of their Chardonnays and it only took one taste to know these wines were extraordinary. The wines were layered and elegant with well integrated oak; I had to know more about this winery. I quickly learned that they focus exclusively on two varietals: Chardonnay and Merlot. After tasting their Chardonnay, I was dying to know what their Merlot was like, so at the end of June I enjoyed a tour and tasting with wine maker, Philip McGahan.
Philip McGahan is originally from Australia where he worked as a lawyer. Having been born and raised in rural Australia, he began to feel penned-in by city life. Although he had a keen interest in wine, he knew he could never afford a vineyard, so he decided to go back to school and become a winemaker. After graduating Philip worked in the Hunter Valley in Australia before moving to the Russian River Valley in California to work as the winemaker at Williams Selyem. Philip’s journey from Australia to California and now to British Columbia can almost be seen as an exodus from the impact of global warming. He has written an interesting article about winemaking and climate change in which he comments:
“The wine grape has been called “the canary in the coal mine of agriculture.” There’s no question it has gotten far warmer in many of the world’s wine regions. In fact, it has become too hot to make truly elegant Chardonnays in some previously celebrated regions like Napa. Today, the canary has flown 800 miles north all the way into Canada, to what some scientists call the “magical climate zone” for Chardonnay, and that’s exactly why I moved there.”[1]
Philip moved to BC to take on the challenge of making five distinct and sophisticated Chardonnays as the winemaker at CheckMate. Everything in the vineyard is done by hand from canopy management, to leaf-pulling, to cluster-thinning. The wines are fermented, utilizing mostly indigenous yeasts, and they are unfiltered and unfined; the results are simply phenomenal. I had high expectations for the Merlot, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint. I am confident that these wines would pair well with food, but for me they are meant to enjoy as I sit and contemplate, accompanied by some good jazz.
This incredible winery seems to have come out of nowhere; so where did it come from? One could almost say it began in 1981 when Anthony von Mandl amalgamated all his assets, including his home, and just managed to purchase a winery called Golden Valley in Kelowna. Von Mandl “believed in the Okanagan’s winemaking potential”[2] but the banks wouldn’t lend him any more money. He had to get creative to generate the kind of revenue he needed to build what he envisioned. So he undertook a series of ventures which included reinvigorating Golden Valley Winery’s line of cider, renaming it Okanagan Premium Cider. Von Mandl used the revenue from this project and several others to create his “audacious dream: to build one of the world’s 10 most recognized wineries in a region that nearly no one had heard of.”[3] This winery is of course, Mission Hill.
In an interview with Montecristo Magazine von Mandl is quoted saying, “I have believed from the very beginning that this region would belong on the world stage. CheckMate is a reiteration of that.”[4] CheckMate began very quietly, almost in secret, generating momentum when von Mandl brought Philip McGahan on board in early 2013. Von Mandl acquired Domaine de Combret Estate Winery in Oliver in 2012, and it is now the physical home of CheckMate. The property, up until recently, had only two modest structures. This summer, however, a pop-up tasting room called The Installation was craned onto the property. The Installation opened on July 29th and was designed by Seattle-based architect Tom Kundig, the same architect who is also responsible for the stunning architecture at Mission Hill. The Installation allows visitors to taste the phenomenal wines CheckMate has produced while taking-in some amazing vistas of the vineyard and the valley.
The Installation will be open for the rest of the summer from 10:30-6:00 and I highly recommend a visit!