Tender Hope Winery is relatively new to the BC wine scene. The wine industry however is not new for owner and winemaker, Ephraim Perel, who has more than twenty-five years experience as grower, cellar hand and winemaker.
Ephraim was born in Israel and he fell in love with wine twenty-seven years ago while he was living in Spain. His passion for wine has taken him around the globe, but now he and his family have settled in the Okanagan Valley. Prior to starting his own winery in 2016, Ephraim worked at Summerhill Pyramid Winery, Nagging Doubt Winery and 1st R.O.W. Estate Winery.
Tender Hope Winery is named after Ephraim’s daughter, Rou Xi, which when translated from Chinese means tender hope. This small winery was born from the desire to create special wines with the hope that people would enjoy them while gathered with friends and family.
Ephraim is the winemaker, driver, cleaner, packer and salesperson at Tender Hope, and he says that he would do more, but there are just not enough hours in the day.
With the rising cost of real estate in BC, it is cost prohibitive to own vineyards, especially for young wineries just starting out. So Tender Hope currently works with eight vineyards located in the Okanagan and the Columbia Valley. Ephraim works with growers that he feels a connection to – those that share the same philosophy for growing as he has.
Ephraim believes that good grapes and special vineyards create the best wines. When making wine, he strives to let the fruit shine, using traditional winemaking methods with minimal intervention. He states, “the way I look at it is that the fruit is the painting and the oak and tannins are the frame holding it up.”
At the moment Tender Hope Winery does not have a tasting room, but they are currently offering complimentary shipping across Canada with any order of six bottles or more.
The tasting room at Tender Hope Winery is slated to open in May 2021, so stay tuned!
2017 Midnight Black Syrah $36.00
This wine is 100% Syrah. The grapes hail from Lawrence Vineyard, which is located within the Columbia Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area). This wine was fermented with 40% of the grapes still on stem and it was aged in French oak (30% new) for 20 months.
After three hours in the decanter this Syrah has a fairly pronounced nose of violet, black pepper, cured meat, blackcurrant, black plum, licorice, sweet spice and mocha. This is a dry, full bodied wine with high acidity and medium tannins. The palate offers black pepper, cured meat, tobacco, black currant and chili dark chocolate with a medium finish.
I paired this Syrah with a delicious pizza topped with sausage, mushroom and red onion.