Best of BC Riesling
Photo credit: Wines of British Columbia
I make no effort to conceal my zeal for what I consider the King of grapes. Still on my mission to turn everyone into a Riesling fan, I’m showcasing some of the best of BC to celebrate International Riesling Day!
My previous post from 2024 will give you plenty of background on this grape. I still believe (and I’m not alone in this) that British Columbia produces outstanding Riesling, and it continues to utterly fail to get the recognition and appreciation that it deserves. Will you help spread the word?
Vineyard Updates
With BC wineries recovering from severely reduced harvests due to cold damage, I wanted to provide an update on how everyone’s Riesling vines are looking. It is one of the more cold-hardy varieties, but not immune to extreme cold. Here’s what I heard from top Riesling producers in BC.
Fort Berens produces at least 3 versions of Riesling, as it’s one of their signature varieties. Winemaker Alex Nel reports that the vines on their Lillooet estate, “fared relatively well with no vine mortality, and minimal bud damage. We anticipate a full Riesling harvest in 2025.”
Stephanie Stanley is the winemaker at Peak Cellars up in Lake Country. She shares similarly positive news that throughout the recent tough winters, their Riesling has prevailed. However, they will not be expanding the varietal at this time. “For 2024, it was the only fruit we harvested. That being said, we are not planting any more Riesling than we already have… It is my mission in my career to help people see Riesling in a new light - everyone should like at least ONE style of it!” Steph is my new ally.
According to Joie Farm’s Sales and Marketing Coordinator Stephanie Madryga, “our Riesling vineyard in Summerland probably did the best of all of our vineyards, despite last year’s freeze. It was an almost normal harvest, just a lower yield than expected!”
Penticton-based Four Shadows Vineyard & Winery is run by Joka Borren and her husband Wilbert. Joka is grateful for the promising position they are in with their vineyards. “We’ve been tremendously fortunate to experience minimal vine loss in 2024. Our Riesling vines reminded us again of their tenacity and produced a small amount of fruit.” For them, a normal harvest would be about 20 tonnes. Last year they got about 3. “A hungry bear took its share, which left us with 1.5 tonnes. This will give us about 90 cases of 2024 Riesling Classic.” Joka expects to continue producing wines exclusively from their own estate grown grapes going forward.
Finally, Marketing Manager for Tantalus Vineyards, Stephanie Mosley (do all Stephanies just love Riesling??) explains: “Riesling has always been the hardiest variety on our home acreage. Our youngest blocks showed the most damage - we’ve been replanting severely damaged vines and carefully nurturing less damaged vines back. Our older Riesling vines have shown a lot of resiliency.” Overall though, their 2024 crop was reduced. “We saw a tiny Riesling crop emerge and have a very special 150 cases planned for release in the coming years.”
Before we get to the featured wines, I have to talk about sweetness again. This is the thorn in Riesling’s side. Its many expressions are all beautiful, yet so many people refuse to give it a chance because they are convinced they don’t like sweet wines. If you enjoy lemonade, or iced tea, or sugar in your tea or coffee, these all have sweetness that is balanced with either acidity or bitterness. I am certain that if you tried a quality wine that has some sweetness in balance with its acidity, the universal human experience of sensory satisfaction would indeed light up your brain like a Christmas tree.
In some poor-quality mass-produced wines, sugar is added to make the wine more palatable. This does not happen today in BC wines. Any sweetness you taste is coming solely from the grapes themselves. Honest!
If the concern is carbs/calories, I hear you too. Here are some numbers. A typical glass of dry white wine has about 120 calories - all from alcohol. If the wine is noticeably sweet, say around 20g/L of residual sugar, then one glass will have only 3g of sugar - less than a teaspoon. That brings the total calorie count to 132, which is slightly less than a glass of dry, full-bodied red wine like Shiraz or Cab Sav. So if you want low-calorie wine, then a low-alcohol, off-dry Riesling actually fits the bill nicely!
Finally, here they are: 10 of the top BC Rieslings! I have listed the alcohol (percentage) followed by sugar level (in g/L residual sugar) for each wine, to help give you an idea of the style. When you see ‘TDN,’ I’m referring to trimethyldihydronapthalene, the compound responsible for Riesling’s characteristic ‘diesel’ scent.
Awards include Silver at the All Canadian Wine Championships 2024, and inclusion in both the Top 50 at the BC Wine Awards, and the Naramata Bench Winery Association’s ‘Best of the Bench.’ The term Classic is becoming common in Germany to signify a traditional, sweeter style. The name is a perfect fit here. A simple homemade fruit cocktail comes to mind as aromas of honeydew melon, juicy peach, citrus supremes and fleshy yellow apple radiate up from the glass. There’s no trace of TDN. The palate is medium dry, and that juicy sweetness is doing a lot of heavy lifting - masking the acidity, pushing the long finish, and making this wine extremely crushable.
Fruit comes from two of their estate blocks, the highest and lowest elevations. Cool fermentation is drawn out exceptionally long, contributing textural complexity and ensuring complete dryness. This wine was named in BC’s Top 50 at the BC Wine Awards, won Silver at the LA International Wine & Spirit Competition 2024, and Bronze medals from both the Decanter World Wine Awards and WineAlign in 2024. A Riesling that would be at home in a foundry, with intense aromas emulating fuel (TDN) and molten salt. Steely and racy, lead by scorching acidity without a lick of sweetness behind which to hide. You could easily pair this with vinegar-dressed greens or a straight up grapefruit. Lovers of dry Riesling: Peak Cellars delivers what you want.
Sourced from Whitfield Vineyard in Summerland, grapes received the conventional Riesling treatment of destemming, crushing, and pressing to stainless steel fermentation tanks. The wine spent 9 months on lees to make a slightly more creamy, rounded style. Final alcohol content is 11.7% leaving a modest 20g/L residual sugar, just enough to make it pleasantly off dry. This wine won Silver at WineAlign in 2024. Beautifully captivating with lemon/lime jelly bellies, peach punch, jasmine, TDN, and chalky citrus pith. Acidity is round, soft, and enveloping, while a juicy medley of ripe apples waits on this wine’s event horizon. Nothing is missing - I’d call this a complete Riesling.
Multiple vineyards from the estate and neighbouring East Kelowna Slopes growers are blended into this flagship Riesling, ensuring a consistent product year to year. Exclusively whole bunch pressing is used for this wine. Just 15g/L residual sugar remain; enough to be just off-dry and make friends with anyone. Peach jam, lemon peel, and apple gelée form the fruit character, with highlights of orange blossom and some TDN. The overall profile is round and endlessly mouthwatering. This is Riesling, pure and simple.
Produced exclusively from their 47-year old estate Riesling vines, which were harvested half way through October and whole-cluster pressed. The wine was promptly bottled before spring 2023, and cellared for 2 years before release. Varietal character is in abundance, with intense orchard fruits, acacia blossom, and petrol. The wine is dry, bright, and juicy, with a saline kick and fat, lime rind and green apple acidity - starting to display some baked apple. Nothing has been sacrificed in making this benchmark, characterful dry Riesling. This will literally age for decades.
Since 2019 Synchromesh have been releasing a range of single-block Rieslings from vines planted in Storm Haven Vineyard, part of a 102-acre plot co-owned with Joie Farm and Terravista. This Okanagan Falls property is like a Riesling technical school, churning out a diverse range of specialized, expressive, but approachable Rieslings. From a single block on decomposing granite and sandy gravel, this wine sees only stainless steel treatment. Many comparisons can be drawn here to a fresh young Rheingau Kabinett. Swarming with peach, apricot, mango, honeysuckle, and petrol, there’s also the slightest effervescent tickle. Naked and unashamed, this is Riesling’s pristine spirit in a bottle, demonstrating the synchronicity of towering acidity and generous sweetness. This and the low alcohol make it downright irresistible.
This is an exciting new project under Terravista. From co-owned Storm Haven Vineyard in Okanagan Falls, fruit from two blocks was harvested separately, whole-cluster pressed, and the juice was blended together for cool co-fermentation. This won a silver medal from WineAlign in 2024. It’s chock full of honeysuckle, TDN, and Okanagan peach and apple aromas. The palate is off-dry and brightened by high acid with perfectly struck balance. Its finish is drawn out by the taste of tangy, syrupy fruits. They’ve absolutely nailed Riesling.
Coming from their Summerland Bench Estate vineyard, these grapes were mostly destemmed (73%), and 27% whole-cluster pressed. The wine was aged on lees for 4 months in stainless steel. This is a nice approach that brings a touch of round, creaminess to the profile of citrus fruit and orchard blossoms. Dry with a juicy, medium body, there’s a nice long finish driven by perky, limey acidity and mineralic apple skin. Versatile and so drinkable.
Silver medal winner at WineAlign 2024. To help boost the 2023 crop, 57% of the fruit was sourced in Naramata, the remaining 43% from their Lillooet estate. All grapes were crushed and given 12 hours skin contact. Fermentation was stopped according to taste and the wine was aged 4 months on the lees. The bump in RS isn’t enough to move beyond dry, but does fill out the body nicely, plumping up the apple-peach-pear triad and anchoring the acidity. Acacia honey, flint, and pear skin notes provide complexity, with a long, primarily briny finish. Fresh, balanced, and interesting.
Proudly Lillooet VQA as all the grapes come from their estate vineyards. After hand harvesting, 60% was whole-cluster pressed and 40% crushed and allowed 12 hours skin contact. Wild fermentation was conducted in oak barrels, and aged 9 months (12% new barrels). This wine received two silver medals in 2024 - WineAlign and Decanter World Wine Awards. The quality is undeniable although the style may confuse some. More white Rioja than Riesling, leading with notes of dill, lemon cream, spearmint, and toast before subtle peach pie and lemon zest fill out the medium+ body. Creamy citrus and cheesy undertones round out the long finish, like baked Brie with a lemony apple compote. One of a kind.
The bottom line
Just within these 10 outstanding examples of lip smacking BC Riesling, you can find a style to please anyone. Different levels of sweetness, some lighter and some richer, and even oaked - all with mouth watering, food-friendly acidity. There really is something for everyone. Am I making my case yet?
This Blog Post was written by our contributor: Matt Tinney with MT Wine Consulting (@mtwineconsulting).