Edible Vancouver Island Mar/Apr 2023

L O C A L L I B A T I O N S

A FLOURISHING FINISH Inventive local dessert wines are the perfect accompaniment to your final course

WORDS TIM PAWSEY

I t’s sad but true: in recent years, dessert wines have become the Rodney Dangerfield of the wine world. (For those who don’t recall, Dangerfield was a comedian whose famous, self-depre cating line “I don’t get no respect” became a popular cliché in the ’70s and ’80s.) With a few notable exceptions, such as Bordeaux darling Château d’Yquem or Hungary’s celebrated Tokaji Aszú, dessert wines get little, if any, respect. Even Port, once considered de rigueur to cap off any serious meal, has fallen on hard times. And as for icewine? A changing climate and rising grape prices have curtailed the once prized elixir’s production. Yet on Vancouver Island, the appetite for dessert wines remains healthy. Here they truly run the gamut. Brimming with local character, they embrace myriad styles developed over several de cades. In the 1970s, like the Okanagan, Vancouver Island was home to a number of experimental plantings. Of 130 or more variet ies trialed, the more successful formed the foundation of today’s industry. A number of original vines still survive, including a rare planting of Black Muscat at Blue Grouse Estate Winery. Blue Grouse winemaker Bailey Wil liamson reckons you could probably trace the variety’s lineage “back to Ancient Mesopotamia and the birth place of agriculture.” Specifically, Black Muscat is a red vinifera cross of Schiava Grossa and Muscat of Al exandria. Williamson says the variety can be challenging to grow. It tends to sprawl, perhaps in part due to the terroir, and “also doesn’t ripen to high sugars or contain much in the way of tannin.” Due to limited supply, the winemaker decided the grape is best suited to making a drier, fortified wine and has adopted a solera program, making a barrel a year from 2012. That means, Wil liamson explains, “Black Muscat Fortified is non-vintage and will always have some of the first production in it from 2012,” also known as “The Spirit of The Blue Grouch”—aka Paul Brunner, who purchased the winery that year (though the winery recently sold to members of the Jackson family). LEAN I NG TO PORT While Pinot Noir is becoming the more prevalent red grape on the Island, there’s also still no shortage of Marechal Foch around. In earlier days, it was favoured for its ability to ripen early—some thing that’s no longer much of an issue since the onset of climate change. “Foch” features in a number of popular, fortified Port style wines. Often the spirit used comes from just up the road— and occasionally with some interesting twists. With one eye on sustainability, Unsworth Vineyards takes a

unique approach to making its Ovation dessert wine, made from 100% Marechal Foch. “A challenge with winemaking is that for every part of the process between fruit reception and bottling there’s always waste,” says Unsworth general manager Chris Tu ryk. “For instance, juice is often left over in hoses and filters. But instead of putting it down the drain, we keep it and send it to Nanaimo’s Arbutus Distillery. They send it back to us as spirit, which we use to fortify Ovation.” The practice helps the winery’s septic system by keeping the pH in balance. Plus, “It’s a great way to save a few litres during winemak ing; it also means we’re supporting a local business,” says Turyk. “This way we’re able to hold onto the juice, age the fortified wine in-barrel—and add to our bottom line.” Like Blue Grouse, Unsworth produces Ovation also under a solera system, now in its 12th vintage. The grapes used are Cowichan Valley-grown Marechal Foch. And the resulting wine yields fla vours of dried cherry, coffee, raisin and caramel. Turyk’s favourite food match? With bittersweet dark chocolate or, better still, with creamy, blue Abergavenny from Halt whistle Cheese in nearby Duncan.

Brimming with local character, [dessert wines] embrace myriad styles developed over several decades.

TAST I NG THE WI LD S I DE Not every Island dessert wine is made with vinifera grapes. In fact, some impressive drops are made with unculti vated—as in wild—blackberries. A perennial award winner, Rocky Creek’s wild blackberry is unusual because it’s neither fortified nor oak-aged, which al

lows the purity of the fruit to shine through. On the palate, this “adult blackberry juice” (as the winery dubs it) starts out seduc tively sweet and intensely fruity through to a dry finish, making it pretty versatile. Enjoy it as a substitute for cassis, mixed with sparkling wine in a Kir Royal, or as a very respectable Port alterna tive. Even though it’s unfortified, it still clocks in at a heady 16% alcohol by volume (ABV). By comparison, authentic Port has to be a minimum of 17.5%. When winemaker Brent Westholme arrived at Averill Creek Vine yard in 2018, he decided to take the winery’s nod to traditional Tawny Port—also made with wild blackberries—in a new, far more local direction. Westholme steeped it with a blend of cedar, Cowichan-grown tea leaves and tea blends, cardamom and pink peppercorn to come up with a playful Vermouth-styled apéritif he feels is more indicative of the Pacific Northwest. A different twist, this versatile drop may also be enjoyed after the meal with sharp cheeses or desserts featuring dried fruit or baking spices.

S I PP I NG A CLASS I C Ultimately, no parade of dessert friendly wines would be complete without Venturi-Schulze’s Brandenburg no. 3. Over the years, it’s

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