Winemaking

Organic & Biodynamic

Biodiversity plays a key role in organic farming.  Since we don’t use any synthetics in our vineyards, we must encourage nature to fill ecological niches and maintain balance.  By allowing flowering plants to grow between the rows, we provide a home for beneficial insects such as ladybugs and praying mantises.  The natural flora also help to improve our soil life and water retention, important elements to growing quality grapes!

Our home vineyard is 17 hectares and the only Demeter certified biodynamic vineyard in British Columbia.  Natural springs emerge on the property, and join with creeks to create a beautiful wetland nature sanctuary that supports a variety of species.

At the core of biodynamic farming is living in harmony with nature, harvesting soulful, beautiful food and returning nutrients back to the earth.

Organic winemaking practices have been an integral part of Summerhill since the Kelowna vineyard was purchased by the Cipes family in 1986. Producing wine organically has a very meaningful benefit to the environment, and some scientists suggest that eating organic foods greatly benefits our health as well.

Aside from these benefits, we believe that organic practices allow for the grapes in our vineyards to honestly express their surroundings, providing deep, terroir-driven qualities that are a true articulation of Okanagan terroir.

Summerhill is committed to producing 100% organic wine. Our Kelowna vineyard entered the certification program in 1988, and has received Demeter Biodynamic certification in 2012. In addition, our winemaking is also certified organic, allowing us to display the Canadian certified organic logo on our bottles, ensuring you can expect a high level of quality and purity.

Okanagan Valley Terroir

Over the last decades, producers in the Okanagan Valley have undertaken great efforts to establish this unique and breathtakingly beautiful valley as North America’s newest premium wine‐growing region. The diversity of vines that thrive in varied microclimates here provides winemakers with a multitude of options to express their creative talents and technical expertise. The region has attracted winemakers from around the world and is now home to vintners from France, Australia, California, New Zealand and South Africa.

The Okanagan Valley is a 124 mile‐long trough that extends north from the 49th parallel into the central southern interior of British Columbia. The valley is lined with multiple bedrocks, their floors and lower slopes overlaid with the rich silt, sand and gravel over 10,000‐year old glacial deposits.

The northern end of the Sonoran Desert eco-zone, which extends all the way south to Mexico, just barely reaches across the United States‐Canada border to British Columbia, up to the south Okanagan towns of Osoyoos and Oliver. Referred to as Canada’s only pocket desert, the arid climate of the southern British Columbia interior shapes the geographical landscape for viticulture.

Climate

The climate of the Okanagan Valley is governed by the region’s location in the lee of the Coast Mountain Range. These mountains, with peaks of over 8,000 feet, are effective weather blocks. While the weather west of the Coast Range in Vancouver is wet, a rain shadow effect is produced eastward in the Okanagan Valley. Rainfall is lowered to an annual average 16 inches in the north, near Kelowna, and eight inches in the south, around Osoyoos. Summer months are dry and warm with rainfall usually in the form of brief showers. June is the wettest month. Hot periods occur when dry continental air invades the area from the desert region to the southeast, in the United States. Temperatures can often reach 95° Fahrenheit or more. The average temperature during the warmest month in the south Okanagan is 71.6°F. By way of comparison, the average temperature during the warmest month in Bordeaux, France is 67.3° Fahrenheit, and annual precipitation is 31 inches. In the Napa Valley, California, the average temperature in the warmest month is 66.4° Fahrenheit, and the annual rainfall is 25.6 inches.

Geography

The Okanagan Valley falls in the Northern Hemisphere’s wine‐growing belt and shares the same latitude as Northern German and French vineyards. While referred to as a cool‐climate wine region, unique microclimates exist throughout the valley. The northern tip of the Okanagan Valley is at 50°N, and the southern tip is at 49°.

A chain of pristine blue lakes, fed by several rivers, runs the length of the Valley, moderating both the intense summer heat and chilly winter air. Viticulturists throughout the Okanagan depend on the moisture moderated climate. Intense sunlight and minimal rainfall allow the grapes to ripen to their full maturity, while cool nights help them to retain high acidity.

THE

Pyramid

We have a twenty year experiment proving the effect of sacred geometry on liquids with a twenty year track record of international gold medals. The goal from the beginning was and is to make the finest wine in the world, especially sparkling wines.

The French tradition of putting sparkling wines in a dark cool place for thirty days for the cuvee and dosage to ‘marry’ was the original inspiration to achieve this goal. The wines are made using only minimal intervention winemaking, and the clarification in this True Pyramid is the final step in production. These are alive wines full of nature’s grandness, made in the most unique winery in the world.

Composting

& Chicken Coops

We compost all non-wine production outputs (grape solids, stems, seeds, skins, and yeast sediments), landscaping outputs and kitchen compost. If you dine in our restaurant and don’t finish your plate, it will be scraped into a compost bucket rather than into the garbage.

Summerhill uses no animal byproducts in its winemaking, and is therefore vegan friendly. Some animal byproducts commonly used in winemaking include fish bladders, gelatin, egg whites, milk, and milk byproducts. Summerhill uses none of these ingredients in our wine.

We were once asked whether our Biodynamic practices are vegan friendly. Some biodynamic preparations are made with animal parts, and our farm composts are made with animal manures. These animal parts are not in the wine or in any way touching the grapes. They are used as a medium to create beneficial soil bacteria that aid processes in the grapevine’s immune system. We must leave it to each individual vegan to decide whether the biodynamic preparations are a deal breaker or not.

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