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Michael Botner
Don Triggs
Don Triggs checks leaf vigour in Margaret's Bench vineyard
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Michael Botner
Pascal Madevon
Pascal Madevon and a worker review Ranch irrigation weather station data on the iPhone.
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Michael Botner
Culmina Winery
View of Culmina Winery and Arise Bench Vineyard.
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Michael Botner
Dryland farming project
Dryland farming project vines planted on Stan's bench hillside.
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Michael Botner
Margaret's Bench Vineyard
Don, Elaine and Sara Triggs started Culmina Family Estate Winery with the simple goal of making the highest quality wines possible.
The Triggs named their winery ‘Culmina’. Translating to the ‘peak‘ or ‘apex’ in Latin, they chose the name to reflect not only their lifetime of work in the wine industry, but also their desire to create the highest possible quality grapes from their terroir.
Producing B.C. wines from unique grape varieties like Austria’s prolific Grüner Veltliner is risky. While the late ripening variety makes charming wines for easy drinking, it is little known outside of central Europe, apart from a few pockets on the American side of the Pacific Northwest. Despite several challenges, Donald and Elaine Triggs, co-owners of Culmina Family Estate Winery which straddles Hester Creek on the Golden Mile Bench, embraced Grüner on the advice of Karl Kaiser, the Austrian born co-founder and former winemaker of Inniskillin in Niagara-on-the-Lake. After obtaining virus-free vines acceptable to Canadian authorities at the University of California nursery, Triggs planted a small, three-acre block on Culmina’s Margaret’s Bench, the highest elevation vineyard in the South Okanagan, in 2011. To achieve ripeness, “half of the berries are dropped before the harvest,” says Triggs. Also, “ripeness is uneven, so we have to pick every row twice by hand, a costly undertaking.”
Grüner’s strengths include exceptional winter hardiness and a reputation for producing stylish, food friendly wines sought after by restaurants to pair with Southeast Asian-influenced, Pacific Rim cuisine. Naming it Unicas, only 60 cases of its first Grüner were made from the third leaf in 2013 with production rising to 284 cases for the 2014 vintage.
After a distinguished career in the wine industry, which culminated with the sale of Vincor to Constellation Brands in 2006, Don and Elaine Triggs wanted to run a family winery with their business and marketing savvy daughter Sara. With the services of Bordeaux-based vineyard and winery operations consultant Alain Sutré, they researched a variety of sites before acquiring the southeast-facing Arise vineyard on the Golden Mile in 2007. Rigorous data collection showed degree days of 1,516, similar to Bordeaux and indicated it was best suited for red Bordeaux varieties. It was decided to grub up the existing, mature 12 acre vineyard, and replace it with 10 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, with some Syrah in the warmest locations.
The search for a location to grow white varieties resulted in the 2008 purchase of two vineyard sites above Arise. Suitable for Chardonnay and Riesling at the higher elevation section and Malbec and Petit Verdot on the lower areas with the 1,800 degree days, the highest of any on Culmina’s property, Stan’s Bench stretches north and south along the mountainside. Cool climate varieties went to the 10 acre Margaret’s Bench site, reaching 600 metres, the highest in the South Okanagan. At 1,300 degree days, it is also one of the coolest, with conditions comparable to Burgundy’s northerly Dijon vineyards. It is planted with Riesling allocated to stonier soils and Grüner to the schist-like soil areas, as well as Chardonnay.
While Arise Bench and Stan’s Bench are part of the new Golden Mile Bench GI (Geographic Indication), the first and only one approved by the BC government, Margaret’s Bench was deemed too high and is not part of the new GI. “There are geological reasons why soil composition of higher elevation sites like Margaret’s Bench are not included, an indication that the approval process is working as it should,” says Triggs.
Preparing the radically diverse, 3 vineyard, 56 acre site took 2 years and consisted of aerating the soil, hand-picking some 3,500 tonnes of rocks with on-site crushing and re-purposing for roads and pathways, applying locally-sourced cow manure compost to enhance organic content, and a cover crop to prevent soil degradation and erosion. Recognizing that growing conditions – such as temperature and relative humidity, soils, elevation and aspect - varied enormously throughout the site, the Sutré-Triggs team took radical measures to ensure precision as to uniformity of vine vigour and ripeness, while still respecting the existing lay of the land.
Early in the project, they utilized 20 temperature/relative humidity loggers and 60 one metre pits to ascertain not only soil type but also mineral and water retention characteristics. This provided critical data for the selection and placement of the most suitable rootstocks and clones. At 2,044 vines per acre, with vines planted every 1.1 metres, in rows 1.8 metres apart, density is 50 per cent higher than the average, and results in “33 per cent lower crop per vine,” says Triggs. French-trained vineyard manager & winemaker Pascal Madevon adds, “Increasing competition between vines forces roots deeper to find water and nutrients in the mineral-rich sub-soil, so they most effectively express Culmina’s distinctive terroir. It also reduces the size of the canopy from 40 to 20 cm, lettingmore filtered light reach the berries.”
Micro block farming is where the advanced monitoring and control technology makes a grand entrance. “Based on data already collected, Culmina divided the site into 43 individual micro blocks, each averaging 1.25 acres. “The smaller the micro-block, the more precise we are in ensuring even distribution of water where and when it is needed,” explains Madevon.
A “Ranch” irrigation system with 2.5 valves per micro-block, approximately 1,000 vines per valve, for a total of 108, was installed on the property. Integrated with solar-powered weather stations on each bench, it provides virtual data on soil moisture, evapo-transpiration rates and temperature, as well as relative humidity, rainfall, and wind speed and direction. Madevon reviews and adjusts the irrigation settings every day in different parts of the same block or more widely using a cloud-based, Iphone app. “I check the weather station outputs for things like water in the soil and the weather forecast to get an idea of the next day’s temperature and rainfall,” he says. He also walks through the vineyard, taking pressure bomb measurements and watching for stress on vine leaves, before reprogramming the valves. “Every day, vineyard workers check if the system is working properly and report breakages and other problems,” he says.
Once all of the irrigation valves are installed, the Maxi-Jet below canopy nozzle irrigation system was put in place. It is effective as means of controlling vine vigour. “Much like rain without watering the leaves, distribution of water under and between vines, as well as the rows, is very thorough,” says Madevon. “In addition, a flourishing cover crop increases bio-diversity by allowing 40 per cent more beneficial insects to thrive. Without any overlap, reduction of water use is a bonus.”
The goal for Culmina is to have the uniformity of vine vigour everywhere on the site. For Madevon, the work continues in January and February while vines are inactive. He exhaustively surveys the entire vineyard, taking vine trunk measurements for each panel consisting of 5 vines. The readings are compiled into a vigour map showing 4 levels of vigour by colour. It is analyzed and compared with the previous year’s map to detect areas which require the attention, such as the addition of cow manure.
On a steep, rugged hill sloping towards Stan’s Bench, Culmina has embarked on a project to determine the viability of dryland farming on the property. “With the arid South Okanagan’s irrigation dependence and looming water shortages, we’d like to find out whether or not water consumption can be reduced while still growing high quality grapes,” says Donald Triggs. In 2012, nearly 1,000 Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Syrah vines were grafted onto drought-resistant, high vigour rootstocks known for going up to 30 feet metres downward in search of water. Planted 2 by 2 metres apart, the young vines are earmarked to be Gobelet or Bush vine trained, common throughout the most arid regions of the Mediterranean. “At this early stage, the vines produce about one barrel of wine per hillside and flavours are interesting,” reports Triggs.
Of many other innovations in Culmina’s operations, EV outlets are an indication of how strongly the winery stresses sustainability. Visitors to the winery who are traveling in a Tesla from afar are welcome to use the special charger provided. Winemaker Madevon has traded in his winery truck for a Chevy Volt, driving to work from home in Penticton and back every day. “The cost is $1 each way on the grid,” he says. “If it works out, future winery vehicles could include a Tesla SUV.”■
CULMINA SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES
Land Use
- Hand-hoeing and cultivation of weeds to minimize the use of undesirable sprays
- Using hand-split cedar end-posts and galvanized steel in-row posts in lieu of chemically treated wooden ones
- Sourcing local cow manure compost to reduce the need for chemical fertilizers
- Developing a natural cover crop to support bio-diversity and beneficial insect populations in the vineyard
- Minimizing tilling and cultivation in the vineyard to prevent soil degradation
Water
- Conversion of the old vineyard from overhead irrigation to maxi-jet under canopy irrigation which uses much less water
Waste
- Chipping, not burning, of old vines into compost material
- Reclaiming old trellising wires and aluminum irrigation lines for sale to salvage companies
- On-site crushing and re-purposing of rocks pulled off of vineyard for roads and pathways
Energy & Emissions
- Installation of north-facing windows and skylights in the winery to reduce the lighting, heating and cooling requirements of the facility
- Installation of high quality wall insulation in the winery, machine shed and workers quarters
- Installation of double-paned windows and under floor insulation to reduce the rate of energy consumption
Traditional Technology
- Grapes harvested from the estate are picked by hand.
- The fruit are hand-sorted on a vibrating table.
- Gravity-flow designed winery built into the side of the mountain means the grapes are transferred into the winery by gravity instead of a must pump. This also allows for pump-less rackings and transfers.
- A simple basket press is used. Its gentle pressing ensures that stems and seeds do not crack.
Innnovative Technology
- Bucher Oscillys destemmer for gentle handling during the crushing and destemming of fruit.
- Modern, stainless steel, temperature-controlled conical fermentation tanks.
- Peristaltic pump, the same kind of pump used to transfer live fish at aquariums from one tank to another.
- Electric Vehicle Charging Station outlet on-site.
- Ranch irrigation system – solar powered weather stations with cloud based data monitoring and Maxi-Jet below canopy nozzle irrigation system.