Stephen Wyse
Stephen Wyse of Young & Wyse in his Osoyoos vineyard.
Soon after Stephen Wyse, co-owner of Young & Wyse, planted two acres of Zinfandel sourced from Vintage Nursery in California in 2008, a hard frost hit the Osoyoos vineyard in October. Because Zinfandel vines grew faster, they were more susceptible to frost damage. “After nursing them along for nearly ten years, I decided to take the weak ones out a couple of years ago,” Wyse says. “After cutting the healthy ones down to the graft, we interspaced the rows with Syrah. Now with only a quarter an acre of Zinfandel left, it’s more of a fun thing, a specialty.
“Typically, we take the clusters down to one from four big, honkin’ bunches. Since exposure is important, the rows are oriented north-south on the gently-sloping lake bench to catch as much sun as possible. The fruit needs the sun to break down and soften the tannins. Without lots of sun and some wind, rot can creep into the bunches in the late fall. Picking takes place with ripeness at 24-25 brix and we remove any fruit we don’t like on the sorting table. Compared to the jamminess of California Zinfandels, we are looking for a more restrained, old world style using a fermenting temperature of 25 degrees and more new oak for aging.”
Young & Wyse Collection 2013 Zinfandel emphasizes complexity and rich, spicy, densely-packed fruit. The key players are hot spice with stewed plum, blackberry, and black raspberry fruit with notes of eucalyptus, nuts, chocolate, tar and coffee.