Matt Dumayne
Okanagan Crush Pad is well known for bringing innovation to the Okanagan wine industry, starting out as the first custom crush facility and contract winery in the province, and later pioneering concrete tanks for wine production.
Now the Summerland winery has created a ‘minimal intervention’ line of wines under the brand ‘Free Form’. The lineup includes four separate wines, including one white, one red, an unusual sparkling wine and something in-between.
Free Form Vin Gris is a truly unique wine from Okanagan Crush Pad Winery. Made in a white wine style with Pinot Noir grapes, the wine was whole bunch pressed to large concrete tanks. Added complexity and texture were achieved with a native yeast fermentation and a full malolactic fermentation. T
Free Form Cabernet Franc was destemmed and put into two clay amphora and three large oak barrels. Native fermentation started spontaneously and was finished in spring. After eight months of skin contact the wine was pressed off in June and blended to a concrete tank to settle naturally and bottled mid-August 2018.
The Haywire Switchback Pinot Gris is the wine that started Okanagan Crush Pad’s journey into organic farming and minimal winemaking. From the 2015 vintage, Haywire made 10,000 cases using organically grown grapes, native yeast, concrete tanks and few, if any additives.
And finally, the Narrative XC Method was introduced in 2014 and is a lively, fresh bubbly crafted from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes grown in Summerland, BC. Secondary fermentation took place in our state-of-the-art charmat tanks; designed to lie on their sides, exactly like traditionally made sparkling wine is aged.