Isle of Plenty

How Garry Oaks produces award-winning wines on Salt Spring

By Christina Burridge

MARCEL MERCIER LIKES TO THINK he might be descended from a namesake Jesuit priest credited with making the first wine ever in Canada out of wild grapes in New France. From five generations of Albertan farming stock, he’s loved dirt since he was a kid growing prize pumpkins. After graduating in computer science, he ignored an aptitude test that suggested he become a farmer, went into resource management and travelled the world before he and partner Elaine Kozak bought one of the oldest farms on Salt Spring Island in 1999.

They were looking for a new venture that would combine their scientific and business backgrounds and thought running a vineyard would be a cool thing to do. They’d considered the Okanagan, but settled on Salt Spring because it had good infrastructure (a deli, a coffee roaster, lots of artists) and a handful of people experimenting with grape growing. Garry Oaks Winery looks over the Burgoyne Valley to the sea, 10 steeply sloped acres on what was once the site of an ancient lake that left behind a mix of sand, gravel and loam.

Unlike some coastal wine growers, Mercier and Kozak always aimed to make wine from their own fruit. They kept some of the century-old fruit trees and all the Garry oaks, and terraced many of the slopes for Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and the more obscure Zweigelt and Leon Millot. In the early days they had help from Okanagan wine maker Ross Mirko; now Mercier grows the vines and Kozak makes the wines.

Kozak calls it a joint intellectual challenge. Mercier is obsessed with the vineyard, between the vine and its environment—“Each vine has its own story,” he explains. Kozak’s job is to let the vine tell the story in the wine. Coastal grapes, unlike Okanagan grapes, ripen less predictably, with an acid level that is very high but drops off quickly. A small operation where everything’s done by hand means they can continuously fine tune the whole process, reducing the need to intervene in the cellar and making it possible to capture the fleeting balance between bright, vivid fruit and tangy acid.

Almost from the beginning, their wines have been a success. Top British wine writer Jancis Robinson liked their 2002 Pinot Noir, “not trying to be a copy of an Echezeaux, just a light, fruity Pinot with a good balance between fruit, acid and tannin.” High praise for a wine from vines just two years old. With a production of only about 1,500 cases, Garry Oaks sells out each year, either direct from the winery or through restaurants and private wine stores.

Kozak divides the wines into two ranges—classics and originals. The former are all in the French tradition—a Pinot Gris, a Pinot Noir and a Blanc de Noir rosé that’s one of my favourite summer wines. Originals are blends or uncommon wines that need a strong label to stand out on shelves. Prism is an attractive, unusual mix of Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay, all pink grapefruit and lime. Fetish is what others might call a Meritage, the only wine sourced from Okanagan (not estate-grown) grapes.

There are now 30 licensed wineries on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Many make wines that are curiosities at best, downright undrinkable at worst. Garry Oaks makes some of the best. In just seven years, Mercier and Kozak have achieved their original goal: making “really, really good wine.”

Garry Oaks Winery 1880 Fulford-Ganges Rd., Salt Spring Island, 250-653-4687, Garryoakswine.com

STRANGE FRUIT

An old orchard and an ancient lake have created a distinctive terroir


Garry Oaks Winery 2006 Pinot Gris
The Pinot Gris has settled in nicely, developing a strong character defined by citrus, pear, peach and passion fruit. The just-released 2006 vintage is haunted by the ghost of the pear trees that once grew where the vines now flourish, but it will gain cream and honey as it ages. Private wine stores or winery direct, $22.95

Garry Oaks Winery 2005 Pinot Noir
The 2005 vintage is quite a lot like the 2002 that charmed Jancis Robinson, but it’s fuller and fatter, showing off the hard work in the vineyard to get it to ripen perfectly. Very appealing smoky, spicy raspberry and cherry flavours. Private wine stores or winery direct, $24.95

Garry Oaks Winery 2004 Fetish
A Bordeaux blend from Okanagan Cabernet Franc and Merlot that’s now a cult wine. Blackcurrant fruit combines with Christmas pudding and clove aromas but delivers lots of elegance, too. A wine that deserves a nice slab of meat. Private wine stores or winery direct, $27.95 —C. Burridge

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