We love wine. That’s why we are here. No other drink on this earth can convey the uniqueness, complexity and sense of place that wine can. You can travel to another region, another country, by opening a bottle, and the scents, tastes, colors and aromas of that region will rest in your glass.
Our wine represents our region of the Columbia valley and its northern tip, the Okanagan Valley. It is a single geographical region that extends over the border of two countries: Canada and the USA, British Columbia and Washington State. We want to share with you the special landscapes, climate and soils of this region. The hot summers and freezing winters, the hills, rivers and lakes, all captured in a Tender Hope wine bottle.
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Wine is made in the vineyard. Here at Tender Hope Winery we stay true to this statement. We let the fruit shine and make wines that reflect the tastes and smells of the land the grapes grew on. We use traditional wine making methods and minimum intervention with the natural process of wine making and ageing, letting the wines mature naturally.
I had started growing grapes and making wine 25 years ago and have experienced growing grapes and making wine in both hot climate and cool climate. Here in BC I had worked for wineries like Summerhill, Nagging Doubt and First R.O.W and had grown Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer grapes. Through our wines I want to take you on the adventure that is our special vineyard sites, grape varieties and micro climates.
The White and sparkling wine are pressed very gently with a low pressure press in order not get harsh tastes from the skin of the grapes. Red wine grape skins are punched down gently by hand twice a day during fermentation to extract the flavours and aromas from the grapes into the wine. White wines are fermented in oak barrels with stirring of the lees every 8 days in order to harmonize the flavours in the wine. All wines are giving time to mature slowly and naturally in oak barrels to round the tannins and gain complexity in the wines.