Okanagan Crush Pad at Urban Winery

On a dreary Wednesday afternoon, wine aficionados, writers, and local media were invited to sample wines from Okanagan Crush Pad’s latest portfolio. We previewed wines from Haywire, Bartier-Scholefield, Okanagan Crush Pad, as well as Kurtis Kolt’s Wild Ferment Semillon. Kolt won the 2010 Vancouver International Playhouse Festival’s Sommelier of the Year Award.

Terry David Mulligan interviewing John Schriener
[Terry David Mulligan interviewing John Schriener]

Haywire 2010 Pinot noir
[Haywire 2010 Pinot Noir]

BS White Table wine
[BS White Table wine]

Bartier Bros meets Haywire
[Bartier Bros meets Haywire]

Kurtis Semillon
[Kurtis Semillon]

The skinny kid from Winnipeg
[The skinny kid from Winnipeg turned winemaker]

David Scholefield of Okanagan Crush Pad
[David Scholefield of Okanagan Crush Pad]

I’d had the experience to taste several of these wines at the Crush Pad launch last year at Boneta. My favourites from yesterday’s tasting were both reds: the Haywire Pinot Noir 2010 and Haywire Crush Pad’s Red (in the 3 litre box). The Pinot noir had a deeply flavoured nose with a gorgeous dark fruit taste. It had a round finish and good body. I’d easily pick it out for a dinner party or at home with a cheese and cracker grazing.

haywire boxed selection: Crush Pad Rosé, Crush Pad Red, Crush Pad White

At just over $50 for 3 litres, the bottles in a box experience is a pretty good deal (breaking down to roughly $3.30 per 6 oz glass). Don’t discount the box; the flavour I got, particularly from Crush Pad Red, rivaled any bottled red in its category. The White was served a bit ‘too’ chilled, and though I tried to warm the glass between my hands, I was hoping for a better release of flavour. I think that this wine will benefit from less chill time. Here’s the list of what was poured:

Haywire: Pinot Gris 2010, Gamay Noir Rose 2010, Pinot Noir 2010
Bartier-Scholefield White Table Wine 2010
Bartier-Scholefield Rose Table Wine 2010
Bartier Bros. The Cowboy 2010
Haywire Crush Pad: White, Rose, Red (three litre box) 

Okanagan Crush Pad: White, Rosé, Red (19.5 litre keg) 

Kurtis Wild Ferment Semillon 2011

Okanagan Crush Pad at Urban Winery

Okanagan Crush Pad at Urban Winery

Another great component of yesterday’s tasting (in addition to the beautifully prepared appetizers!) was the venue. I’d been to Vancouver Urban Winery for a previous event hosted by Swallow Tail Secret Supper Club.

Okanagan Crush Pad at Urban Winery

This newly minted 7,700 square foot space is located at the edge of Gastown in the historic heart of Vancouver’s Railtown. The Urban Winery is also the first of its kind in Vancouver and operates as a unique special events venue.

Urban Winery's Steve Thorp and Mike Macquisten
[Urban Winery’s Steve Thorp and Mike Macquisten]

Owners Mike Macquisten and Steve Thorp decided to start a company that could manufacture, package, import and distribute wine for multiple brands, via a FreshTap stainless steel keg system. The wine-on-tap business has been flourishing in New York, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. The two young entrepreneurs figured, why not in Vancouver?

Urban Winery taps
[Urban Winery’s FreshTaps]

Okanagan Crush Pad is located in Summerland, BC. Its facilities produce distinct, terroir focused super premium wines from the Okanagan Valley. The onsite licensed 25,000 case, small lot, custom winemaking facility has been designed to take the product from field to market, with its own branding, marketing, communications, distribution and sales channels. Crush Pad opens its doors to winemakers who are looking to establish their own brand or wish to use the equipment to produce an exclusive new wine.

2 Comments

  • Pingback by Okanagan Crush Pad: Haywire Wines | ariane c design — April 19, 2012 @ 4:00 pm

    […] had the chance to sample them with an assortment of delightful bites at two Vancouver events: Urban Winery’s Crush Pad event and the initial launch at Boneta’s (somewhat) new Gastown […]

  • Pingback by Okanagan Crush Pad: Haywire Wines | Vancouverscape — September 16, 2015 @ 2:47 pm

    […] had the chance to sample them with an assortment of delightful bites at two Vancouver events: Urban Winery’s Crush Pad event and the initial launch at Boneta’s (somewhat) new Gastown […]

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.