If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I’d like to do
Is to save every day ’til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you… (Jim Croce)
It’s a part of wine tasting that’s easy to take for granted. But when you think about it, every bottle is a time capsule, a moment in the life of a place—of the land, its people, their ideas and dreams.
That thought was front of mind at this week’s release of Cipes Ariel 2000. It’s not every day you get to taste a 20 year old wine, a sparkling wine at that, let alone three. Summerhill CEO Ezra Cipes poured the Ariel 2000 alongside Cipes Traditional Cuvée 1996 and Cipes Ariel 1998.
This new decade brings with it no shortage of significance on the BC wine front. For one thing 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the introduction of VQA. Though some will always argue otherwise, the arrival of VQA was key in the drive for fault-free, quality wines. Before the onset of climate change, it was the most critical ingredient in the emergence of the modern industry. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, the 1990s emerges as the era when the ugly duckling that was BC began its transformation in earnest.
That means there’s no time like the present to celebrate the small group of visionaries who invested heavily—when most just weren’t convinced of BC’s viability as a wine region. No so Stephen Cipes, Summerhill’s always upbeat—and sometimes offbeat—founder. A successful developer from New York, Cipes purchased his vineyard property in 1986 and opened the winery in 1991.
The Schramsberg connection
Summerhill founder Stephen Cipes (image courtesy of Summerhill)
From the outset, Stephen Cipes made Traditional Method sparklers his priority. Cipes Brut was one of just a trio of BC bubbles that led the way. (Sumac Ridge Steller’s Jay and Blue Mountain Brut being the others.) He was very much inspired by Schramsberg (Napa Valley) owner Jack Davies, one of the people with whom the BC government of the day consulted.
Schramsberg was well known, in particular for its Blanc de Blancs 1969. It was served at a banquet held in Beijing during Nixon’s historic 1972 visit to China. It was the first American wine ever to be served at a White House or state event at home or abroad.
“You are wasting your time making table wines here. We should make sparkling wines that will rival any in the world,” Shramsberg’s Davies told Cipes.
It was because of that connection that Summerhill started making a top tier bubble well before anyone else. The 1991 Cuvée, made with Schramsberg’s collaboration, was released in 1999.
Everything about Cipes Ariel sets it apart, from the distinctive, cone shaped bottle (the first release vessels were all hand-painted) to its deliberate nod to serious—and aged—Champagne.
Tasting the Cipes Traditional Method 1996 Cuvée and revisiting the Ariel 1998 reminded me of some of the older Reserve Drappier that we got to taste when the BC Liquor Board so sadly ;-) over stocked for the millennium. And cleared out not a few bottles at fire-sale prices.
The Millennium in a glass
CEO Ezra Cipes says: Ariel 2000 “… is not a wine I just wanted to quietly release.”
“I think it is a very special wine, not just from an Okanagan Valley perspective, but really from a global perspective. When you think about traditional method sparkling wine, it’s a very particular terroir.”
It’s also the first Ariel to be finished by recently appointed Summerhill winemaker Michael Alexander. It shows a discernibly lighter touch, more subtle than the 1998—which did, after all, come from the hottest vintage on record, at the time.
The Cipes Ariel 2000 delights with remarkable balance and freshness, considering it spent 17 1/2 years on lees. The blend of organic Pinot Noir (60%), organic Chardonnay (38%) and organic Pinot Meunier (2%) was disgorged in September 2019. (Ezra calls the Pinot Meunier his father’s “love letter to Champagne.”)
It is, remarkably, still very fruit driven, all the while developing luscious, mouth-filling layers of creaminess and complexity, with a lingering finish. In a further salute to its inspired aged Champagne style it all adds up to a wickedly good and surprisingly flexible food wine. And at $110 it’s a bargain, at least compared to what you’d pay for a 20 year old Grand Marque Champagne. 94 pts.
Ezra Cipes says to make ‘truly beautiful’ sparkling you need a particular set of conditions.
“You want the wine to be elegant and not overwhelming. You want it to be not so strongly flavoured but you don’t want it to be under ripe and green. And you want it to have low alcohol and high acid.”
“My parents set out to make traditional method sparkling wine that would bring pride to Canada and bring world attention to the Okanagan Valley.”
Let the wine wait until it’s ready
Summerhill CEO Ezra Cipes (image courtesy of Summerhill)
Cipes points out why the approach to these wines is so unique and personal, from harvesting to disgorgement and release.
“We have our eyes to having them lay down for a long time, and to develop the creaminess and the texture and maturity that you can only get with age. “But sometimes you just have to let the wine wait until it’s ready to be released.
“Our practice is to go down to our cellar and taste them every six months, sometimes more often but typically once or twice a year. And the wines speak to us, and it’s usually has to do with the way the acidity of the wine presents it is usually the thing that says you know what that wine just wants to rest for longer.
“And that’s why those three [initial] wines in particular were held back longer than any of us would have expected—or really would have wanted from a business perspective, because it’s a ridiculous thing to do. But from a wine perspective, it’s the right thing to do. And so that’s what we do.”
Cipes the organic trailblazer
(image courtesy of Summerhill)
It’s also important to recognize the part played by Summerhill as the Okanagan’s organic and biodynamic leader. It’s a role they adopted in an era when many thought there was no real future or benefit in organic farming.
“We’ve been organic since my family took the vineyard over in the ’80s,” says Ezra.
He recalls that the land had all the appearances of a conventional vineyard. But the family “learned and pioneered the ways to be diverse” and implemented “the regenerative agriculture aspects.” Ultimately he says they discovered: “… the wine made from that vineyard is not only as good but maybe even better. And maybe even the vines have a deeper relationship with the land…”
Ezra’s brother Gabriel Cipes is a biodynamicist and permaculturist, who experiments with complementary crops and growing medicinal herbs and foods in the rows between the vines. The trials are ongoing.
“This is a program that we introduced, when he and I moved back to the farm in 2004 and 2005,” says Ezra. The vineyard has been organic for a number of years. But starting large scale composting was a game changer for the vineyard, that really made a big difference.”
Gabriel makes all the biodynamic preparations on site—and shares them freely with the industry. “They are available to any other winery, whether certified biodynamic or not, or just interested. We make enough for the whole valley,” says Ezra.
“One of the coolest things about biodynamics is it’s about creating a healthy ecosystem. If your neighbours’ farms are also healthy ecosystems, it’s better for you, right? So that is actually baked into the pie… Every biodynamic winery should be encouraged to share—and have a healthy environment all around.”
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(l-r) Jessica Luongo of Amovino Wine + Spirits with Summerhill winemaker Michael Alexander, Summerhill CEO Ezra Cipes and Marisa Varas (Amovino)
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