The arts and crafts of Tinhorn Creek Vineyards
By John Schreiner
April 21, 2006
What to do with unused corks has become a challenge this spring at Tinhorn Creek as the winery converts to screw cap closures for all of its new releases.
With a little bit of imagination – and there is plenty of that at Tinhorn Creek – there is always a solution at hand.
Such as arts and crafts. At the recent launch of the winery’s new releases, a mannequin wearing a cork apron was on display. Until the winery uses up its cork inventory, perhaps its popular tasting room will come to look a bit like a Christmas craft fair.
Still, it is a clever way of underlining the winery’s switch to new closures. The move does involve the risk of alienating traditionalist wine consumers. At least one of Tinhorn’s regular customers threatened to stop buying the wines if corks were discontinued. He changed his mind but there may be other cork dinosaurs out there.
A growing number of wineries around the world are switching to screw cap (including one in Portugal whose owner is being called “disloyal” by the country’s cork producers). In recent years, there has just been too much wine spoilage caused by bad corks. And while the cork producers now are getting control over this problem, screw cap closures are catching on as the closures that do not taint wines.
Tinhorn is taking advantage of this switch to update all of its labels, moving away from a dated look to labels more likely to jump out on the wine store shelf. Even better, the back label copy is a creative exercise in making wines accessible.
For example, here is the text from the back label of the 2003 Merlot (to be released in August):
“If this wine were human, it would grab you by the hand and insist you dance – even if no one else was. It would yell ‘I love you’ at the top of its lungs. It wouldn’t be afraid of a little elbow grease – especially if it meant helping a friend. It would live by the philosophy: ‘work hard so you can play hard.’
“This wine isn’t human. But you are. So enjoy it with meat or pasta. And when you hear a song you love, turn up the volume – and dance.”
Some may find that corny. Others will find it takes all of the intimidation out of wine.
Tinhorn also has produced a cork screw that incorporates a practical screw cap opener. Hopefully, this will be sold at the winery, along with the cork crafts. The opener is a grip that one squeezes around the cap. The rest of the corkscrew serves as a lever that makes it easier to twist off the cap. You will have noticed that some caps are just has hard to twist free as corks are to extract.
Now to the arts: here are my notes on Tinhorn’s new releases:
* Tinhorn Creek Oldfield’s Collection 2 Bench white 2005 ($22). This is a new wine from Tinhorn, a blend of 47% Sémillon, 25% Chardonnay, 21% Sauvignon Blanc and 7% Gewürztraminer. (Subsequent releases also will include Viognier and Muscat). This is a superb wine, with a rich tropical palate – flavours of papaya, pears and citrus. Because only a quarter of the wine was oak-aged, the finished wine is has weight on the palate without wood, leaving the fruit in the starring role. The wine has a crisp finish. Only 294 cases were made. 91 points.
* Tinhorn Creek Gewürztraminer 2005 ($14.50). The winery calls this a “deck wine” – a wine to be sipped happily while relaxing on your deck. That’s a pretty good description. The wine is delicate, with alluring aromas of spices and rose petals. Light in body, it tastes of spice and white peaches and finishes with a hint of sweetness. 86.
* Tinhorn Creek Pinot Gris 2005 ($15.50). With a production of 4,628 cases, this is one of the winery’s major whites. The wine has a full, almost creamy, texture, reflecting the fact that 20% of the blend was fermented on neutral barrels and left on the lees for six months (the other 80% was fermented in stainless steel). There is a ton of fruit on the flavour – ripe apples, pears, mangos. The finish is dry. 88.
* Tinhorn Creek Pinot Noir 2003 ($15.95). This is Tinhorn’s best Pinot Noir to date. Winemaker Sandra Oldfield credits this to one lot of grapes that delivered standout flavours, so good that she was tempted to turn the batch into her premium line, the Oldfield’s Collection. Because there was not enough, she blended it with her other Pinot Noir, to the great benefit of this release. The wine is full-bodied, with aromas of strawberries and flavours of strawberries and cherries. The texture is the classic velvety firmness of Pinot Noir. 88.
The remainder of Tinhorn’s wines will be rolled out over the summer, including a 2005 Kerner Icewine coming July 1. Just the thing for Dominion Day!
goodgrog@shaw.ca
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