Mt. Boucherie Original Vines 2022 Sémillon

Mt. Boucherie, home to some of the oldest plantings in British Columbia, has created its Original Vines Series as a testament and celebration of the winery’s maturity and resilience.  

The bottle presentation creates immediate intrigue. Textured, bold multihued brushstrokes on the label and the bottle’s white wax seal invite you into a richly textured, multi layered experience as it pours into your glass.  

The richness and complexity of this wine reflect the fact that the grapes were sourced from the mature Lost Horn vineyard. This gently sloped vineyard faces east and is located in Okanagan Falls, overlooking Vaseux Lake and McIntyre Bluff. First planted in 1990, the soils feature mounds of glacially deposited rock with glaciofluvial sands and gravel. 

Harvested at optimum levels of ripeness and acidity, the must for this wine was split in half to undergo two distinct treatments; one portion began spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel, with cultivated yeast added after 7 days to encourage a desired fruitiness, and the second portion was wild fermented in new French oak barriques, with malolactic fermentation occurring in the same barrel. After 6 months of aging, the two lots were blended and allowed to marry in stainless steel for a further two months.  

The result is a rich and complex acid driven style of wine, beginning with aromas of quince and citrus and leading to flavours of quince, beeswax, fig and ripe stone fruits with just the slightest spicy hint of French oak. 

The maturity and resilience of the Mt. Boucherie winery have helped them to weather some of the great challenges that have been besetting the Okanagan in the past few years. Interruptions in supply in the near future will be sadly unavoidable due to crop damage from 2024’s January Deep freeze, followed by a difficult hot and dry summer. This wine represents a rare opportunity to savour Mt. Boucherie’s admirable style, with this Sémillon continuing to age gracefully for up to 2033.