This year's Decanter World Wine Awards Regional Trophy for Canadian Sparkling over £15 went to Jackson-Triggs, Entourage Grand Reserve, Brut, Okanagan Valley 2010 (12.5%)
Tasted against
- No other Golds in this category
Profile:
Jackson Triggs was founded in the early 1990s by Allan Jackson and Don Triggs. Today the winemaker responsible for icewines, white wines – and this Trophy-winning fizz – is Derek Kontkanen, who joined the company as assistant winemaker 10 years ago.
‘Jackson-Triggs is uncompromising in its pursuit of crafting wines of exceptional quality and value,’ says Kontkanen. ‘With this wine we were aiming to showcase Okanagan’s ability to produce great sparkling wine and to demonstrate the terroir of the valley’s vineyards through our winemaking.’
The grapes for this blanc de blancs came from a single block of Chardonnay planted on a west-facing, sloping plateau with sandy soils – a site Kontkanen had earmarked early on for its exceptional Chardonnay.
‘The 2000 vintage in Okanagan Valley was a tricky one,’ explains Kontkanen, ‘with a cool spring and summer setting plenty of hurdles for those working in the vineyard. However, the viticulturists worked their magic and produced great quality fruit for us, with the harvest taking place a couple of weeks later than normal.’ The wine was aged for three months in 20% new American oak and 80% older French oak and then spent three years on its lees. Just 280 cases were produced.
Written by Decanter
