Painted Rock
Painted Rock: British Columbia. Established by John and Trish Skinner in 2004, Painted Rock is already one of the Okanagan's leading wine estates, attracting rave reviews. The Okanagan is one of the world’s most northerly wine regions with a hot and arid growing season. The wines made in the quasi desert conditions here have a brightness of fruit reminiscent of Washington State. The region has a potential which excited the Skinners sufficiently to purchase a site that was once the largest apricot orchard in the British Commonwealth. Known as “The Blackhawk”, the property had been converted from apricots in the late 1980’s. Detailed analysis of the property occurred for a year while the site was prepared and the property was planted in 2005.
The commitment was and remains uncompromising. The primary planting strategy was to plant the five classic Bordeaux red varieties and Chardonnay. Because Painted Rock are 100% estate they wanted to provide their winemaker with the greatest breadth of blending options. To that end they planted two clones of every variety. When they had decided on the best locations and quantities for their core planting they were left with five prime acres in the middle of the vineyard. The winemaking team is headed by proprietor John Skinner in close collaboration with Bordeaux-based consultant Alain Sutre, working with full-time assistant winemaker Gabe Reis.
"I DON'T GIVE THESE SCORES OR ACCOLADES LIGHTLY. YOUR REDS, IN PARTICULAR, BLEW ME AWAY."~ NATALIE MACLEAN
