Domaine de Chaberton Estate Winery
2006 Siegerrebe, Estate(Fraser Valley)
A German white developed in 1916, Siegerrebe is frequently grown in British Columbia’s cool vineyard sites, including Domaine de Chaberton’s extensive Fraser Valley vineyard. A cross of Gewürztraminer and Madeleine Angevine, Siegerrebe ripens early, developing abundant spicy aromas and flavours, like a light-bodied Gewürztraminer.
The variety also has an Achilles heel: it is so aromatic as it ripens that it attracts hordes of wasps into vineyards. The insects then hang around for the entire vintage, piercing grapes for the juice and creating spoilage conditions. Several growers have actually used portable vacuum cleaners to suck wasps from the bunches. The better solution is to start trapping wasps in spring before colonies become established.
Domaine de Chaberton seems to have the problem under control in its two producing acres. The winery recently planted another five acres to support the popularity of the wine. This is a delicious wine, beginning with a spicy grapefruit aroma. It also tastes of grapefruit with a twist of lime that gives the wine a zesty, refreshing finish.
Reviewed October 5, 2007 by John Schreiner.
Other reviewed wines from Domaine de Chaberton Estate Winery
The Wine
Winery: Domaine de Chaberton Estate Winery |
The ReviewerJohn Schreiner has been covering the wines of British Columbia for the past 30 years and has written 10 books on the wines of Canada and BC. He has judged at major competitions and is currently a panel member for the Lieutenant Governor’s Awards of Excellence in Wine. Both as a judge and as a wine critic, he approaches each wine not to find fault, but to find excellence. That he now finds the latter more often than the former testifies to the dramatic improvement shown by BC winemaking in the past decade. |