Sparkling Wines of 40 Knots Vineyard Canada

Layne Craig, owner of 40 Knots Vineyard talks about his Canadian sparkling wine.

For the love of traditional method sparkling. Our choice to be here, on Vancouver Island but more specifically Comox affords us the opportunity to make great sparkling wines. We have very similar weather to Champagne, very similar terroir to northern reaches of northern France.

Noble varieties Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, rootstock from Champagne. Waiting for the right timing to pick, rich acid, right sugar, and perfectly clean disease free grapes! Pressed to free run only! No hard press juice for premium sparkling.

Primary fermentation in stainless. Rested and chilled until after Christmas.

Then moved into a bottle for a second go. In tirage for minimum two years.

Temperature control, temperature control, temperature control. Did I mention how important temperature control is?

Now to make life difficult and annoy my wife, we only riddle and disgorge as we sell. The longer it sits, the better it is.  All by hand. I do not like the automation for disgorge, dosage, corking, etc. An experienced hand does not better.

No foil and dress up to hide the neck. I work very hard to be very good at disgorging, I want to show it off. More importantly, I do not want more waste for a landfill.

Goal? An unadulterated sparkling wine that reflects our terroir. Toasty nose, minuscule bubbles, minerality, lemons, hanging on the creamy soft mouthfeel.