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John Schreiner had this to say about Howling Bluff...
 Howling
Bluff Estate Wines
Opened: 2007
1086 Three Mile Road, Penticton, BC V2A 8T7
250.490.3640
www.howlingbluff.ca
When to visit: By appointment
Accommodation: The Inn at Howling Bluff (three suites)
Recommended:
Sin Cera
Pinot Noir
Sauvignon Blanc
Ask Luke Smith to explain Sin Cera, his flagship red, and he
launches into history. When the cost of top-quality marble started
getting out of reach during the Italian Renaissance, some sculptors
switched to inferior porous marble and hid the imperfections with
wax, a fraud soon exposed by the burning sun. This deception became
common enough that the reputable sculptors advertised their work as
being sin cera — without wax.
That phrase is the root of the word “sincerity.” “I think that
perfectly describes what I am trying to do,” Luke says of his second
career as an Okanagan vintner. “Totally truthful, totally sincere,
and making the best wines I can from these estate grapes.” To focus
totally on wine growing, he retired in 2008 at the age of 50 from
his first career as an investment advisor with a major Canadian
brokerage firm.
He had begun juggling the two jobs in 2000 when he started coming to
the Okanagan to help Paul Gardner, a former Vancouver neighbour, at
Gardner’s Pentâge Winery south of Penticton. In 2003 Luke purchased
a three-hectare (7½-acre) property just off Naramata Road and moved
his brokerage office there from Vancouver. The property was then an
orchard with a bed and breakfast (still operating) and a captivating
view over Okanagan Lake from its highest point. That has been
reserved for a home and for a gravity-flow winery. Luke’s one regret
is that he did not buy more land when it was still affordable.
Born in Vancouver, he started his wine education at home, where his
mother was secretary of an International Wine and Food Society
chapter. He became a broker after studying economics at the
University of British Columbia. He also began collecting good wines;
at one time he had cellars in three different cities. “In 1986 I had
a new car, a sports car, and I went down I-5 as every young man
does, and I turned right into Napa,” he recalls. “I started at
Calistoga and went all the way down the valley. I fell in love with
it and thought one day that is something that I would like to do.”
The Naramata property’s appeal included the topography — slopes in
every direction. “These slopes have something about them, about the
way they move the air, the way the vines are tilted toward the sun,”
he believes. “It makes for better grapes.” In 2004 he planted his
first 7,600 vines, half of them Merlot and the remainder split
between Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. Luke had not intended to
plant Pinot Noir until told it is a difficult variety. The challenge
immediately appealed to his contrary nature. “I don’t care how hard
Pinot Noir is to make,” he decided, subsequently planting enough
that he can make 10 or 12 barrels a year.
Over the next four years Luke added more Sauvignon Blanc and, with a
white blend in mind, planted Sémillon as well. For the Sin Cera
program, he added more Merlot along with four other Bordeaux
varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit
Verdot. The idea is to blend these into one wine, although Luke is
keeping his options open. “I probably will keep any leftovers for
personal use because I am not sure I want to come up with, say, 50
cases of Malbec,” he says. With his own vineyard and contiguous
contracts, he has about eight hectares (20 acres) of vineyard to
support a production expected to top out at 3,000 cases a year.
The vineyard is called Summa Quies, a name with a monastic reference
that Luke spotted in a wine book. At first this was to be the winery
name as well. “I thought that was a fantastic name,” he says. “When
we told everyone it would be called Summa Quies, people did not
comprehend what we were saying.” Howling Bluff, inspired by the
winds sweeping across the vineyard, emerged from a family
brainstorming session. The label on the first release, a 2006
Sauvignon Blanc, included a sketch of a dog howling at the sky. The
design became a work-in-progress after his clients told him the
wines were more serious than the label.
The wines show the hand of an experienced winemaker. Luke struck a
deal with nearby Lake Breeze Vineyards that allows their winemaker,
Garron Elmes, to also make Howling Bluff’s wines. Born in South
Africa, Garron arrived at Lake Breeze (then owned by a South African
émigré) in 1995 and has quietly built a reputation vintage after
vintage. Luke is content to let Garron teach him the cellar craft
necessary for managing Howling Bluff’s wines when the winemaker is
busy elsewhere.
Over the years Luke has tasted many great Bordeaux reds in the
classic style — made to age two decades before being ready. His
flagship Sin Cera, however, is more of a New World wine,
approachable on release but also cellar worthy. “What I do want is a
wine I can pull out five years after it’s been in the bottle and
say, ‘Holy cow, look what’s going on now. I wish we hadn’t drunk so
much of it two years ago.’ ”
email: info@howlingbluff.ca
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