WINEMAKER RETURNS TO HIS ROOTS WITH NEW ROLE IN THE OKANAGAN
Winemaker Spencer Kelly returned home to the Okanagan Valley last July to take over as winemaker and general manager at Checkmate Artisanal Winery. The move closed a loop for Kelly, who grew up just a few kilometres north of the Golden Mile winery in the village of Kaleden on Skaha Lake.
Kelly attended UBC, completing a BA in food science, which led to an oenology and viticulture degree at California State University at Fresno. His resumé includes some impressive stops at Seavey Winery in Napa Valley, once described by Robert Parker Jr. as “one of the great, unheralded, under-the-radar terroirs in all of Napa Valley,” as well as spending time at the legendary Stagecoach Vineyards, whose 1,300-plus acres of rocky, volcanic terroir spread southeast from the famed Pritchard Hill area overlooking Oakville and Yountville to the westernmost regions of the Atlas Peak.
He was also part of the winemaking and viticulture team at Colgin Cellars, one of a handful of stops he made at prestigious California domains before settling in at Eisele Vineyard for more than eight years in Napa Valley. Kelly returned to Canada and Checkmate last summer to take over for founding winemaker Phil Mcgahan, who returned to Australia for family reasons.
I met with Kelly to preview Checkmate's 2020 Merlots and 2021 Chardonnays, and we had a wide-ranging talk about his early impressions of the winery, the vineyards, and the wine program moving forward. There have been no significant changes or the word he prefers, “tweaks,” to the wines, and if they happen, they won't show up before the 2023 vintage. Meanwhile, Kelly is absorbing all he can about his various terroir and vineyard sites on both sides of the valley.
In a broader sense, I asked him about the Checkmate style versus the rest of the world.
“If you are picking Merlot in August (in Napa), it's probably not a good variety for the place,” but he is impressed with the Okanagan's range of possibilities. The fresh style, higher acidity and longer ripening period are all attractive to Kelly. He is a big fan of the Northern Italian superstar Merlot Masseto and its silky finesse and layered flavours. Let's hope the Merlot tweaks will head in that direction.
There will be some adjustments to the Chardonnay, albeit slow and steady, to continue tightening the wine and revealing its site to move it closer to a Burgundian-oregon style of Chardonnay with a clear understanding that in the end, it is an Okanagan Chardonnay. Most of the wines are single-site, but two blends will be positioned as village wines given the source of the grapes from more than one vineyard. This kind of tweaking happens only after years of production, study, maturity and experience. We could use a lot more of that to come if the Okanagan is to survive as a serious wine-producing region.
Checkmate will likely join most of the region with an estimated vine trauma in the high 90 per cent range, although some wineries report much less damage depending on their location. While they will grow only leaves this year, they will return to business in 2025. Otherwise, the winery is in good shape, and Kelly says they will manage the shortfall and not miss a beat with all their customers, from wine club members to restaurants and anyone visiting the estate looking to purchase some wine.
Complete notes on the wines tasted will appear on Gismondi on Wine closer to their release. End Game and Silent Bishop are released; Opening Gambit and Black Rook Merlots will be released in April, along with the 2021 Chardonnays, which look more interesting than ever.
Some early Checkmate favourites to note are all the 2020 Merlots led by the Silent Bishop and Opening Gambit; the 2021 Attack and Queen Taken are stellar Chardonnays.
All of the wines are showing incremental improvements thanks to the ongoing organic farming that is reducing alcohol levels and boosting ripening times to make better wines. Stay tuned.