DAYDREAMER
GROWN AND MADE ON THE TRADITIONAL LANDS OF THE: NŁEʔKEPMX TMÍXʷ (NLAKA’PAMUX) | SYILX | OKANAGAN
2022 SPARKLING SHIRAZ
This cuvée is only made in cool vintages. The grapes come from an organic plot on the Golden Mile which has since been lost to cold damage. This loss hurts particularly hard since they’ve been working with the fruit since 2005. The grapes are destemmed and fermented on skins for three days before being pressed off into neutral barrel for a yearlong élevage. The wine is then bottled with a small amount of sugar and yeast for secondary fermentation in bottle. After nine months on lees (significantly less than for their white bubbles because they don’t believe Shiraz benefits from autolysis) the wine is disgorged. It is a brut zero meaning the topping wine was completely dry. It is released without fining, filtration, or SO2. 14% ABV
2022 CABERNET FRANC
This is only Marcus’ second bottling of varietal Cabernet Franc. The grapes come from an organic site on the Golden Mile Bench. After destemmed, the grapes are fermented in open top tank for nine days before being gently basket pressed into barriques. After an eighteen month élevage the wine is racked and bottled.
2024 RIESLING
This wine comes from their organically farmed site on the Naramata Bench, 1km down the hill from their winery above Naramata Village. The 25-year-old vines even produced a micro-crop in 2024 which is a rarity. This is the only wine they inoculate with a neutral cultured yeast so they can complete fermentation at low temperatures to retain delicate esters and prevent malolactic conversion. Both fermentation and élevage were carried out in stainless steel before bottling. The wine spends six months on lees without stirring. At181g/L of residual sugar, this wine sees slightly more SO2 to prevent refermentation. 2.9 pH
2022 RACHEL’S CUVÉE
2022 was a cool vintage, ideal for the style of sparkling wine they wanted to produce. This wine is a blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris from three organic vineyards on the Naramata Bench. The grapes are pressed extremely gently into neutral barrel for an indigenous primary fermentation. The wine is then bottled with a small amount of sugar and yeast for secondary fermentation in bottle. After two years on lees to develop autolytic characteristics, the wine is disgorged. It is a brut zero meaning the topping wine was completely dry. It is released without fining, filtration, or SO2. 12.5% ABV
2022 JASPER
This cuvée is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. The Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon come from a vineyard in Oliver that’s essentially a riverbed. Reflection off these pudding stones ensures ripeness. These two varieties undergo a short pre-fermentation maceration and up to twenty days of skin contact total. The Cabernet Franc comes from Golden Mile and sees less time on skins. After a year of élevage in barrel (40% new) the wine is racked and bottled.
2022 MARCUS ANSEMS PINOT NOIR
This wine comes from their home block above Naramata Village. It is incredibly rocky with infertile granitic soils. They believe it yields the best wine because it was virgin ground at the time of planting meaning the soils have an abundant and healthy population of microbes. This section wasn’t even contoured. The 667, 777, 828 clones deliver tiny berries here, improving the skin to juice ratio. The grapes are almost entirely destemmed into small tanks for fermentation. They do daily pigeage and after a couple of weeks on skins, the wine is pressed off into barriques (40% new). After an extended élevage of eighteen months on lees, the wine is racked, lightly filtered, and bottled.
MARCUS ANSEMS CHARDONNAY
Marcus and Rachel believe this section of the Naramata Bench is ideal for Chardonnay. Planted on exposed granite high above the lake, this plot is particularly low in organic matter. The grapes are destemmed before being pressed into barrel, 30% of which were new. Fermentation was extremely slow this vintage, only finishing after two months. They stir the lees on a barrel-by-barrel basis depending on reduction. After ten months, the wine is racked. It is bottled unfined but with a light filtration to get rid of any heavy sediment.
2022 TAY PINOT NOIR
Their Pinot Noir comes from four sites across the Naramata Bench. The grapes are almost entirely destemmed into small tanks for fermentation. They do daily pigeage and after a couple of weeks on skins, the wine is pressed off into barriques (25% new). After ten months on lees, the wine is racked, lightly filtered, and bottled.
2023 PINOT GRIS
This wine comes from an exposed site high above Naramata Village planted on granite. The brutally cold winter limited their yield to 100 cases for the entire four acre plot. The grapes crushed and left on skins for six hours before basket-pressing into neutral barrel. During the six month élevage malolactic conversion is blocked. 13% ABV, 3.1 pH, 7.1 TA, 6 g/L RS
2022 AMELIA
This cuvée is a co-fermentation of Syrah (90%) and Viognier (10%) planted on decomposed granite on the Naramata Bench. Farmed without systemic pesticides and herbicides, the mature vines face west, benefitting from warm late afternoon sunshine. After primary fermentation in small open-top vats the wine is basket-pressed off into French oak barrique for an eleven-month élevage. It is bottled with less than 50ppm total sulphur.
2023 ROSÉ
This year, Marcus and Rachel felt particularly inspired by the Loire Valley so opted for Cabernet Franc for their Rosé. The grapes were farmed organically in Tuc-El-Nuit Lake near Oliver. The grapes are crushed and macerated on skins for eighteen hours before being pressed off into neutral barrel for fermentation. After six months, the wine is racked, lightly filtered, and bottled. 12% ABV, 3.44 pH, 5.3 g/L TA, 10g/L RS
2023 PINOT GRIS
This wine comes from an exposed site high above Naramata Village planted on granite. The brutally cold winter limited their yield to 100 cases for the entire four acre plot. The grapes crushed and left on skins for six hours before basket-pressing into neutral barrel. During the six month élevage malolactic conversion is blocked. 13% ABV, 3.1 pH, 7.1 TA, 6 g/L RS
