Stephen Cipes of Summerhill Pyramid Winery is a B.C. wine visionary whose developer’s feet were once planted in New York. Now, his hands are in the vineyards of the Okanagan.
Since moving to the Valley 30 years ago, Cipes has pioneered making quality sparkling wine and going organic with both his bubblies and his table wines. Plus, he has the only winery in Canada, if not the world, with a pyramid cellar to age his wines — a bit of Egypt just south of Kelowna!
Cipes loves the opportunity to promote organic viticulture and winemaking and, of course, Summerhill wines.
When asked why he went organic, he recalls his first days at his winery south of Kelowna.
“I was asked to put on a suit and spray gramoxone (a herbicide). I did it, but the idea of putting on a suit and a mask and doing that. Next, I started to look at what the heck is gramoxone.”
“Within three weeks of moving there to the house on the vineyard, I realized that our drinking water was from the lake and we were just overlooking the lake, so that gramoxone was going down into our drinking water! And I started to look at the toxic effects of chemicals on children and cancer and all kinds of things and I thought what the heck is this? I’m not going to do this anymore. If this is what I have to do to have a vineyard, I quit!”
But instead of quitting, Cipes investigated going organic, an arduous task that was “a seven year ordeal” to get certification.
“I started to research on how to grow vineyards, nourish the soils organically, rather than with chemicals, and I found there was a wealth of information on it. I ate it up. I literally loved it and was fascinated by it.” says Cipes proudly.
Despite the trendiness of going green or organic, only about nine of the 300-plus wineries in B.C. are organic. Cipes is puzzled by this sad fact.
“If they knew the truth, organic growing is more sustainable and more economical than chemical growing,” he says. “It is a little more labour, but you save a huge amount in the chemicals and the plants themselves are so much healthier. The valley being so far north has the least amount of pests and it’s dry so it’s easy to go organic. They’re naturally resistant to disease. It’s a wonderful thing to do.” says Cipes.
Cipes claims the consumer can notice the difference in organic wines. At his winery, visitors are offered a taste of a Summerhill organic wine with a non-organic wine.
“More people prefer organic.”
And he cites more proof.
“ We did a lab test. Our organic Pinot Noir had zero toxins and our neighbour’s Pinot Noir, with a similar price and similar flavours, had toxins in it. So, if you want to drink toxins, go ahead!”
In my next column, Cipes discusses why the Okanagan Valley is the perfect place to produce sparkling wines. In the meantime you might want to do a preview taste of his original bubbly, the Cipes Brut ($25.49) available in government liquor stores and private wine shops.
Eric Hanson is a wine educator and a retired Richmond teacher
