The Tinhorn Creek Winery is located just south of the town of Oliver (see map pg 9) in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. It is a relatively young winery with its first vintage being released in 1994 (Schriener). The hard work and discipline of the winery's founders, Kenn Oldfield and Robert Shaunessy (as well as their families), has allowed Tinhorn to become one of the Okanagan's leading wineries.
The winery, excluding its small amount of Kerner icewine, produces only six varietals; all of Tinhorn Creek's wines are estate wines (Tinhorn Creek). Just over sixty percent of Tinhorn's production is red wine, which are the varietals Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The winery's Merlot constitutes a quarter of Tinhorn Creeks total production and will be the winery's first reserve wine, which will be released in 2004 (Schriener). Tinhorn's whites are Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer .
Of six varietals produced at Tinhorn Creek, four were chosen for this project.
Old House on Tinhorn Creek Property
Tinhorn Creek Guest House Driveway
Tinhorn Creek WineryThe Merlot and Gewurztraminer were selected as the winery's flagship wines. The Merlot seemed logical since it is Tinhorn Creek's most highly produced wine and it has received a plethora of awards and will be the winery's first reserve-level wine. The Gewurztraminer was chosen, despite the fact that only a small quantity is produced each year, as it has also received several acknowledgements and, as Dr. McArthur claims, has a somewhat of a cult following. The two other wines selected for this project were Tinhorn Creek's Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay.
The Wines:
The Gewurztraminer: $13.95 13.3% alc
An article on heartofwine.com states that Tinhorn's Gewurztraminer is consistently good; the winery website describes its 2002 vintage as having "True Gewurztraminer characteristics of lychee and floral flavours..." as well as a slight amount of naturally retained sweetness which gives it "a smooth,