As a family, we’ve always made big reds, but the site at Greata Ranch doesn’t lend itself to growing those kinds of wines, so we hand-sourced the grapes for this wine from the South Okanagan near the Osoyoos airstrip – a nice coincidence given its label. The 2019 vintage started with a warm winter that was abruptly interrupted by weeks of extreme arctic airflow. Winter was followed by a long cool spring, then a warm, unusally wet and humid summer. Despite a challenging growing year and harvest, thanks to lighter crop loads, percise picking and sorting, we still achieved a clean and focused wine. The Meritage – a blend of Merlot, Cabernets Franc and Sauvignon – was cold soaked for 5 days with 10% being whole bunch. Each varietal was fermented separately in stainless steel then all lots were blended before barrelling down to French oak for 14 months aging. A natural, wild malolactic fermentation occurred in spring which was followed by further aging to add complexity and depth.