In Search Of British Columbia Wine Trail’s Best-Kept Secrets And Hidden Gems: Similkameen Valley’s Corcelettes Winery And Their Wines

Visiting Corcelettes Winery: how we picked this winery

Similkameen Valley remains one of the British Columbia wine trail’s best-kept secrets. There are 14 wineries in Similkameen, but most are so small that we couldn’t stop wondering how their proprietors make a living.

Corcelettes Estate Winery, much respected in the Similkameen Valley winemaking community, stands out as the largest producer in the area.

Betting on the obscurity of this wine-growing area to keep prices in check and motivated by the prospect of discovering hidden value, we couldn’t resist planning a wine-tasting trip to Corcelettes Winery.

Corcelettes Winery: A trip down down memory lane

Corcelettes Winery first opened its doors in 2012 in the small town of Cawston. Despite starting with a modest three-acre vineyard, this marked the beginning of an extraordinary winemaking journey for the Swiss immigrant family of Urs and Barbara Baessler and their winemaker son, Charlie. They planted their original vineyard, which they have since sold, exclusively with white Swiss varieties, which were not widely known among Canadian wine lovers.

Three years after opening, an opportunity presented itself for the Baesslers to purchase a much larger property. Formerly known as Herder Winery & Vineyards, the new estate predominantly featured red varieties, with an emphasis on Bordeaux blend reds.

Today, under Charlie and Jesce Baessler’s management, the Corcelettes Estate grew to an impressive 150 acres. Their new vineyards are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec.

Charlie Baessler, together with Poplar Grow’s Brett Meier, are the winemakers at Corcelettes.

In recent years, the winery’s production has seen a significant increase, reaching an annual output of 82,000 cases.

Are you intrigued by the name Corcelettes? So were we! As we researched the Corcelettes story, we discovered that the name “Corcelettes” pays tribute to the family farm in Charlie Baessler’s hometown of Corcelettes, Switzerland. But what is the significance behind this unique name?

In an engaging interview with a wine writer from British Columbia, Charlie explained that in the past, the term “Corcelettes” defined a farming community in charge of supplying food for the local castles.

The captivating part: the spiral emblem on every Corcelettes bottle holds a deeper meaning. It represents the growth and evolution of the winery and the remarkable journey of the Baessler family. Just like a spiral unravels, revealing new layers, Corcelettes and the Baesslers continue to flourish and evolve.

Corcelettes Winery visit

The Corecelettes Estate is located above Upper Bench Road on the outskirts of Keremeos. Besides the winery and proprietors’ house, there’s also a guest house available for year-round rentals. As Charlie and Jesce Baessler, the owners, live on the property, you might run into them during your visit.

Corcelettes Winery doesn’t offer wine tours or tiered wine tastings like many of the wineries in Kelowna do. They only offer tasting of their core wine portfolio that features five of their wines. The tasting experience takes approximately 45 minutes and will set you back $10 per person. The fee is non refundable, even with purchase. However, Corcelettes donate the entire proceeds to charity.

The staff is friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable, guiding you through the tasting and offering insights into the characteristics of each wine. They genuinely appreciate the wines and have great admiration for their employers’ hard work and the winery’s story.

Corcelettes Wines

Corcelettes Winery has a wine lineup that aims to cater to a wide range of wine drinkers while maintaining a strong emphasis on red wines.

Additionally, the winery actively aims to appeal to a broad range of customers by introducing innovative offerings. One such example is their wine in a can. Although it does not align with our personal preferences, we recognize the appeal of this novelty product as a convenient and competitive alternative to beer, particularly for those planning a picnic or a day at the beach. Each can of wine is priced at $7.50, making it an accessible option for outdoor occasions.

Tasting core portfolio wines at Corcelettes Winery

The wine lineup for our core portfolio tasting included these 5 wines:

• 2022 Oracle Rose
• 2022 Gewürztraminer
• 2020 Syrah
• 2019 Merlot
• 2019 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

The wine room associate referred to it as “Summer in the Glass”, which brought the thoughts of Provence rosé. The colour of this wine reminded us of Provence’s Whispering Angles rosé, but that’s where the similarities end.

This one fits into the savoury rosé category and the drink now category.

As the wine warms up, it gets limp. The best way to serve this wine is very chilled.
This grapes that went into the wine were hand-harvested, whole cluster pressed with 90% steel and 10% neutral French barrel fermented. Grapes are coming from the Ladyhawk and Second Chance vineyards.

At Corcelettes, they do two separate cold ferments for this wine to preserve aroma and freshness. This wine was 100% steel fermented.

Corcelettes 2020 Syrah pairs well with food, particularly salami and smoked cheeses.

The winemakers crafted this wine in the style of the Northern Rhône Valley. It’s interesting to note that this is their first attempt at making Syrah in this particular style. The wine has a lighter body than we expected, but that can be attributed to the fact that it’s made with a 5% co-fermentation of Viognier skins. The wine was aged for 16 months in 80% French and 20% American oak barrels.

This wine was aged for 18 months in a combination of French and American oak vats and barrels, with 25% of the oak being new.

The wine was aged in premium French barrels for 18 months, similar to most of the red wines. Following that, it spent an additional year in a 1000-liter oak vat. The ageing process was carefully managed to preserve the wine’s integrity without causing fatigue. Only 100 cases of this wine were produced.

Bringing Corcelettes wine home: the wine we didn’t buy

If you’ve followed our winery chronicles before, you might be familiar with a principle we abide by: never purchasing more than one bottle of wine from a single winery. By sticking to this rule, we choose a wine that we know we’ll enjoy once the excitement of the visit has settled. Our selection is rarely the most expensive or popular wine; instead, several factors come into play.

Firstly, we consider the wine’s potential for pairing with food. Secondly, we think about the occasion when we’ll savour it. Of course, the price tag does play a role in our decision-making process.

Among all the wines we sampled, the Corcelettes 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon stood out as our favourite.

This wine showcased finesse when compared to other offerings in the Corcelettes’ core wine portfolio. It is also a great food wine that will do justice to red and cured meats, cheeses and charcuterie boards. However, when we considered all the excellent Cabernet Sauvignons we recently tried (check our link to the Argentinian wine tasting), this particular wine didn’t meet our expectations in terms of value for the price, which ultimately led us to leave Corselettes winery empty handed.

Conclusion

The time has come to answer THE question: Is this experience worth your time? Let’s uncover the answer!

Firstly, we thought about what makes a winery visit great. Is it the quality of the wines you taste or the way the staff treats you that truly matters? Without a doubt, when both of these things come together, you’d have an amazing time. But is there another ingredient that makes the visit worth your time and money?

At Corcelettes, the wines were decent but not as good as the ones we tried at Clos de Soleil or Orofino, two neighbouring wineries in Similkameen Valley. To be fair, we did not get to try their flagship wines during this visit. Despite this, we genuinely enjoyed our time there, and if we return to Similkameen next year, we’ll visit Corcelettes.

So, what made this winery visit enjoyable for us? Undoubtedly, the down-to-earth and engaging staff played a significant role. The story about the winery owners’ hard work and their journey made us respect and connect with them. Yet the “secret sauce” that made our experience truly enjoyable was the ambiance.

During our weekend-long trip to Similkameen, nothing brought us more joy than spending an hour on the deck of Corcelettes Winery, savouring the wine, appreciating the peacefulness of the surrounding nature and watching the world go by.