theCompass mobile application is a winery, brewery, and distillery locator for North America.

We made A Noble Blend in the spirit of Edelzwicker or Gentil , the traditional Germanic-varietal blend of the Alsace region of France. The literal translation of Edelzwicker is “a noble blend” – Noble, also happens to be Heidi's family name. Our original intent in choosing to produce this proprietary blend was our knowledge that many of the oldest plantings in this valley were Germanic varietals which have proven to be extremely successful in this climate. Much of the 2005 A Noble Blend originates from 17 year old plantings and these mature vines tend to be naturally lower in yield and produce more complex and intensely flavoured grapes. Blending allows us to utilize the different characteristics of each variety (or of the same variety from different sitings) in order to help us achieve natural balance as well as adding greater complexity to the wine. The 2005 Noble Blend is a blend of Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Kerner, Muscat , Pinot Auxerrois and Ehernfelser.

We make rosé because we love drinking it and we believe it to be the most versatile wine to pair with food. We make our rosé from premium Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (as is done by the best houses of Champagne) because they compliment each other so well. We prefer this combination because the Pinot Noir ripens consistently well in the North & Central Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys producing fresh strawberry and cherry flavours and aromas without any oxidative or cooked character. Chardonnay helps to liven the acidity further and brings beautifully complimentary citrus character that adds to the complexity of the wine. We prefer a slightly off-dry style to give better mouth feel and greater definition to the fruit flavours. We believe in using the best possible grapes rather than those that were not good enough for the red wine, as is done in many cases the world over. We believe in pressing the wine off of the skins rather than bleeding it off of the red wine so that we are able to extract maximum flavour and complexity. We prefer standard fermentation rather than carbonic maceration because we derive cleaner flavours and greater individual character in the wine.

We made our 2005 Un-Oaked Chardonnay in a style that is becoming increasingly popular in the Mâcon region of Burgundy. Notably there is the presence of botrytis which produces a honeyed character (despite the fact that the wine was fermented fully dry) and no oak is used to preserve the a fresh character that supports the botrytised flavours. Most of our Chardonnay has been chosen from the Okanagan Falls area because there is a minerally character to the white wines that exists nowhere else in British Columbia that we have tasted. From what we are able to surmise, this characteristic is due to the gravel and large glacial stones that make up the soil structure here that is unique to the rest of the Okanagan Valley. As well the climate is warm but not overly hot so a long slow ripening process takes place that preserves acidity yet the grapes have no problem achieving full ripeness in vineyards which have been cropped to appropriate levels. Approximately 40% of this wine is made from a clone of Chardonnay known as Chardonnay Musqué which produces a beautifully aromatic wine as the name would suggest. The botrytis originates from the Pinot Blanc that we chose to blend into this wine for that exact reason.