Mission: World-class winemaking
Assets: Degree in recreation administration
Yield: 18,000 cases of wine a year and a purchasing group for Okanagan wineries
By Peter Mitham
There’s a slight abrasion on winemaker Mike Bartier’s close-shaven head that could be from an aggressive grapevine or preparations in the cellar for this year’s grape harvest.
But it’s neither.
Bartier was kick-boxing the night before with his eight-year-old son.
“I never would have dreamed that I would be involved in that sport, but it’s pretty darn cool. It’s a fantastic, fundamental sport to know,” Bartier said, the detail about his son’s roguish behaviour spicing his assessment.
The sport also reflects the breadth of passions harboured by Bartier, currently winemaker at Road 13 Vineyards in Oliver but also a key figure in some of the most exciting developments in the Okanagan wine industry in a generation.
These include the launch of Okanagan Purchasing Group, a buying group that promises to cut costs – and waste – for small Okanagan wineries, and establishment of the valley’s first sub-appellation.
“It’s not just winemaking that I love. I love doing what’s in front of me. You just immerse yourself in what you’re doing in the moment and it’s tremendously satisfying,” he said of the breadth of his interests and involvements.
The purchasing group is an example.
Originally convened to discuss possibilities for reusing wine bottles within the local industry, an initiative Bartier led, the group is enriching.
“We crack some really difficult and big issues,” Bartier said, praising the talent surrounding him.
The 20 members of the group produce 150,000 cases of wine annually. Participating wineries – including Arise Vineyards (a venture of former Vincor International Inc. president and CEO Donald Triggs), Black Hills Estate Winery and Joie Farm – hold shares in the business.
Shareholders buy from the company at a small margin that pays the group’s operating costs, but the arrangement results in savings of up to 20%. This lets wineries price wines appropriately, both for consumers as well as their own viability.
“That really gives me some room to play with and be competitive against Italian wines or whoever. Or maybe invest in better growing,” he said. “This is very important.”
Collaborating on purchases will not only help reduce costs for member wineries, but in the case of glass, it will limit the waste wineries generate. Bartier said about 70% of bottles wineries use come from one of two basic moulds. Standardizing these will allow for bottles to be collected, washed and redistributed to member wineries. A pilot of the initiative is planned for spring 2011.
The project would be impossible without a collaborative spirit, which also lies behind the other initiative Bartier is championing: the establishment of the first sub-appellation, or geographical indication, within the province’s five designated viticultural areas. Spearheaded by winemaker Sandra Oldfield of Tinhorn Creek Vineyards, the initiative could result in the designation of the area south of Oliver in what’s colloquially known as the Golden Mile (but the official name is subject to the designation process), in 2012.
The bid for a sub-appellation also speaks volumes about the distance the industry has come since the establishment of Vintners’ Quality Alliance standard in 1990 and the creation of the B.C. Wine Institute (BCWI), which has never enjoyed the participation of the entire industry. The solution was the creation of the BC Wine Authority, which established impartial government oversight of quality standards while leaving promotion of VQA wines to the BCWI.
The changes reflect an attitude Bartier believes speaks to the industry’s growing confidence.
“We’ve passed a threshold where we’re not the shy retiring Canadians who are insecure about the quality of their grapes or the quality of their wine,” he said. “We’re trying to make Okanagan wine, which is why we’re talking about the Golden Mile, or the Black Sage Bench or the Naramata Bench. It’s why we’re not talking about the commodity of Merlot, we’re talking about the unique and special thing that is Okanagan red wine.”
Bartier downplays his own contribution, seeing it as part of the broader shift in the industry.
“It’s not inspiration,” he said. “It comes from just waking up earlier than anyone else, staying up later and working hard. And there’s a bunch of winemakers like that in the valley.”
Born in Kelowna in 1967, Bartier graduated from the University of Victoria in 1990 with a degree in recreation administration. Summers working for Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. led to a job with Labatt International Brands, the brewer’s import agency.
“I just turned into the resident wine geek – I loved it.”
He became familiar with wines from Europe and Australia, and when he returned to the Okanagan with his wife Jodi in 1995 – ostensibly to become a mountain guide – he shifted into winemaking. Hawthorne Mountain Vineyards (now See Ya Later Ranch) found a place for him in its cellar and industry doyen Harry McWatters, a familiar face during Bartier’s youth in Summerland, lent financial support to Bartier’s studies at the University of California-Davis and a vintage at Stonehaven Vineyards in Australia.
“Michael was on a career path as our assistant winemaker there to become a winemaker for one of the other brands,” said McWatters, who considers Bartier one of the valley’s star winemakers. “That particular project was a little slower moving along than everybody had planned and opportunities arose for him. We were really, really sorry to see him go.”
A stint at Stag’s Hollow and spearheading the opening of Township 7 on the Naramata Bench in 2004 was followed by a roadside chat over coffee with Mick Luckhurst that brought him to Golden Mile Cellars Ltd., renamed Road 13 Vineyards in 2008.
Luckhurst had returned to B.C. from the Edmonton construction industry the previous year and with his wife, Pam, knew that succeeding in the competitive Okanagan industry required help.
Bartier leaves it to others to determine whether the Luckhursts found what they wanted.
McWatters thinks so, citing Bartier’s competence and willingness to learn as key assets.
“He’s continued to upgrade his knowledge and his skills and apply them and share them with the industry,” McWatters said, noting Bartier’s willingness to mentor younger winemakers.
Bartier, for his part, believes the cross-pollination B.C. wineries have come to enjoy from both New World and Old World winemakers are priming today’s cellarhands to make exciting contributions to the industry in the future.
“These are the guys that are playing around with weird maceration techniques, different techniques on the fermenting and different yeast strains,” he said of the next generation. “These guys are pushing the limits.”