SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – SUMMERHILL PYRAMID WINERY

December 18, 2013

The PuSh Festival is very excited to introduce one of its new partners for the 2014 Festival — Summerhill Pyramid Winery.

Summerhill is proud to produce 100% organic wines, with its Kelowna vineyard having received Demeter Biodynamic certification in 2012. What sets organic and biodynamically-produced wine apart? Ezra Cipes, CEO of Summerhill Pyramid Winery, argues that it allows for a more honest wine. A biodynamic farm is a biodiverse ecosystem designed to take care of itself. That is, pesticides and herbicides are not required as the ecosystem–including the living soil, insects and plants–ensures that pests and diseases are kept to a minimum. In Cipes’ words, it is a “co-operative with nature approach. It’s bringing nature in, and trusting nature, and trusting that once you establish that biodiversity, you’re going to establish an ecosystem that will take care of itself, and pests and diseases will be naturally mitigated through biodiversity.”

And what is the effect on the wine? “Each plant has its own relationship with the earth and it has to get its own nutrients. We’re not ‘feeding’ it per se, we’re creating an environment where it can take care of itself. And then the wine has that individual character, and is grown in harmony with the environment, and then you get really authentic, true wine that way.” Meet Ezra and learn more about biodynamic wines in this video.

Summerhill has won numerous awards since the Cipes family bought the farm in 1986, but the proudest moment, according to founder Stephen (Ezra’s dad), was when Summerhill’s sparkling wine won a gold medal in Champagne, France–against French Champagne! A perfect addition to your New Year’s Eve celebrations this year, treat yourself to a bottle of Cipes Ariel 1998. This organic sparkling wine made in the Champagne method spent a ridiculous 14 years aging with the yeast in the bottle before disgorgement and release. The result is an amazing, complex wine that compares to Champagnes priced at $200+.

Vancouver Sun wine columnist Anthony Gismondi called Cipes Ariel 1998 ‘Stunningly fine’ and awarded it 92 points, and DJ Kearney (Vancouver-based sommelier, wine educator, writer and judge) said it was “Clear that this is the best sparkling wine that BC has produced.”

PuSh is proud to be featuring 2012 Alive Organic White and 2010 Baco Noir at Club PuSh this year.