Mt. Boucherie Family Estate Winery

Wine Style

Our winemaker Jim Faulkner has a preference to create drier wines with a nice balance of fruit expression. Throughout the entire process and portfolio, he strives to let the flavour of the fruit shine through. By balancing sugars and an appropriate use of oak barrels, Jim creates clean, food-friendly wines.

Our extensive portfolio means that we make a wine for everyone, for every palate and preference. For example, Jim makes a bold and heavily-oaked Chardonnay, the Summit Reserve, as well as a clean, unoaked version in the Estate Collection Chardonnay. On the red side, Jim loves making big, bold reds like the Summit Reserve red, our winery's take on a Bordeaux blend, but he also really enjoys creating (and drinking) softer-expressed reds including the Blaufränkisch and unoaked Gamay Noir.

Lesser-Known Varietals

While most of us have probably tasted our share of Merlot and Chardonnay, some many never even have heard of Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt. At Mt. Boucherie, we love to celebrate the history and diversity of the region and enjoy creating delicious wines from more uncommon varietals.

Blaufränkisch is a late-ripening, dark-skinned variety of grape that results in wines that are typically rich in tannin with a spicy character. Grown primarily in Central Europe, there are few wine regions that produce this flavourful grape.

Zweigelt is a relatively recent crossing of St. Laurent and Blaufränkisch varietals that displays the body and acidic nature of these parents respectively. Widely grown in Austria, where it was developed, it is now that country's most popular dark skinned grape. Zweigelt is said to be among the most cold-hardy vinifera varieties, with an ability to produce good red wines with some aging ability within colder climates like Canada.