A small group of the wine community turned out in the cool morning air of the sun-drenched Park Hill Vineyard last week to honour well-known industry personality and organic grape champion, Hans Buchler.
Buchler had just been honoured as 2020 Viticulturist of the Year by the BC Grape Growers Association (BCGA). The annual award, now in its second year, recognizes growers “who are pushing forward the quality of fruit while also being a present and positive member of the grape growing industry.”
It is aimed to highlight those growers that produce the top quality grapes that go into making B.C.’s best wines. It’s often said that 90 per cent of a wine’s quality lies in the grapes.
It was wholly fitting then that the assembled group of friends and colleagues enjoyed one of Canada’s most awarded wines crafted from Buchler’s Riesling and Chardonnay grapes: the Summerhill Pyramid Winery’s Cipes Brut sparkling wine which has won gold medals every year since first released in 1992. Buchler sells all of his grapes to the multi-award-winning Kelowna winery that produces more than 40 varieties of organic wine.
Buchler has been operating the 20-acre Park Hill Vineyard in a small valley north of Oliver for nearly 40 years. It is here where the terroir – the climate, soil, and growing conditions – have created a winning combination for certified organic Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, Gewürztraminer, Marechal Foch, Pinot Noir, and Riesling grapes, among others.
“When we began to develop the vineyard in the 1980s, we knew it would be difficult,” says Buchler. “We knew the site was on the edge of the growing region and had limited water. We also knew the ecosystem in this difficult growing location was going to give us frost and other unique challenges so we had to be innovative and resourceful to be successful.”
Buchler adopted an organic approach and through determination and innovation, began to produce top-quality grapes.
“Skilled and high-quality growers like Hans are critical to the ongoing success and evolution of our industry,” says John Bayley, president of the BC Grapegrowers’ Association and viticulturist for Blasted Church Vineyards.
Many of the assembled group highlighted not just Buchler’s commitment and expertise honed over the last four decades, but his generosity and enthusiasm for sharing his knowledge. In accepting the award, Buchler thanked researchers for enabling organic growers to perfect their craft. “We would not be where we are without the researchers in this industry,” he says.
Buchler’s tireless advocacy and participation in countless committees and industry working groups was also highlighted. Last year’s inaugural winner of this same award, Karnail Singh Sidhu, viticulturist at Kalala Organic Estate Winery and coincidentally also an organic grower, paid tribute to Buchler as being integral to his own success.
“I never see him upset, he is always smiling. He will tell you every secret about organic farming but the one thing he never told me was how he found time to do everything!” Sidhu laughs.
Bayley notes the judges found this a particularly difficult year to judge, with all nominees in contention for this award. Aside from Buchler, this year’s nominees included Gene Covert, Jody Subotin, Sukhi Dhaliwal and Val Tait. “Well done to all of you, the judges wanted to make note of the difficulty in deciding this year’s winner due to the incredible growers that were nominated,” he adds.
The award carries a $2,000 bursary for viticulture education.
