LUX Food & Drink Awards 2016

LUX - Food & Drink Awards 2016 23 LUX Award for Ice Wine Experts 2016 Originally founded in 1972, Hainle Vineyards, which was North America’s first ice wine producer, are now a small boutique winery in British Columbia, Canada, which specialises in traditional, biodynamic wine making. Walter talks us through the firm’s use of traditional techniques to create vibrant, full bodied wines which are of the highest possible quality. “Here at Hainle Vineyards, we produce our wines using winemaking techniques from the 1850’s which has brought our winery into the light of wine writers and wine judges. Presently our company is the highest rated winery Globally by Vivino with 4.8 points out of five of the past three years. We retain the traditional methods because over the past 16 years we have found that the old wine making methods have produced outstanding wines here in Canada (partially due to the fact that there has been no wine growing on our properties before 1972 and therefore all the minerals are still in the ground). LUX Award for Ice Wine Experts 2016 Hainle Vineyards Estate Winery draws on the rich winemaking tradition of the Huber family, whose heritage can be dated back as early as 1167 when the family was already perfecting the art of growing grapes in Austria. Currently the vineyard is run by Master Winemaker Dr. Walter Huber, who provides us with a fascinating insight into his work and how he creates spectacular wines. Company: Hainle Vineyards Estate Winery Ltd. Name: Dr. Walter Huber Email: [email protected] Website: www.hainle.com Address: 5355 Trepanier Bench Rd., Peachland, BC, V0H-1X2 Phone: 250-212-5944 FO160018 “I am personally responsible for all the traditional winemaking and oversee all the production and development of our product. All our grapes are grown traditionally at our own vineyards. International wine judges visit our winery on a regular base and try our wines to assure the highest quality available.” In order to keep up with the increased demand for these luxurious wines, Hainle Vineyards has a number of plans for expansion, as Walter concludes. “Overall the future is bright, as we are presently planning a wine cellar for 1,000 barrels in order to expand our production period and age our wines for longer before bottling. Furthermore, we are in the planning stages of a 5-star Wine-School-Resort and Spa where we will have international clients come to visit us and learn hands on how to grow and produce our products. Fundamentally, our ongoing aim is to continue to work and improve our product partly through new experimental wine making techniques.”