Bordeaux's Groupe Taillan is aiming to make Osoyoos Larose 'the best wine in Canada' after buying out joint venture partner Constellation Brands.
Groupe Taillan, owners of Château Gruaud Larose, paid an undisclosed sum to joint venture partner Constellation Brands to acquire 100% of the project’s brand name, stocks, viticultural and winemaking team, and 32 hectares of vineyards planted to Bordeaux varietals in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.
However, the deal does not include production facilities, with the Taillan team currently using rented space while they look for a new winery.
The new team at Osoyoos Larose includes winemaker Mathieu Mercier, who arrived from Bordeaux in March to begin work on the ‘promising’ 2013 vintage; vineyard manager Pierre Mauget; and former Vincor Québec president Roger Provost.
‘Since its inception, we have been able to compare the quality of Osoyoos Larose wines to some of the best Grands Crus from Bordeaux,’ said Mauget.
‘The terroir of the Okanagan Valley, and particularly that of Osoyoos Larose’s vineyards, presents incredible quality and opportunity.’
Mercier said the team was keen to improve its knowledge of the vineyard, with ‘important research’ into irrigation beginning this year.
‘I really trust that Osoyoos Larose can be not only one of the best wines of Canada, but the best wine of Canada, and join the club of the best iconic wines of the world,’ he told decanter.com.
Osoyoos Larose was established in 2000 by Taillan and Vincor, the Canadian wine business later bought by Constellation, with the aim of making ‘world-class wine rooted in Old World tradition and elevated with New World terroir and technology’.
The vineyards are planted on an arid site on the west side of the South Okanagan Valley, on a bench known as the ‘Golden Mile’ overlooking Lake Osoyoos.
The first vintage, 2001, was released in 2004 as a blend of 66% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 9% Cabernet Franc.
