Hero Wine Philosophy.
Tapping in to world class terroirs.
Hero Wine Philosophy.
Tapping in to world class terroirs.
Raised Standards
SHAPED BY THE OKANAGAN
As a team we have a style of wine that excites us for reds, whites and rosès. We look to those styles and qualities of wines that we have loved drinking over the years, and seek out hero wines for each wine we plan in our portfolio. This gives us a stylistic target to which we can conceptualize our winemaking approach for each wine.
Our Approach
For each of our wines, we are driven to make the best version of that wine possible. A careful decision to make a rosè requires a commitment to making a world-class rosè, not just a side project. We may not always succeed, but we we will do the hard work to never mail it in. We make decisions to make a wine with care and deliberation.
We look to the following wine regions for inspiration and to choose “Hero Wines” to give our winemaking a clear direction.
Bordeaux
The benchmark for big, full-bodied, complex red wines because of its unique combination of gravel, clay, and limestone soils paired with a temperate maritime climate consistently produces Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot of depth, structure, and balance. The region perfected the art of blending—layering power, tannin, and aromatics into wines that evolve for decades.
Provence/Bandol
Unlike most regions where rosé is secondary, Provence treats it as a flagship, refining technique and style over generations into the global benchmark. Sun-drenched dry, arid conditions, moderated by sea breezes, allow grapes to achieve full phenolic ripeness while retaining freshness—producing rosés with both delicacy and structure. While the Okanagan isn’t Mediterranean, we have some common ground in terms of the dry, arid soils and sage and aromatic vegetation.
Rhone
Condrieu, anchored by the steep granite slopes of the northern Rhône, is the legendary epicenter of Viognier. A combination of poor, heat-retaining soils and a marginal climate pushes Viognier to achieve full aromatic intensity while preserving tension, yielding wines that are both opulent and precise.From bold, full-bodied wines with significant use of oak to more refined light-medium styles with an edge of crisp white fruit. Our 2025 style aimed at a full-bodied Condrieu-style wine.
Tuscany
While we don’t have wines with Italian varietals in 2025, stylistically, super-tuscan wines with higher percentages of Merlot and Cab Sauv have been favorites of ours for years. We are big fans of the silky smooth fruit, refined tannins, and fresh acidity of these wines, so they are always at least in the back of our mind.
Terroir
Being terroir-aware means understanding that Merlot in Bordeaux is different than from Tuscany is different than from the Okanagan. Our approach is to find the harmony in a style of wine and requisite wine-making practices from these places and adapt and make them from the incredible terroirs of the Okanagan.
Winemaking Approach
Our approach to winemaking is grounded in classical Bordeaux techniques, modernized and adapted to the unique terroirs of the Okanagan. To that we layer in experimental vessels and techniques, ludicrous amounts of manual labour in the cellar, and the practice of keeping each lot separate in the winemaking cycle for as long as possible to maximize our blending options for each wine.
Vineyards
Spacedog Wines is committed to the ideal that great wine starts in the vineyard. We are fortunate to have access to grapes from some outstanding vineyards in the South Okanagan.
Vineyard oversight
For the large part, our vineyards are overseen by our winemaker Pascal, which allows us to drive viticultural practices, yields and harvest dynamics.
Low yields
All of our grapes are grown and harvested to low target yields, generally 3 tonnes/acre for reds, and 4 tonnes/acre for whites.
Harvest timing
Our team doesn’t have a formulaic approach to picking at a certain brix. The maturation and ripening cycles of grapes follow a different path every year, and the vitals on grape chemistry therefore differ each year. We look at brix, but more importantly we prioritize phenolic ripeness and tannin ripeness.