What's in Your Cellar, Dwight?

Photo courtesy Stag's Hollow Winery

Dwight Sick
Stag's Hollow Winery
Winemaker
stagshollowwinery.com

Dwight's passion for France's Rhone Valley is demonstrated by the selection of wines he's chosen to cellar over the years and by sampling the wines he's expanded Stag's Hollow's portfolio with. Syrah, Viognier, Marsanne and Grenache have all made appearances as blends or as single varietal releases in the Okanagan Falls winery's wine shop in recent years, with more to come.

Q - What are your favourite wine regions to cellar/collect?
Northern Rhone (Syrah, Marsanne), Priorat (Grenache), Bandol (Mourvedrre both rose and red wines)

Q - What is the purpose of your wine cellar/collection?
Quite simply it is to share. The act of sharing unique wines from the cellar with my friends and being able to exchange thoughts about this experience usually exceeds the actual act of drinking the wine.

Q - Is there a jewel of note or a favourite wine in your collection?
A bottle of 1966 Taylor Vintage Port which was my birth year. Not sure when to drink it yet.

Q - How do you store your collection?
I live in an old heritage orchard home in Penticton. The house has a half basement in concrete with the remaining half being a dirt crawl space. The crawl space occupies the entire north side of the side basement and has been transformed into a make shift wine cellar that can house roughly 300 bottles. The humidity and temperature remain surprising constant in this environment.

Q - Was there a particular bottle or region of wine that was the impetus of starting your collection?
Australia and a bottle of 1986 Grange. It was the year that my first daughter was born. Prior to winemaking, I worked for 19 years as a flight attendant. One of my key routes to work was the South Pacific and it allowed me to spend a substantial amount of time exploring Australia wines.

Q - What causes you to actually pull the trigger on a special bottle from your cellar?
Most of the special bottles that I have drunk have been totally unplanned and usually involved good friends that randomly dropped in. There is nothing better than a Tuesday night special bottle.

Q - What have you learned about wine from starting your collection?
We are a small fish in a big ocean. Explore wine. The wines of the world offer endless expressions of varietal character and of site terroir.

Q - Would perusing your wine cellar offer any insight into you as a person?
I'm not sure if it is my cellar but is there a wine out there that is perhaps a little bit rough around the edges, is driven and focused, and is always looking to improve vintage after vintage?

Q - Any general comments about building a collection?
March to your own drummer and follow your own palette. Regardless of what others may think about a wine, it is important to believe in your own personal preferences.

Q - What advice would you share to anyone wanting to start a collection of wine?
The most important thing to remember about wine is to not take it too seriously, after all it is just booze. Enjoy the moment as much as the wine.

 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2012 IconWines.ca