B.C. winemaker Justin Hall recalls falling hard and fast for industry

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It took one week for Justin Hall to fall in love with winemaking.

Working in golf course maintenance in the Osoyoos area for several years, Hall can pinpoint the exact moment in 2003 when he decided to shift his sights to the world of wine.

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“I was like, you know, I don’t really like this anymore,” Hall recalls of the cold and rainy day on which he realized it was time for a change. Still an early industry in the area at that time, Hall’s interest was piqued by the idea of wine.

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“You’d be stupid not to go,” he recalls a few elders from the Osoyoos Indian Band telling him when he asked their thoughts on entering the industry. So he started working at Nk’Mip winery.

“I think it was a Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2003. I came in and started working in the back cellar here,” Hall says. By Friday, he was hooked. “Four days, that’s all it took.”

Hall signed up for the Viticulture program at Okanagan College, going under the mentorship of the then-head winemaker at Nk’Mip, Randy Picton.

“I built a real love for food and wine,” Hall says of the early years in the industry working under the celebrated winemaker. After five years of working at the winery, Hall recalls Picton presenting him with an important question.

“He said, ‘Would you like to be a winemaker one day? Or are you happy dragging hoses?’” Hall says. “I was happy just being a cellar hand. I loved it. But I thought, you know? I would love to be a winemaker.

“It was meant to be.”

Noting that he “fit in so well” in the wine industry, he began to hone his skills with the aim of eventually taking over the head winemaking role from Picton in the future.

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A joint venture between the Osoyoos Indian Band and Arterra Wines Canada, an Ontario-based company that operates eight wineries across the country, Nk’Mip Cellars is the first Indigenous-owned winery in North America. The majority of the winery’s vineyards are on land leased from the Osoyoos Indian Band, with the remainder located on the “traditional lands” of the band, according to Hall.

With the help of Picton, the Osoyoos Band and Arterra, Hall went on to further his education in winemaking at Lincoln University in New Zealand.

“I was working hard at it,” Hall says of those early years further building his knowledge. Upon his return to Canada, Hall resumed his role at Nk’Mip to work under Picton.

“Randy taught me exactly how he wanted me to taste the wine, which was exactly how Tom (DiBello of CedarCreek Estate Winery) had taught him to taste the wine. Of what quality is and what the wines are going to feel like — descriptors,” Hall says. “Everybody tastes differently, but you can train your palette to look for different things. And develop it to fit something.

“It was like a mentor, to a mentor, to me. Randy was my mentor. It was absolutely outstanding. It was amazing the way that we had learned to taste wine.”

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Their beginning wines were “bigger,” Hall recalls, attributing some of their shared youth at the time, as well as the new blocks of grapes they were working with.

“We had just gotten some of these vineyard blocks, and it takes time to really learn your blocks. And I mean 10-15 years, especially with young blocks,” Hall says. “What is the potential? Is this block ever going to be something? This one little section of the vineyard, is it ever going to make top-tier wines? Or will it be second tier?”

As the familiarity with the blocks grew, so did Halls’ passion. Approachable, with a big laugh and open smile, Hall talks animatedly about aspects of the industry large and small.

Fast forward to today, and Hall is now the estate winemaker at Nk’Mip Cellars, taking over for Picton upon his retirement in 2021 after 19 years at the property. Hall is the first Indigenous person to hold the title for the winery.

While proud of the achievement, Hall doesn’t sit to ponder the significance of his milestone role for too long. He’s too busy making wine.

“I love being able to represent my tribe, plain and simple,” Hall, who grew up between Montreal and Osoyoos, says. “The tight-knit community, growing up in that, gave me a sense of pride for my people and for my land.

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“And every bottle here is a small representation of my tribe.”

Located at the southern tip of the Okanagan, in a region that’s referred to as “Canada’s only desert,” Osoyoos and Oliver present a unique destination for winemaking. Enjoying sunny, warm weather on the slopes of the Anarchist Mountain, where the winery is located beside Spirit Ridge Resort, Hall gets a front-row seat to the challenging climate on offer in the area. 

“There are extremes now. I explain it as ‘moody’ — Mother Nature’s gotten really moody,” Hall says when asked about the impact of climate change on his winemaking practices. “In the wine industry, if there’s one thing we are extremely good at … it’s tracking data.”

Using weather data detailing 20-year averages for the area, Hall says area winemakers attempt to create their wines despite the highs and lows the weather throws at them.

“I adjust my winemaking practices and I adjust my vineyard practices,” Hall says. “Hot years, Mother Nature throws things at you like mildew. Such as last year, which was a bit of an oddity. The spring was very, very late. Three weeks behind. And then we hit this perfect, 32C weather right around May. It was 32C every single day.

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“And that’s where grapes really, really love it. They absolutely love it, almost all of the varieties.”

Introducing modifications such as shade for heat-sensitives grape varieties through modified leaf canopy pruning, Hall is using what he jokingly refers to as “calculated guesses” to navigate challenges such as heat waves and wildfires for the Nk’Mip Cellars creations.

With a few years under his belt as head winemaker, and more than two decades in the industry, Hall still harbours a growing passion for his chosen career. And is the first one to say that he still has a lot to learn.

“I’ve seen 20 vintages. And people are like, ‘You’re so experienced!’ What if you drove a car 20 times. Does that make you good at it?” Hall says with a laugh. “Let’s wait for 80 vintages.”

Aharris@postmedia.com

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