Established by Christine Coletta
and Steve Lornie in 2011, Okana-gan
Crush Pad (OCP) is a state-of-
the-art winery in Summerland, B.C.,
that strives to make wines that are as
alluring and distinctive as the Okanagan
Valley itself.
It is also the first custom crush facility
built in Canada, producing several differ-ent
wine labels for other Okanagan winer-ies
in addition to its own signature wines
under the Haywire, Narrative and Free
Form labels.
OCP wines reflect the region’s unique
northern mountain desert setting, which is
noted for its short, hot growing season and
cool summer evenings. Matt Dumayne, a
New Zealand native who moved to Canada
10 years ago and is OCP’s chief winemak-er,
chatted with Poured Canada about
the special terroir of OCP wines and
his story.
How did you start your career in
wine production?
Matt Dumayne: I fell into it by accident. I
was on track to become a brewer in New
Zealand when the opportunity to work in
a wine cellar arose in 1998. I started as a
cellar hand and I became an assistant wine-maker
in New Zealand’s Gibbston Valley
winemaking region around a year later. I
started doing the necessary winemaking
courses to assist me in my on-the-job train-ing,
which is 95 per cent of what becoming
a winemaker is.
F E AT U R E
From
New Zealand
to the Okanagan
Matt Dumayne is a Kiwi who fell into winemaking by
accident and is now chief winemaker for Okanagan
Crush Pad, a thriving winery and custom crush facility
in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley
By Mark Halsall
While you were in New Zealand, you
worked for eight years under the guid-ance
of Grant Taylor, one of the world’s
most awarded Pinot Noir winemakers.
What was that experience like and how
has it influenced your winemaking?
MD: Working with Taylor was immense-ly
fun and I learned a lot. He is a very
experienced guy when it comes to making
Pinot Noir.
During that time you also travelled to
the U.S. Pacific Northwest to work at
a number of wineries there. What was
your reason for doing this?
MD: During the New Zealand winters, I
would come and work North America’s
summers in Oregon, where I did Northern
Hemisphere harvests at Panther Creek
Cellars, Archery Summit, Patricia Green
Cellars and Bergström Wines. I wanted to
experience a place with different soils and
terroir, and it helped me learn the nuanc-es
in teasing out our terroir at Okanagan
Crush Pad.
How did your winemaking training
and work experience in your native
country and the U.S. prepare you for
your current role as chief winemaker
at OCP?
MD: Both New Zealand and Oregon share
similarities to the landscape and terroir in
British Columbia. I believe everything that
came before prepared me well to make
expressive, yet delicately balanced B.C. wines.
Lionel Trudel
SUMMER 2020 § POURED CANADA § 25