Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery set for more history with next-gen winemaker

OLIVER, British Columbia — No one has shined more brilliantly more often with white wine throughout the 24-year history of the Platinum Awards than Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.

And if not for the closed border between British Columbia and Washington state during the pandemic, pioneering winemaker Walter Gehringer might still be “The King of the Platinum” — a phrase used on their bottles for years.

Last fall, Gehringer Brothers won five Platinums, giving the family a career total of 102. Gehringer is only the second — and perhaps final — winery to reach the century plateau. No other producer is near that milestone, and the decades of continued success have prompted Great Northwest Wine to name Gehringer Brothers as the 2024 Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year.

Sidebar: Honor roll, selection process for Great Northwest Wine’s awards program

“I think it’s important for the history of the winery and the image of the winery to have independent validation for what we do,” Walter says.

And consumers should know the Platinum Awards are judged blind without the bottle price being known. Here are the Gehringer family’s 2023 Platinum winners and the retail price (in Canadian currency) for each:

2022 Optimum Pinot Noir — $25.99
2022 Dry Rock Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc — $20.69
2022 Private Reserve Pinot Gris — $17.99
2022 Ehrenfelser — $16.99
2022 Old Vines Auxerrois — $16.99

“Some people who aren’t customers might be upset with us,” Walter says. “They say, ‘We can’t compete against you at those prices. You are hurting our industry.’ ”

Several factors are at play. One, the Gehringer family grows the grapes for nearly 70% of its production across their estate along the Golden Mile Bench, which is less than 20 minutes north of Oroville, Wash.

Second, they focus on stainless steel fermentation.

“The only oak barrels we use are just for display,” Walter says with a chuckle. “We’ve been very successful with our unoaked Chardonnay, and while we dabble in reds, they are a different style of winemaking,” he adds. “I achieved a style that works without barrels.”

Gehringer Brothers inspired by German father

And yet, becoming one of the top winemakers in North America wasn’t a notion for Walter Gehringer — pronounced Gehr (rhymes with wear) en-grrr — as he was getting ready for college. He wanted to be an electrical engineer but changed his mind prior to graduating from high school in 1973, leaving him unsure and unsettled.

His father, Helmut, a hobby winemaker, saw the early beginnings of the Okanagan Valley wine industry and suggested the University of Geisenheim’s winemaking school in West Germany. The final nudge came during a family summer trip to Sonoma and a three-hour tour of Italian Swiss Colony.

“It included time with the winemaker, and that was the clincher,” Walter says. “There was a huge lack of knowledge about winemaking in the Okanagan Valley at the time, but there was a huge amount of support for learning.”

Walter’s five years in Germany as an aspiring winemaker from an emerging region were illuminating but trying — especially at the start.

“I could speak the language well enough, but I first had to teach myself how to read and write in German,” Walter remembers.

Along the way, his brother Gordon graduated with a degree from Germany’s oldest viticulture school in Weinsberg.

Gehringers assist with Becker Project

The Gehringer brothers’ formal education and connections in Germany would benefit not only their family but also the British Columbia industry. Geisenheim was home to one of the wine world’s leading figures — educator/researcher Helmut Becker.

During a summer break, Walter was working at Andrés Wines near Vancouver when a supervisor told him that his famous German professor was in Washington state as a guest of the new Seattle-based Enological Society of the Pacific Northwest. At that moment, Becker was touring the Columbia Valley with another respected researcher — Dr. Walter Clore, who became known as the father of the Washington wine industry.

“I phoned some of the enological society people and told them, ‘I heard you are driving Dr. Becker from Eastern Washington back to Seattle. Can I steal him and bring him to B.C. for a couple of hours? I guarantee I will get him back to Seattle,’ ” Walter remembers.

“That was the beginning of him seeing our area, and the Heiss family of Gray Monk was a big component of that happening as well.”

That unexpected side trip would launch the historic Becker Project in 1975, a seven-year experiment across two sites in the Okanagan Valley overseen by the agriculture ministries in Canada and West Germany. The association known as Winegrowers of British Columbia views the Becker Project as “the most important undertaking of the early industry” because it helped identify which classic wine grape varieties could thrive in the Okanagan Valley.

“Becker was amazing to me,” Walter says. “He worked 24/7, and he would deliver his lectures from one week to the next without any notes — and he’d pick up right where he left off.”

And Becker’s thirst for research and sampling was the stuff of legend.

“He was instrumental in helping to make space for the next vintage of wine,” Walter says with a chuckle.

The concept of Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery began not with Walter and Gordon but with their father, Helmut, and their uncle, Karl, who took part in the Becker Project and purchased the land for the original estate vineyard in 1981. The family built the winery in 1985.

Early wines made with Sagemoor grapes

In many ways, the Gehringer estate could be set within the Wenatchee Valley two hours to the south — a benchland featuring wind-blown loess that’s home to orchards and vineyards, influenced by a river nearby.

Walter and Gordon’s father and mother, Betty, were born in Germany and moved to Osoyoos, British Columbia, in the early 1950s. In the early Seventies, winemaking became a fairly serious pastime for Helmut, and that interest grew when his sons went off to college. There were little to no vinifera grapes grown in the Okanagan Valley in those days, so Helmut was bringing wine grapes from Washington state.

“I don’t even know how we got into Sagemoor and those Bacchus and Dionysus blocks,” Walter says. “Dad might have just driven down and rolled down his window, talked to people and said, ‘Look, here’s the deal — and I need some grapes.’ ”

Logically, the education Walter acquired in Germany and at Andrés found its way into his father’s cellar.

“His wines were hugely improved, and as more people began to enjoy Dad’s wines, you couldn’t keep the people out of the door,” Walter says. “That’s where the motivation for a winery building came in. Everybody had a reason to come by Gehringer, either in the afternoon or early evening.”

Among the success stories from the Becker Project are white European varieties Auxerrois and Ehrenfelser. The staggering number of Platinum Awards won reflects the consistent, almost routine, success by Gehringer Brothers:

Riesling — 27
Ehrenfelser — 18
Auxerrois — 12
Sauvignon Blanc — 9
Chardonnay — 6
Pinot Gris — 6

As a vine, Ehrenfelser, a German cross of Riesling and Sylvaner, has proved to be essentially bulletproof in the Okanagan Valley. More importantly, its grapes ripen regardless of the quality of the growing season.

According to Canadian researchers, Auxerrois, best known in Alsace, emerged from the Becker trials as the grape to produce the best wine. However, continued difficulty in getting plant material from French nurseries pushed Pinot Blanc ahead of Auxerrois in the Okanagan Valley.

The Gehringers also create a marvelous blend from Gewürztraminer and Schönburger — the latter a German cross of Pinot Noir, Chasselas Rosé and Muscat Hamburg. The brothers have earned nine Platinums for those efforts.

Gehringers adapt with climate change

The string of warm vintages in the Pacific Northwest began in 2012, and the Gehringers — experts with cool-climate varieties — continue to adapt. They’ve won 70 Platinums since then, starting with the 2012 Desert Sun, a blend of Chardonnay, Riesling and Auxerrois that ended up as the No. 1 wine of the 2013 judging. Their first wine to emerge as the Best of the Best was their 2009 Signature Riesling Icewine during the 2010 Platinum, but the medals awarded to these wines don’t surprise longtime customers to the Gehringer Brothers tasting room.

“We’ve always appealed to the older-to-retired group, it seems,” Walter says. “At the same time, we’ve always wondered how you get into that younger group, although up until COVID I was always surprised how many young people were touring.

“We have a good level of visitation to the winery,” Walter adds. “Our wine sales per visit are quite high, but we treat the customer well and the price per bottle is conducive when they are tasting the wine. The price doesn’t reflect what’s in the bottle.”

Another gateway to younger consumers is the nature of the wine styles at Gehringer. Production is dominated by estate-grown white varieties that are bright, fruit-forward, no-oak and naturally lower in alcohol. The wines are presented in unpretentious bottles, behind modest labels and protected by screwcap rather than cork.

There’s also some scale to the production at Gehringer Brothers.

“The highest we’ve been was 32,000 cases in the early 90s when our yields per acre were higher,” Walter says. “In 2022, we did 27,000 cases. However, from 2023 we’re estimating 16,000 cases because of that late December winter damage.”

The forecast for the 2024 vintage is bleak for many winegrowers in the Columbia Valley, Walla Walla Valley and Okanagan Valley because of the vine-killing freeze during mid-January, with the temperature on Jan. 13 plummeting to -28 Celsius/-18 Fahrenheit in Penticton.

“Ultimately, we can’t judge until spring has sprung — May, probably — but everyone is quite worried,” Walter said. “It’s not about not expecting a crop, but vine death. I still have my fingers crossed.”

Australia trains next generation for Gehringer Bros.

Two years prior to Walter’s son, Brendon, leaving for the University of Adelaide to study winemaking, Wine Press Northwest magazine named Gehringer Brothers its British Columbia Winery of the Year for 2006.

“In hindsight it was probably a good choice because Australian winemaking techniques are better fit in the Okanagan than if I had gone to school in Germany,” Brendon says.

Howeve, there’s a German connection to Brendon’s first harvest job out of college with Australian winegrowers Stephen and Prue Henschke. One of Australia’s more esteemed producers, Henschke’s century-old Hill of Grace Vineyard in the Eden Valley produces buzzworthy Shiraz. At approximately $900 per bottle upon release, it’s often mentioned in the same sentence at Penfolds Grange — perhaps Australia’s equivalent to Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley producer Screaming Eagle ($4,000).

“Dad became friends of the Henschkes from studying together in Geisenheim,” Brendon said. “Dad told me at the time, ‘Australia may not be very applicable to what we’re doing here, but you will learn something different. It will probably create a bit of friction for us in the cellar when we’re trying to decide what to do, but it will be a good additional facet.’ ”

Not long before the 2023 harvest began, Brendon returned home. He married an Aussie; they’ve started a family and he built his own career with a six-year stint at Kellermeister, another esteemed producer in Australia. His work as cellar manager helped that family-owned winery win the award for Wine of the Year with a 2015 Shiraz at the 2019 London Wine Competition.

“When I left home, the reds grown here were primarily Merlot and Cab Franc — the typical cool-climate varieties that perform well in this climate,” Brendon says. “Now people have planted Syrah, Grenache and Mataro (aka Mourvèdre) — varieties that you’d see in the Barossa. That’s been interesting to see.”

Brendon and his young family have moved into his parents’ home next door to the winery and tasting room. He’s now living beside vines that have produced some of North America’s best white wines. His folks now reside in Penticton.

“The plan was that I would be coming back — and then I met someone,” Brendon says with a smile. “As far as Dad is concerned, my decision to come back is a bit long in the tooth, but for my personal development I’ve preferred having done it this way.”

Three of the Platinums won by Gehringer have been for Pinot Noir, and two for Merlot. Syrah is not part of the family’s portfolio — yet.

“With my time in the Barossa, I’ve got a lot of red winemaking training, and there are certain things we can do to elevate our reds or create a new line,” Brendon says.

There is some uncertainty in terms of succession at Gehringer Brothers. Gordon’s children are not involved in the vineyard, so the family is grappling with questions that vex a number of the Pacific Northwest’s famous family-owned wineries.

“I’m working hard to hand this over to Brendon, and I feel confident that he can handle it because he’s very talented,” Walter says.

And yet, the topic of seeking a buyer for Gehringer Brothers has been in the background for a while. Back-to-back vintages of winter-damaged vines and skyrocketing real estate prices in the Okanagan have prompted approximately 30% of the province’s wine industry to be actively on the market for potential buyers.

“So many of the other wineries around us have done that, which is crazy how quickly that happened in a short period of time,” Walter says. “We’re one of the last ones hanging in there.

“We had decided that if Brendon’s answer ended up being ‘No’ to returning home, then we’d sell,” Walter adds. “There really is no other option.”

Brendon admits, “Every time we would visit, there would always be this nagging question that would come up.

“It’s a massive lifestyle change,” he continues. “We were living in a more suburban area near Adelaide, but it’s too big of an opportunity to not even try.”

For as long as he can remember, Brendon has watched his father work 60 hours per week for 50 weeks a year. There’s little chance Walter’s workload will subside in the short term as Brendon begins to take over.

“The question of ‘What if …’ will eat you alive over a longer period of time, and I didn’t want that for him,” Walter says. “And it’s important enough for me to help him make it as successful as possible.

“Besides,” Walter adds, “If we were to sell, I’m not sure what I would do with my time and still be happy. I might get the jitters.”

Brendon replies, “Dad will never be gone from this place.”

Walter notes with a wry smile, “I’ve got to commute now. Before, I always just fell out of bed to get to work.”

That’s the best possible outlook for supporters of Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery, where gold has turned into platinum for more than 20 years.

• Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery, 876 Road 8, Oliver, British Columbia, v0h 1t1, Canada, (250) 498-3537, GehringerWines.ca.