St. Hubertus Rises from the Ashes

Hubertus Estate Winery is the Okanagan's most resilient winery.

The Okanagan Mountain forest fire ripped through the property on August 22, destroying the winery and a 1932 house that was the home of Leo Gebert and wife Barbara, one of the families that own St. Hubertus. The fire also ruined all the grapes in the vineyard.

Because the firestorm missed the nearby warehouse containing all the bottled wine, St. Hubertus had a temporary tasting room open again on September 4 and a permanent one by the time the Okanagan wine festival began at the start of October. The winery even is doing a brisk business in selling evocative T-shirts and specially-labelled Fireman's Red and Glowing Amber wines.

By mid-October, the fast-moving brothers had a new winery under construction. They have a full 2003 vintage under way with grapes purchased elsewhere in the Okanagan. The only varietal missing from the 2003 range is Chasselas, a light and fruity white wine. The only other vineyard in the Okanagan with Chasselas, Quails' Gate Estate Winery, has too little to part with any.

As well, the foundations are in place for a new residence not far from the heritage home that burned.

"We're extremely fortunate," says Andy Gebert, the younger of the brothers running St. Hubertus. "So many people helped get us back on track."

The Gebert brothers come from the Swiss community of Rapperswil. Trained as a banker, Leo really preferred agriculture. Drawn to the Okanagan in 1984 by the mountains and the affordable (compared with Switzerland) land prices, he bought a vineyard on the east side of the lake, just south of Kelowna. The St. Hubertus winery was opened in 1992.

Andy Gebert, who once was the skipper of luxury yachts in the Caribbean, came to Canada in 1990 and became a partner in the vineyard and winery in 1994.

With their wives (they married sisters), the Geberts gradually built St. Hubertus to a successful winery making 10,000 cases a year. The major varietals include Riesling, Bacchus, Pinot Blanc, Maréchal Foch, Gamay, Pinot Noir and one of only three examples of Pinot Meunier in the Okanagan.

Perhaps for sentimental reasons, the Chasselas has been one of the signature white wines. The 2002 St. Hubertus Chasselas is fresh and crisp, with lively acidity. This is one of Switzerland's most widely planted varieties. It was already in the vineyard when Leo Gebert arrived. The property was first planted to grapes in 1928 and has been replanted since the late 1970s, mostly with European vinifera.

Unfortunately, the Chasselas vines are right at the top of the 70-acre vineyard, next to some of the forested area that burned. The Gebert brothers were unable to pick any of their grapes in 2003, either because of direct fire damage or because of the smoke taint that makes many of the Kelowna-area grapes unsuitable for wine this vintage.

The forest fire threatened five wineries in East Kelowna and Okanagan Mission, including CedarCreek, Summerhill, Pinot Reach and House of Rose. St. Hubertus was the only one that suffered severe property loss, including the winery and all of its equipment. The Okanagan's only reverse osmosis unit - an $80,000 unit used to remove alcohol and to polish wines, and rented by St. Hubertus to other wineries - was destroyed.

The disaster to St. Hubertus was mitigated by three factors.

First, the Gebert brothers had bottled all their 2002 wine, except for a few barrels of port, and had stored it in a warehouse that the fire did not touch. Only the port was incinerated.

Second, they have excellent insurance coverage. "Leo was very religious when new equipment arrived," Andy says. "It was always fully insured."

Third, the brothers have remained incredibly upbeat throughout this experience. "In a few years, it will be something we'll look back on," Andy sighs.

John Schreiner is author of British Columbia Wine Country.