Maija has always been about the lighter side of Pinot Noir for us — bright, fragrant and full of life. But the 2025 vintage has a little more to say.
Named after Tantalus proprietor Eric Savics’ daughter, Maija captures the elegance and energy we love about Pinot Noir from the East Kelowna Slopes, while this vintage, and the increasing maturity of our vines, bring a little more depth, texture and savoury character to the conversation.
Deep ruby crimson in the glass, with inviting aromas of cherry, hibiscus and fresh thyme. Juicy and vibrant on the palate, with crushed raspberry and cranberry framed by fine-grained tannins. A savoury note of red liquorice and earth carries through the long finish.
WINEMAKER'S NOTES
Sourced primarily from our estate vineyard, the fruit was hand-harvested and vinified in small lots using 100% wild fermentation, with 25% whole-bunch inclusion. Three small carbonic maceration ferments brought a gentle buoyancy to the overall blend. The wine was then matured for 11 months in French oak barriques, primarily neutral with some second-fill barrels, undergoing natural malolactic fermentation in the spring of 2025 before being blended and bottled that fall.
TECHNICAL INFO
100% Pinot Noir
Alcohol: 13.3%
Residual Sweetness: .09 g/L
pH: 3.69
Total Acidity: 6.6 g/L
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2025 VINTAGE:
From a season in 2024 with little to no fruiting bud wood to a season in 2025 where every shoot was fruitful, the turnaround in the vineyard was beyond our expectations. A mild winter and above-average spring rainfall lent to an easy recovery for our vines. Rain at flowering naturally thinned berry numbers in our Pinot and Chardonnay, limiting mildew pressure in some clones and balancing vines holding a heavier-than-anticipated crop load. East Kelowna was largely spared the extreme heat we’ve come to expect in recent summers, easing the vines into stress-free fruit development. At veraison, our team completed a rigorous crop thin to ensure balanced crop loads in most Chardonnay and Pinot blocks, as well as some lower-vigor Riesling vines.
The Okanagan then experienced its warmest September in over 30 years, and the extended warmth accelerated ripening and fruit development. Instead of waiting weeks for our Riesling to reach perfect ripeness, our harvest team rode the ripening wave block to block, variety to variety, with picking ending on October 6th on site. The delicate tannin profile in our Rieslings showed a lighter, herbal character not seen here in years, while many of our favourite Pinot and Chardonnay parcels sang with exceptional quality and elegance that will be favoured in bottle for years to come.
