AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN SIMES
The way forward for John Simes has never been clearer. "It's simply about pushing the quality now," he says. But for the award-winning Simes, who collected the vaunted Avery Trophy more than a decade ago for the Best Chardonnay in the World (before the French judges could even pronounce Okanagan), that constant march to quality comes at a cost.

"Just look at how our management of Oculus is changing," Simes says, referring to the winery's premium brand. "Our site selections are even more meticulous and we'll be thinning bunches through the season. In the vineyards, we're dropping a lot of early fruit to limit yield and boost flavour intensity. It hurts a little at first-until you drink the results."

Simes' vineyard teams are also carefully calibrating irrigation, especially in the arid southern Oliver and Osoyoos vineyards.

According to Simes, water management has undergone dramatic change, with environmentally friendly drip feeds being installed in all of Mission Hill's estate vineyards. "Water is a very precious resource and retooling to drip irrigation conserves water-there's negligible evaporation loss compared to overhead sprinklering," he says, "and combined with our new moisture probes we can precisely calculate 'irrigation deficit.'"

The term irrigation deficit refers to restrictive watering, according to Simes, "where the vines are slightly challenged for moisture and respond by growing smaller grapes. That increases the skin to juice ratio and adds flavour," he says.

Simes has been busy adjusting his winemaking as well, with new, higher-quality barrels, as well as longer aging. "We're also extending our maceration times," Simes says, "and employing even smaller batch fermentation."

"But first and foremost, it's about producing a food wine with great balance, and that's certainly our goal."

Simes also cites how the Okanagan Valley's climate, with careful husbandry, "can deliver mature fruit with complex flavours while avoiding the over-ripe 'fruit bomb' effect of some New World styles," he says. "We'll be relentless until we capture that perfect equilibrium," Simes states, "that subtle complexity that always speaks to the earth and the fruit and, ultimately, I hope, to the skill of our team as well."