Elephant Island was the brainchild of one of Canada’s first female architects, Catherine Chard Wisnicki. In 1972, Catherine set out to design a farm that would become a family haven on the Naramata Bench. In 1999, Catherine’s granddaughter, Miranda, having spent her childhood summers at the farm, started a winery with her husband Del on the property. One of the core reasons for establishing the winery and farm was to showcase the incredible agricultural heritage and diversity found on the Naramata Bench. At its heart, Elephant Island is the sum of a fun-loving, eating and drinking, farming family.
Despite 2020 being a topsy-turvy year, it was a “normal” vintage in the best way. The Naramata Bench had a warm spring, steady summer, and classic Okanagan warm days and cool nights that lasted into October. All of this allowed the grapes to develop flavour and sugar while maintaining BC’s hallmark freshness.
The fruit was hand-harvested from their estate-grown Nuttall Rd Vineyard on the Naramata Bench. The vineyard is certified sustainable and the self-rooted vines are farmed by the family. Elephant Island’s farming practices include rotational grazing, cover cropping, and avoiding systemic herbicides and pesticides. In the cellar, the fruit was cold-soaked, and given extended maceration with cooler fermentation temperatures to preserve fresh aromatics. Daily punchdowns were performed to build texture and depth. The wine was then aged for 15 months in 100% French oak with minimal SO₂.
Tasting Note
Spicy black-cherry and dark-plum fruit is laced with sweet oak spices and tertiary notes of cedar and earth. Drinking perfectly at its peak. We just revisited it and it's drinking perfectly at its peak now (September 2026).
Food Pairing
With the stunning dark fruit and tertiary notes, indulge yourself by pairing Elephant Island’s 2020 Think Again Merlot with beef tenderloin and mushroom jus. The wine’s tertiary notes of cedar and earth won’t overpower the tenderloin’s delicate flavour, while the mushroom jus amps up those earthy, savoury notes. The wine’s dark fruit will be the perfect contrast to all the umami going on in this dish.