First Winery Tour of the Season – Oliver

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BBQ, bc wine, Black Sage Bench, Charmat method, Golden Mile, okanagan, Oliver, sparkling wine, wine tour, wineries

J and I ventured out on our first little winery tour of the season on the last weekend in April – the week before the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival kicked off. We were heading down to Rustico Winery to visit with Bruce over dinner so decided to stop in at a handful of wineries in the Oliver area through the afternoon.

Our first stop of the day was at Stoneboat Vineyards, on the Black Sage Bench just south of the town of Oliver. This year is particularly exciting for Stoneboat as they received some money from the Canadian government, in the form of an interest-free loan as part of the Agricultural Innovation Program, to help get set up with special pressurized stainless steel tanks in order to be the first winery in BC to make a Charmat method sparkling wine, also known as ‘Méthode Cuvée Close’. Using the Charmat method, the second fermentation happens within these special tanks, which allow a certain amount of the carbon dioxide to remain within the wine, creating the bubbles.  In keeping with Stoneboat’s musical theme for the naming of their wines, this delicious sparkling wine is called Piano. It was inspired by the Proseccos of northern Italy is made from Pinot Blanc grapes from some 30-year-old vines. Piano offers delicate bubbles with aromas and flavours of peach, pear, green apple and citrus – delightful! The 2012 Faux Pas Rosé had recently been released and, as with many other 2012 rosés that I’ve come across in the past couple of months, it is sporting a much deeper colour than previous vintages – a pale purple-y fuchsia that is in the same colour tones as Stoneboat’s labels for their reds wines. It is a blend of Pinot Noir and Pinotage and is once again delicious! It has a rhubarb citrus nose with flavours of rhubarb, citrus and raspberry. I tasted the 2010 Pinotage to finish off. It offers aromas and flavours of black currant, cinnamon and allspice with nice acidity and medium tannins – very tasty.

Next we headed down the road to Church & State Wines to visit Mandy in the tasting room. We started with the 2012 Cuvée Blanc, which is an aromatic blend of Pinot Gris (a new addition to the blend this vintage), Riesling, Orange Muscat and Gewürztraminer. It has lovely flavours and crisp acidity. The 2011 Cabernet Blanc is holding up very nicely (I find that many rosés drop off in flavour by the following year). It has nice flavours of strawberry and citrus. The Chardonnay from Coyote Bowl has once again returned and I am celebrating! While the Gravelburg Chardonnay last year was nice, it just didn’t compare (in my opinion) to the previous Coyote Bowl Chardonnay. So, for the 2011 vintage it is only the Coyote Bowl Chardonnay that is available at the winery and I therefore did my little happy dance. It was aged in 1/3 new French oak, has a buttery nose with some hints of pineapple and flavours of creamy pineapple and buttered popcorn and a deliciously long finish. Needless to say, I left with several bottles of it. The 2010 Coyote Bowl Merlot is medium ruby in colour with cherry, chocolate and spice on the nose, medium-plus acidity, medium-plus tannins and cherry plum and spice on the palate, with a decent finish. The 2010 C&S Cabernet Franc has flavours of spice and cherry with nice grippy tannins – pairs wonderfully with roast lamb. The 2009 C&S Meritage is Merlot dominant and includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. It has aromas and flavours of spice, cassis, plum and cherry. It is still a bit tight but is starting to open up. It has medium-plus tannins and medium acidity. Mandy made a quick call up to Fairview Cellars to see if it was open for us and off we went up the hill to Fairview.

Bill Eggert answered the door buzzer/intercom with “Just follow the noise of the excavator!” so over to the side of the tasting cabin we went, to look down into the pit that will become the new winemaking facility of Fairview Cellars. The concrete walls were up and Bill was on the excavator, seemingly levelling out the ground inside for the concrete floor to be poured. He joined us up top and brought us into the tasting cabin to try the new 2012 Sauvignon Blanc before escorting us across his property to check out the three baby owls (babies of the “Two Hoots”) that were sitting in a nest, clearly visible through some greenery. They’re just such cute little fuzz balls! Back to the wine though, the Sauvignon Blanc is wonderful, possibly even better than the 2011 vintage. It has flavours and aromas of citrus, white floral and melon, with crisp acidity and a round mouthfeel – delicious! We headed back to the tasting cabin to try out the reds on offer that day. The 2011 Crooked Post Pinot Noir is a pale ruby colour with raspberry and cherry flavours. It is very light in body so would likely make a tasty summer sipper, slightly chilled.

photo by Bob Cameron, posted by Fairview Cellars

The 2011 C-2 is Bill’s entry-level Cabernet Sauvignon, with 10% Cabernet Franc added in. It has flavours of cassis and chocolate with a tiny bit of bell pepper – very tasty. It has medium tannins and medium acidity. The 2010 Two Hoots is drinking quite well at the moment. It has flavours of cassis, plum and spice, with medium-plus acidity and tannins. The 2006 B.O.S (which stands for Bill, Olivier & Sam – the names of the growers) is a Cabernet Merlot blend with tannins that are still quite firm, but beginning to soften, with flavours of cassis, plum and cherry, and which is beautifully balanced. The 2011 Cabernet Franc is almost completely sold out. It has an earthy nose, with aromas of cherry and spice, medium tannins and medium-plus acidity. It has flavours of sour cherry, spice, and some well-integrated oak. Finally, last but certainly not least, was the 2009 Iconoclast, a Cabernet Sauvignon that Bill reserved only 4 barrels and aged them for 27 months. This wine is deep ruby with a purple tint. It has pronounced intensity and incredibly rich beautiful flavours. This is still very much a young wine and the bottles that I picked up will be very much appreciated in three to five years, or perhaps longer.

Off to Rustico we went, to visit with Bruce and cook some burgers on the BBQ. First up, Bruce had some tank samples that he wanted me to try. The first comparison was between a 2008 Pinot Gris and a 2012 Pinot Gris. The 2008 was clean, but did not offer much in the way of aromatics on the nose. The palate had great complexity though, and flavours of grapefruit and apricot. The 2012 had beautiful aromatics on the nose – floral, pear and white peach. On the palate it had flavours of peach, pear, apricot and citrus, with a lovely round mouthfeel. Next comparison was between a 2009 Gewürztraminer and a 2012 Gewürztraminer. The 2009 had some of the aromatics lost on the nose, and had flavours of citrus, lychee and a hint of rose. The 2012 had much more aromatics, was overall fresher, with nice floral, white peach, apricot and lychee. A 2012 Unoaked Chardonnay (to be named Silver Garter, vs. her oaked counterpart Golden Garter) had a lovely citrus nose with tropical flavours, a round mouthfeel and crisp acidity. Finally we tried a 2012 Semillon, which excited me as there aren’t too many Semillon’s available in the Okanagan. This one had peach and stone fruit on the nose, with citrus, apricot and almond on the palate. It had a medium body and a long finish. Of all the tank samples, the 2012 Semillon and 2012 Pinot Gris were my favourites and I look forward to seeing them bottled!

Overall, this was a great day of winery touring and just makes me look forward to getting back out there again this season, although I’m not looking to visit each and every winery again this year – I do need a bit of time to relax and garden this summer!

Spring Roll-Out

Tags

bc wine, Kamloops, Kelowna, Lake Country, Naramata Bench, okanagan, Okanagan Falls, Okanagan Wine Festivals, Oliver, Osoyoos, red wine, rosé wine, sparkling wine, west kelowna, white wine

Last week I took part in one of my favourite events of the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival – the Industry Trade Tastings at the Laurel Packinghouse in Kelowna. Most years it takes place within the 10 days of the Wine Festival but this year it was the Monday prior to the start of Wine Fest, which probably made things a bit easier scheduling-wise for the wineries, who are generally pretty busy then.  A colleague and I attended the event to check out some of the new releases of Spring 2013. The main reason I enjoy this event, other than getting to taste so many wines, is that it is not too crowded with people and I can therefore take a bit of time to speak with the winery owners or reps about their wines. And of course, as with most medium-to-large tasting events, there are at least a couple of hundred different wines to choose from. This time I managed to sample 81 of these wines and took some brief tasting notes on them.

I started making my way around the room sampling sparkling wines, whites and rosés first. Then I took a bit of a break from tasting wines to sample some of the delicious cheeses and meats, flatbreads and olives that were available before moving on to some reds. Rather than following my tasting order completely I will describe the wines below grouped by winery – whites and reds together.

The first table I stopped at was 50^th Parallel Estate Winery, from Lake Country at the north end of the valley. I was very happy to see them featured as I had been unable to visit them in during my touring last year and was looking forward to trying the wines. Owners Sherri-Lee and Curtis were both there and I enjoyed chatting with them. I will certainly head up to the winery for a visit now that their tasting room is open! I tried their 2012 Riesling which had a bit of sweetness to it but was very nicely balanced with the acidity and had lovely flavours. Their 2012 Rosé is made from 100% Pinot Noir and is delicious, with flavours of rhubarb and strawberry.

Bella Wines was featuring their new sparkling wines and thankfully they have more than doubled their production in the 2012 vintage, now up to 550 cases. This year they have also added a new wine to their portfolio, a second sparkling Chardonnay. The Chardonnay grapes were picked from two different locations in Oliver – Chardonnay West Side from the Secrest Vineyard at the north end of Oliver (where the 2011 Chardonnay grapes came from) and Chardonnay East Side from the Black Sage Bench south of Oliver but they were picked at only 1 Brix difference between the two properties and both wines were made identically – this is a great experiment in BC terroir and the results are surprising! Being told that one Chardonnay came from the super-hot Black Sage Bench and the other came from a site a bit further north and at higher elevation I made the assumption that the wine from Black Sage would be full of ripe tropical notes whereas the Secrest wine would be more crisp citrus. It’s actually the reverse! The 2012 Chardonnay West Side is creamy, with tropical notes whereas the 2012 Chardonnay East Side is quite flinty with crisp citrus notes. The third wine on offer is the 2012 Sparkling Gamay, made from grapes from the Secrest Vineyard. The grapes were crushed and spent about 6 hours on the skins for the lovely shade of pale pink. It has quite a creamy texture, rounder than the previous vintage, with flavours of cranberry and raspberry.

The 2011 Viognier from Quinta Ferreira has a bit of residual sugar to it and light flavours of apricot.

At the Stag’s Hollow table the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc is clean, with some grassiness and citrus flavours. The 2011 Con-Fusion includes a bit of Semillon and is a nice clean aromatic blend, slightly off-dry.

Arrowleaf Cellars’ 2012 Pinot Gris is crisp and clean, with a round mouthfeel and nice flavours. The 2012 Bacchus has beautiful aromatics and the acidity balances this off-dry patio-sipper nicely. The 2012 First Crush Rosé is a little less sweet than the previous vintage, with flavours of citrus and strawberry.

Sperling Estate’s 2012 The Market White is once again a blend of Pinot Blanc, Bacchus and Gewürztraminer. It is crisp and clean with a round mouthfeel and lovely aromatics. The 2011 Pinot Noir comes from four different Dijon clones and has been bottle aged for 6 months now. It is quite full-bodied for a Pinot Noir, with beautiful balance and some nice complexity – very tasty!

The LaFrenz 2012 Sauvignon Blanc is very much in the New Zealand style, with grassy notes, gooseberry and citrus flavours – delicious!

Pentâge’s Gewürztraminer is full of heady rose petal, along with lychee and spice. Their 2009 Hiatus is a blend of 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 29% Cabernet Franc. At $20, this is a tasty well-made Bordeaux blend with great value for money. The 2009 Syrah has a bit of meatiness to it with pleasant flavours.

I tried the FizzioTherapy from Therapy Vineyards for the first time, after having many people ask me about it last year. This is a pleasant sparkling wine made from 90% Chardonnay and 10% Orange Muscat, giving it a lovely fruitiness.

I had recently tried many of the Volcanic Hills wines so the only one that I tasted at this event was the 2012 Pinot Gris. It has lovely flavours of pear and white peach, with a bit of citrus. The finish was a bit shorter than I would’ve liked but overall I quite enjoyed it.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Calliope, it is a label produced by Burrowing Owl, at a much more approachable price point. Their 2011 Figure Eight White is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Viognier that has a hint of sweetness and pleasant flavours. The 2011 Riesling has nice acidity and a hint of diesel and at $12.99 would be an easy choice for me if I felt like a bit of Riesling on a Tuesday night. The 2011 Rosé is a blend of Syrah and Viognier, with flavours of berry and citrus.

The Road 13 Mitchell’s Vineyard 2012 Pinot Gris has really nice flavours of pear, a hint of honey and great minerality. I enjoyed it as much as the previous vintage, possibly more.

The Rosé from Sonoran Estate Winery is definitely one that I’ll be seeking out for some of this summer’s patio time. It has such a beautiful nose, that I think there must be a bit of Oraniensteiner in the blend. The primary flavour is strawberry, with a bit of floral and honey.

Lake Breeze’s 2012 Pinot Blanc is nice and crisp, quite light in flavour and body. The 2012 Pinot Gris is a fabulous sipper, with flavours of pear and peach.

I think I found my favourite buttery Chardonnay of the day with Township 7. Their 2010 Chardonnay has a pretty golden colour, lovely notes of brioche, apple, spice and caramel with a nice full body and flavours of buttered popcorn, apple and peach with a hint of spice. Yum!

8^th Generation had a tasty lineup as usual. The 2012 Pinot Gris has spent some time in oak, giving it a nice mouthfeel. The 2011 Riesling Classic is the driest of their Rieslings, at 8 g/L RS, with crisp Granny Smith apple flavours. The 2011 Riesling Selection is my favourite of the bunch, with huge petrol notes. The 2012 Riesling is off-dry but well balanced between the acidity and the 24 g/L RS, with more tropical notes. The 2012 Pinot Meunier Rosé is no doubt going to be a top choice for patio wines once again, with a bit of sweetness and flavours of strawberry and cranberry. The 2011 Integrity Frizzante is off-dry, very fruity and has nice mousse to it. The 2012 Confidence Frizzante is pure strawberry deliciousness.

St Hubertus offered one of my favourite aromatics of the day with their 2012 Schönburger, available only at the winery due to small production. It has beautiful floral notes and a rich lychee flavour. The 2010 Pinot Blanc has a nice round mouthfeel. The 2010 Riesling isn’t quite as lean as the 2009 (which won the Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Excellence in BC Wine in 2011) but has a nice touch of diesel and lots of peach notes. The 2012 Frizzante Rosé has flavours of strawberry, black cherry and citrus. The Gamay is quite light, with flavours of strawberry and sour cherry.

As usual, Mount Boucherie did not disappoint. The 2012 Gewürztraminer is dry, with floral and citrus notes. The 2012 Pinot Gris has lovely aromatics and the 2012 Ehrenfelser (for some reason I had forgotten that they make an Ehrenfelser!) is lovely! I definitely need to stock up on some of it.

Moraine Estate has a larger number of wines available from the 2012 vintage than their first year last year. The 2012 Pinot Gris has crisp flavours of citrus and pear. The 2012 Viognier has a pretty nose, is dry, with nice apricot flavours. The 2012 Chardonnay is oaked lightly, although there is not much fruit either. I will have to try it again at a later date – perhaps it is just going through a bit of a muted phase.

Gray Monk has done it again with their Pinot Gris – the 2012 does not disappoint, with lovely fruit and good balance. The 2011 Riesling has a fabulous petrol nose and delicious flavours of lime and green apple. The 2012 Gewürztraminer has nice flavours of lychee.

The 2011 Riesling from Harper’s Trail Winery in Kamloops is starting to show a hint of petrol on the nose and palate and has lovely citrus and minerality. I look forward to trying the 2012 vintage.

Heaven’s Gate Winery’s 2010 Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend was a bit too light for my taste but their 2010 Pinot Gris has lovely flavours and the 2011 Gewürztraminer has great aromatics – huge lychee flavour, along with honeysuckle and spice. The 2011 Rosé is a medium ruby colour, darker than some Pinot Noirs that I’ve seen. It is a blend of Gamay, Merlot and Malbec. It has a fuller body and flavours of strawberry and spice. This is definitely a rosé for red wine fans – tasty! The 2011 Gamay has nice raisin flavours. The 2010 Malbec has some floral notes with dark fruit and nicely softened tannins. The 2009 Merlot has nice flavour and tannins. The 2010 Revelation is a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blend, along with Merlot and Malbec. It is still quite tight but has some nice flavours coming through.

Hester Creek’s new 2012 Cabernet Franc Rosé is lovely – I’ll definitely have to pick some up from the winery. The 2012 Pinot Gris is light, fruity and crisp. The 2011 Character White is a pleasant white blend that has apparently just dropped in price by a couple of dollars.

The Hillside Estate 2012 Muscat Ottonel has a nicely perfumed nose and nice flavours. It also comes across as a little bit drier than the last vintage that I had tried. The 2012 Rosé is full-bodied with ripe strawberries on the palate.

The Jackson-Triggs 2012 Viognier has nice flavours of citrus and apricot and nice weight to it.

The Fumé Blanc from Clos du Soleil is 100% Sauvignon Blanc with crisp citrus flavours. The 2011 Célestiale is a Merlot-dominant blend with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Considering how young it is, it’s drinking quite well, although the tannins are certainly a bit grippy. The 2010 Signature is, as the name suggests, Clos du Soleil’s signature red blend. This is an elegant Bordeaux-style blend that can be aged for several more years. It has lovely flavours but the tannins are still huge so needs some time to soften out.

The 2011 Cactus White from Desert Hills is a nice easy-drinking white blend. The 2012 Viognier was only bottled 3 days earlier so was undoubtedly going through some bottleshock but has some nice aromatics and mouthfeel. The 2012 Gewürztraminer is quite tasty.

Fort Berens’ new 2012 Riesling is light-bodied with nice citrus and green apple flavours. The 2012 Rosé is made from 100% estate-grown Pinot Noir and only 50 cases were made. It has tasty strawberry aromas and flavours.

Blue Mountain’s 2011 Pinot Noir is delicious, with great spice and earthiness on the nose and cherry on the palate.

The Upper Bench 2010 Pinot Noir is nice with some strawberry, cherry and spice and a nice mouthfeel. The 2011 Zweigelt is still a little bit tight but has nice spice and dark fruit.

The Oliver Twist 2010 Syrah has nice peppery spice and rich dark fruit flavours. It recently won Gold at Intervin International Wine Awards as well as the Canadian Wine Awards, which made me a bit proud as I helped make that vintage!

I’m usually a fan of Nk’Mip Cellars’ Qwam Qwmt line of wines and this year is no different. The 2010 Qwam Qwmt Pinot Noir is quite delicious – elegant and a bit fuller bodied than some. The 2008 Qwam Qwmt Syrah is big, bold and tasty, with pepper and black fruit. The 2009 Mer’r’iym is a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant Bordeaux blend with flavours of cassis and spice and huge tannins. This is definitely one for the cellar.

The 2011 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir from Inniskillin is medium-bodied with flavours of strawberry and cherry.

Perseus Winery’s 2011 Merlot has nice flavour and quite grippy tannins. The 2011 Cabernet Shiraz is soft and fruity. The 2010 Tempus Syrah has nice pepper to it and the tannins are softening nicely. The 2010 Invictus had been decanted for a while when I had tasted it but is still had huge tannins but was very tasty.

I look forward to trying more new releases as I visit wineries this spring and summer throughout the Okanagan Valley and at various wine events through the season.

Note: Bottle shots are from the respective wineries’ websites.

Naramata Pre-Season Tour

Tags

bc wine, maple syrup, Naramata Bench, okanagan, wine tour, wineries

A few weeks back, I was part of a group that was invited to a pre-season cellar tour and tank sampling event at Lang Vineyards on the Naramata Bench. We decided to make a mini tour of it and took up Rob Thielicke’s offer of a visit to Joie Farm, which is not open for tours or tastings so we were feeling very lucky indeed! A bus was organized for us with Dino from Grape Escapes and we headed for Naramata on a gorgeous sunny spring day. We met Rob at Joie in their outdoor staff lunch area, complete with outdoor oven – we’d like to return in the summer, please, to join the staff for lunch in the middle of the vineyard, shaded by fruit trees, overlooking Okanagan Lake – gorgeous! We followed Rob into the winery building where Heidi Noble, owner and head winemaker, joined us. Rob first gave us a barrel sample (stainless steel barrel that is) of their 2012 ‘En Famille’ Gewürztraminer, which comes from their home vineyard. It has been aged sur lie, but not stirred, and will spend another 5 months still in barrel. It has a beautiful rose petal nose with great spice and creaminess on the palate. It is very well-balanced with good acidity. Next, we moved into the barrel room where Rob talked about their reds and treated us to some more barrel samples. The 2012 Pinot Noir from the Albrecht Vineyard (north of Naramata) is a medium purple with a bright fuchsia rim. It has great acidity and flavours of sour plum, cherry and spice. This year, Joie Farm will be releasing a couple of entry-level reds under Stelvin closure – a Gamay and a Pinot Noir, both to be released this fall. We sampled the 2012 Hardman Vineyard Gamay, which will be destined for the PTG blend. It has a nose of strawberry, sage, spice and pepper, great acidity with flavours of ripe strawberry and spice. The Hardman Vineyard is located below Elephant Island, on the Naramata bench. We finished off with the 2012 Whitman Pinot Noir, from Summerland. It has a nose full of baking spice and beautifully rich flavours of cherry and spice, with great acidity. I very much look forward to these 2012 wines being released down the road – delicious! As I mentioned, Joie Farm is not open to the public; however, their wines can be found at the BC Wine Info Centre in Penticton, along with other BC VQA stores and select private wine shops and restaurants in BC, Alberta and Ontario.

After our time at Joie, we continued down the road to Lang Vineyards, which was the first BC winery to be licensed under the Farm Gate Winery status in 1989, named as such because all product had to be sold from the farm “gate”, and opened its wine shop in the spring of 1990. It was particularly well known for its Marechal Foch, as well as its Canadian Maple Wine (Pinot Noir with pure maple syrup added to make a sweet dessert wine).  In recent years Lang Vineyards has been through some ups and downs. It became part of the Holman-Lang group of wineries in 2005 when Günther Lang sold to Keith Holman, but unfortunately the group went into receivership toward the end of 2010. New owners bought the winery in 2010 and have been working hard ever since to bring it back. They have brought Günther Lang back on board as a consultant and hired Günther’s nephew Mike as General Manager. Recently winemaker Richard Kiltz, formerly of Blue Grouse Winery on Vancouver Island, has joined the Lang team. He led our group through the cellars, which have just been upgraded to include a glycol heating/cooling system to all the stainless steel tanks. Richard gave a great explanation of the complete winemaking process during the tour, putting it all into easy layman’s terms. We concluded the tour back in the tasting room, where there were several tank samples (unfiltered and unfined) of the 2012 wines for us to taste. The 2012 Riesling, from the winery property, was up first. It has aromas and flavours of citrus, peach, stone fruit and some floral notes with great acidity. The 2012 Pinot Gris, from grapes bought from Summerland, was “frostbitten” and picked at 27 Brix. This wine’s nose tricked me; it smells of tart lemon curd and I expected a dry wine. But it has a lovely round mouthfeel with lemon and caramel on the palate and is most definitely a medium-dry to sweet late harvest wine. The 2012 Zweigelt Rosé was definitely one of my favourites! It comes from grapes that were bought on the Naramata bench. This wine has a beautiful colour to it – I hope that it will be retained through the filtering process. It smells of strawberries and cream, has lovely acidity and flavours of strawberries, rhubarb, citrus and spice. The 2012 Pinot Noir, from the winery property is quite pale in colour. It had oak tannins added to it, rather than being barrel aged. It has flavours of sour cherry. The 2012 Marechal Foch is grown on site, from 50-year-old vines. It started off a bit green on the nose but it opened up to lovely chocolate and dark fruit aromas and flavours and is very well-balanced. We then sampled some of the winery’s recently released 2011 vintage wines. The 2011 Rosé was quite light in both colour and flavour compared to the 2012, with light citrus flavours. The 2011 Farm Reserve Riesling has a stone fruit nose with peach and citrus on the palate and is very well-balanced. The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon was made with grapes from the Oliver area. It has a pale ruby colour, is lightly oaked, with a light-to-medium body and tannins. It has lovely flavours and for $18 I would be happy to drink more of it. I’m not sure if I could recommend it to someone looking for a Cab Sauv though, as it is so light; not really varietally characteristic of a Cab Sauv. A recommendation for a pleasant light-bodied red? Absolutely! The 2011 Merlot is light-to-medium-bodied with some nice earthiness and flavours of cherry. Toward the end of the tasting, a draw was made for a mixed case of wine and I won! I never win anything and was happy to add some bottles to my wine racks at home, and to share with my friends who were also attending the tasting.

On our way back to town we had a bit of time to spare so we asked Dino if he would mind if we made one unscheduled stop. As Dino is quite amenable, we stopped in at Upper Bench Winery & Creamery for some tank samples of new wines (and to buy some tasty cheese on the way out!) Gavin handed us each a glass and escorted us back into the winery. First up was the 2012 Chardonnay, with great spice and tropical fruits on the nose. The front palate is full of lovely pineapple and there is some interesting minerality on the finish. This is a wonderfully balanced wine. The 2011 Pinot Noir has an incredibly deep dark colour to it – great colour extraction. This is a big Pinot, make no mistake. It has bigger tannins than many local Pinot Noirs but these tannins are also quite fine and are well-integrated. It also has lovely flavours of cherry and spice. The 2011 Zweigelt is another example of Gavin’s great colour extraction. This wine has spent 18 months in oak and has a beautiful balance between the fruit and the acidity. The 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon comes from a sunny acre at the top of the winery property. It is incredibly rich with well-integrated tannins, deep dark fruit and spice and great concentration of flavour. This is one that I hope to stock up on once it is released later this year! As always, it was a pleasure to visit with Gavin and Shana at Upper Bench and I look forward to their other new releases.

Mission Hill Family Estate Winery

Tags

bc wine, okanagan, west kelowna, Westside Wine Trail, wine tour, wineries

Mission Hill Family Estate Winery is definitely what many people think of when they hear the words “BC Wine”; it is one of the most recognized brands in Canada. It is also in a very picturesque location, perched high above Okanagan Lake, on the south side of Mount Boucherie (an extinct volcano) in West Kelowna. Mission Hill Winery has been in existence since 1966, although the current ownership has been in place since 1981 when Anthony Von Mandl bought the then run-down “Golden Valley Winery” and slowly brought it back to life, giving it back its original name of Mission Hill. Mission Hill truly made an international name for itself with its 1992 Grand Reserve Chardonnay, winemaker John Simes’ first vintage for Mission Hill, by winning “Best Chardonnay” at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London England in 1994. From that point, Mission Hill has continued to grow exponentially. The spectacular winery complex was completed in 2002, including a large Visitors Centre with tasting room and wine shop, the winery and barrel cellar, a terrace restaurant, bell tower and lovely manicured grounds with a natural amphitheatre for concerts. Over the years I have visited Mission Hill several times, usually bringing along out-of-town visitors to show them the gorgeous Okanagan views and let them sample a bit of wine. Most recently I stopped in during the slow winter season when the wine shop wasn’t hopping with tourists to do a bit of more leisurely tasting, and to pick up a couple bottles of winery-only wine – their Martin’s Lane Riesling.

I started my tasting with the 2011 Five Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc. It has crisp acidity and pleasant flavours of citrus and gooseberry. The 2010 Five Vineyards Pinot Noir has strawberry and a bit of spice on the nose. It has some nice acidity and medium tannins with flavours of strawberry, cinnamon and red currant on the palate and a medium length finish. The 2009 Reserve Merlot is a beautiful ruby hue with plum, blackberry and blueberry on the nose, medium plus acidity and tannins with plum, blackberry, cocoa and coffee on the palate with a lingering finish. The 2010 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a deep ruby colour with a tinge of purple. It has a nose of cassis and spice, with a hint of green bell pepper. It has big tannins and nice acidity with flavours of cassis, plum, cherry and spice and a medium finish. The 2009 SLC (Select Lot Collection) Syrah is a beautifully deep ruby colour with blackberry, cocoa and pepper on both the nose and the palate, with medium acidity and fairly chewy tannins. The finish just goes on and on. I finished up with the 2009 Quatrain, which is a blend of 35% Merlot, 30% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Cabernet Franc. This wine had been decanted already for a couple of hours but still had really big chewy tannins, although they were well integrated. The Quatrain has intense flavours of cherry, plum, pepper and blackberry with a deliciously long finish.

I do always enjoy my time at the Mission Hill wine shop as they always have so many wonderful wine and food-related items to check out throughout the store. It is very easy to spend an hour there even if you’d only planned on popping in briefly to try a few wines. Perhaps I’ll have to plan one of my next visits to include one of their culinary workshops or outdoor concerts!

Niche Wine Company

Tags

bc wine, west kelowna

I recently came across my tasting notes for several of the wines from Niche Wine Company. I’m not quite sure how I had misplaced them, but in any case now they’ve been found and I can share them with you. Niche Wine Company is a small family operated winery in West Kelowna.  Joanna and James Schlosser alternate between Vancouver and the Okanagan making the wine and marketing it while James’ parents, Jerry and Kathleen, operate the Hugh and Mary Vineyard which supplies all the grapes. I met Joanna and James while they were pouring their wines at the BC Wine Info Centre VQA Store in Penticton and had a lovely time chatting with them.

The Niche Wine Company  produces Chardonnay, Riesling, a Rosé, Pinot Noir and Marechal Foch and I’ve been impressed with them all. The 2011 Chardonnay is unoaked, with a round mouthfeel and a hint of sweetness. The palate is full of tropical fruit and citrus – very tasty! The 2011 Riesling has lovely flavours of crisp Granny Smith apple and lime. The +124 Reserve Pinot Noir is the second release of the 2010 Pinot Noir. The first release was their regular Pinot Noir that had been aged in older French and American oak barrels for just under a year. This Reserve Pinot Noir was then aged a further 124 days in brand new American oak barrels. It has flavours of cherry, cedar and spice with nice structure to it. The +124 Reserve Foch has undergone the same treatment as the Pinot Noir above, ageing a further 124 in new American oak. It is well balanced with flavours of dark fruit, spice and smoke, with nice structure and acidity. I look forward to the new releases from Niche!

Wine Bloggers’ Conference comes to Penticton!

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bc wine, okanagan, Penticton, WBC13

This past year I began blogging for the first time ever. I chose a subject that was near and dear to my heart – WINE – and more specifically BC Wine and the wonderful wineries that we have here in the Okanagan Valley and beyond. I had a lot of fun touring the various wine regions within central BC and writing about my experiences. But I feel that I’ve really only scratched the surface with blogging (as with wine) and am keen to learn more, so this year I have signed up to my first ever Blog Conference. I am very fortunate that this year’s Wine Bloggers’ Conference is being held in the heart of Okanagan wine country – Penticton, incidentally the first time it has ever been held outside of the United States! Allison M Markin of All She Wrote Consulting was a huge driving force in getting the WBC to be held in Penticton. I have heard many great stories of Wine Bloggers’ Conferences-past from friends and acquaintances in the local wine industry and look forward to experiencing this for myself. For anybody reading this who is not familiar with the Wine Bloggers’ Conference, this will be the sixth year that it has been held. Previous locations have included Sonoma California, Napa & Sonoma California, Walla Walla Washington, Charlottesville Virginia, and Portland Oregon. Up to 400 bloggers will be attending this year in Penticton, June 6^th-8^th, traveling from all over North America and ranging from Citizen Bloggers like myself (no affiliation with any winery) through to Professional Bloggers or Social Media Specialists. Various excursions, seminars, tastings, speakers and dinners have been organized during the 3-day event.

Because many people are traveling great distances to get to the Conference, some at considerable expense, there is a WBC Scholarship Fund set up so that participants can apply for some funding to help offset some of the costs. The actual registration fee for the event is quite reasonable, especially for us Citizen Bloggers – only $95 for three days of programming – a bargain, considering the great amount of information that will be garnered! In addition to the WBC Scholarship Fund, TheWinedUp.Net and MyWineConcierge.com have partnered up to give away, to one lucky conference participant, two free nights’ accommodation at the host hotel – the Penticton Lakeside Resort & Casino.

One of the things that I’m most looking forward to at the conference is meeting all the participants, networking and gaining information from people that have been doing this either longer than I have, or who are at the next level with their blogs. Through Twitter I have begun following many of WBC’s participants and have had some great conversations already, as well as checking out many of the blogs that they write. I think that this conference will be a great place to foster business relationships and potential friendships between many like-minded people.

I’ve reviewed the agenda that has been posted on the Wine Bloggers’ Conference website and I am hoping to learn how to more effectively grow my audience (Google+ Workshop and ‘Positioning Your Blog’), ensure that I have the best possible information on my blog (‘Creating Compelling Content’) and, as a little bit of a sideline, I’d love to learn how to get involved with wine judging (‘Wine Judge Training & Seminar’) – so much fun!!

I am counting down the days until the conference (76 days from today) and cannot wait to meet many interesting people and learn so much about Wine Blogging. And I get to do all this while eating great food and drinking fabulous BC Wine! What could be better?!

New Wineries in British Columbia

I’ve just been doing a bit of research for a couple of classes that I will be teaching shortly. According to the Liquor Control & Licensing Branch there are currently 250 wineries in the province. This number does include meaderies, cideries and fruit wineries as well as grape wineries. Purely in the areas that I toured last year, the number of wineries has increased by 17! I look forward to visiting these new ventures this upcoming season as well as perhaps traveling to some of BC’s other winegrowing regions. Best of luck to all the wineries in 2013 – may it be another stellar vintage!

Intersection Winery

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bc wine, Golden Mile, okanagan, Oliver, wine tour, wineries

Last month I met up with Bruce Schmidt, and his winemaker Dylan Roche, at Intersection Winery on a very rainy day at the end of crush. Intersection is a new addition to the list of wineries in Oliver, the “Wine Capital of Canada” but Bruce has been working at it for some time now. With a long background in the Canadian wine industry going back into the 1980’s, he started this venture in 2005 when he bought the former packinghouse and orchard site on the corner of Road 8 and Highway 97. He tore out the vineyard and planted 20,000 vines, primarily of Merlot (55%) along with Viognier, Riesling and Marsanne. The former packinghouse has recently been transformed into a state-of-the-art winemaking facility with gleaming stainless steel. Bruce has hired Dylan Roche this year as his winemaker (Philip Soo was the winemaking consultant on the previous two vintages). Dylan has a background in viticulture and oenology in France and has worked in Bordeaux as well as more recently at Stag’s Hollow. Although the 2012 vintage will be Intersection’s third commercial vintage, it will be the first one in this new facility. Bruce’s aim with his wines is to make unique blended whites and to produce the best Merlot possible. He wants them to be of excellent quality, unique and approachable; and with his whites priced under $20 and his Reserve Merlot at $25 they are certainly approachable.

The 2010 Mile’s Edge White is a blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Viognier. It has crisp acidity yet a lovely roundness to the mouthfeel, with flavours of green apple, citrus and melon with hints of apricot and a bit of minerality. The 2011 Mile’s Edge White, which has just recently been released, is 80% Viognier with only 20% Sauvignon Blanc. It has a clean nose of apricot and citrus with lots of apricot on the palate. It is nicely balanced with medium acidity and a long finish. The 2011 Milepost Red (Merlot) has floral notes and dark fruit on the nose with orange zest and cherry on the palate. It is very easy-drinking with medium tannins and medium acidity. The 2010 Unfiltered Merlot (Reserve) comes from a single block at the top of the vineyard and was aged in 20% American oak and 80% French oak. There is smoke and ripe dark fruit on the nose with highly concentrated flavours of blueberry, cassis and cherry on the palate with some spice and smoke. It is full-bodied with medium-plus tannins and medium acidity. This was a highly enjoyable wine to share with friends over dinner one evening! 2013 will be bringing a wine shop/ tasting room to Intersection as well as some new wines. The 2012 vintage includes a barrel-fermented Marsanne and Viognier, a Merlot Rosé and a Sauvignon Blanc that was certainly tasty one month into its fermentation!

Osoyoos Larose

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bc wine, Oliver, Osoyoos, wine tour, wineries

I must begin by apologizing – I have been a bit remiss lately in my blog postings. I have a backlog of a few wineries that I have visited but have lately not had any time for writing. I will now get these out in the next week or so though.

A few weeks ago I went to visit Pascal Madevon at Osoyoos Larose. Osoyoos Larose was created in 1998 by Groupe Taillan, from France, and Vincor Canada. Within this arrangement, Groupe Taillan is responsible for making the wine (and therefore growing the grapes) and Vincor is responsible for marketing and selling the wine. Groupe Taillan, established in 1961, is owned by the Merlaut family and owns 21 châteaux in Bordeaux, the Loire and Cahors (France); they are the largest AOC wine group in France. The goal of the partnership was to develop Osoyoos Larose, a top-quality Canadian wine using Bordeaux varietals and showcasing the terroir of the South Okanagan valley. Osoyoos Larose was named for the location of the vineyards, overlooking Osoyoos Lake, and one of Groupe Taillan’s most prestigious châteaux in Bordeaux, Gruaud-Larose. The vineyards were planted between 1999 and 2001, comprising of 80 acres planted primarily with Merlot, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and small percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.

Pascal Madevon was hired from France to be the Vineyard Manager and Winemaker of Osoyoos Larose. He spends approximately 80% of his time in the vineyard and 20% of his time in the winery because he believes that the wine is made in the vineyard. Without good vineyard practices, it is difficult to make good wine, especially good wine that reflects the terroir. And to quote Pascal, “Terroir is the base of Osoyoos Larose. First is the terroir, second is the wine grower, and third is the winemaker.” He also considers that a very high quality of staff and equipment is required, along with the cleaning practices within the winery. I was visiting on a day during crush and despite the staff having spent the day pumping over etc; the winery, tanks and bins were all spotless! In the barrel room at Osoyoos Larose there are approximately 1200 French oak barrels. The wine for Le Grand Vin is always split 50/50 between new barrels and 1-year-old barrels. The wine for Pétales is always a 50/50 split between 1-year-old and 2-year-old barrels. The older barrels are used for press wine. When Osoyoos Larose’s first vintage (2001) came out, the production was only 1200 6-packs. Since then, word has spread and now production has increased to 15,000 12-packs of Pétales and 18,000 6-packs of Le Grand Vin. And surprisingly (for BC product anyway) 60% of the sales are to the SAQ, the government-run liquor stores in Quebec! Apparently Osoyoos Larose is finally looking into plans to have their own winery building, with wine shop and tasting room, on their vineyard site in Osoyoos. Until now they have been located within the large Jackson-Triggs facility at the north end of Oliver and there has been no public access. Pascal would like to see this change, so that their customers can finally have somewhere to visit, try and buy the wines, and so that they can see where these great wines come from. So hopefully this will come to fruition in the not-too-distant future!

Pascal opened a bottle of the 2009 Le Grand Vin for me to taste (not yet released). It is a blend of 58% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 7% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec. It has cherry, cassis and mint on the nose, with cherry, spice and lots of complexity on the palate. It has heavy tannins and medium acidity. As always, this is a wine that is cellar-worthy. I’d easily put it down for another ten years or so. I also got to try a few of the daily samples from the 2012 vintage that is close to being completely fermented. There was incredible richness in colour and flavour and I look forward to sampling the final product in a few years! Pascal was a lovely host and a very interesting man to speak with. I very much enjoyed our conversations on the vineyard, winery and wine, but also our mutual passion for architecture and design!

Note: all photos in this post are courtesy of Pascal Madevon.

Van Westen Vineyards

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bc wine, Naramata Bench, okanagan, wine tour, wineries

I was invited to stop by Van Westen Vineyards to speak with Rob Van Westen on a day during crush that was a bit slower. I was very appreciative of Rob making the time to see me in between coordinating a small construction project and crushing some Petit Verdot both for one of his neighbours who is starting a winery next year, Deep Roots Winery, as well as his own crop. We went inside the winery for a sampling of the red wines. The 2007 Voluptuous is a blend of 67% Merlot & 33% Cabernet Franc with flavours of black cherry, plum and spice. It is full-bodied with great chewy tannins and medium acidity. The 2008 Voluptuous is the same blend as the previous vintage. It has a black cherry nose and is still a bit tight. There is cherry and dark fruit on the palate with medium acidity and heavy tannins. This is an elegant wine that will be able to stand some time in the cellar. The 2009 V is a blend of 68% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, 5.6% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon and 0.4% Petit Verdot. It has red fruit on the nose and palate along with some spice and cedar. It is still a bit tight but should open nicely in a few more years. It has medium acidity and tannins. Rob then poured me something a little special. He partnered with Tom DiBello to make a Pinot Noir. Rob supplied the fruit and Tom supplied the barrels and expertise with the Pinot Noir grape. This wine will be released on Valentine’s Day 2013 and as such bears the title of V D. These letters are obviously also the initials of both Rob Van Westen and Tom DiBello. The 2011 Pinot Noir is a deep ruby colour and has a rich red cherry nose. It has elegant flavours of cherry and spice. It is smooth with soft tannins and medium acidity.

I took a bit of time to walk around the property and to play with the winery dog while the guys got the crush pad set up to start crushing some Petit Verdot. It was particularly exciting for one group in that the fruit was some of their first vintage for their new winery, Deep Roots. Rob was helping them out with some advice and equipment use. Finally the fruit came and was being processed through the destemmer, with the crusher opened up so that the machine would be the least harsh possible on the fruit. The whole process at Van Westen starts in the vineyard, growing the best possible fruit and then in the winery it is focussed on the least possible intervention with the fruit. The wine is always gravity fed between all areas in the winery. I believe that this shows in the high quality of the wines that are produced here.