Love this wine…

I know, it’s a little bit of a broken record for me. I’ve already mentioned this wine before but it still stands out and it did again recently.

Why aren’t there more wines like this in the Okanagan? It has a little spice. It has tons of fruit. It is beautifully balanced – vibrant acidity, moderate alcohol, and wonderful fruit (did I mention that already?) It goes with everything - burgers, pork, turkey, grilled beast-of-choice, chicken and really shines well with spaghetti and Italian food (which is a tough draw for most BC reds). Most recently I tried it with an Italian hot-pot and it totally outshone a big, alcoholic, woody meritage that was also going around the table.

It also has that purity and clarity-of-fruit thing that I’ve been noticing lately among the organic wineries around the Okanagan lately. They’ve won international awards for this and past vintages of their Zweigelt and they probably will for future vintages.  This is the 2nd (or 3rd?) vintage of their Zweigelt that I have tried and this one isn’t just a happy-accident vintage.

Learn about Zweigelt here.

Kalala Organic Estate Winery.

Podcast #40 featuring Kalala Zweigelt.

As most of you already know, I seldom do wine reviews here on Wine Country BC. We include tastings for opinions on our podcasts because it’s fun but beyond that, who really cares what we think? No one knows your palate like you do, so trust it and don’t let anyone tell you that your palate is wrong. So when a wine stands out in a crowd like this one has done (a few times now) I thought it might be interesting to share that experience.

(For the more cynical people out there (like myself), I am not being paid by anyone to push any particular wine or winery as part of some grand covert social-media marketing strategy. If that were really the case, I am clearly a failing at it and having to save my pennies for every single bottle of wine for the podcasts.)

At 17: Ode to a Lang Icewine

In light of the recent activities at Holman-Lang, my thoughts turned to the past when I was recently treated to a taste of the golden age of Naramata’s Lang Vineyards. And let me tell you, it was absolutely golden in every way.

I don’t usually do tasting notes here because I find them pretty boring to read. But this one merits a little note because it was a 1993 Riesling Icewine and it was unbelievable. It looked like amber and tasted like gold. Almonds, hazelnuts, honey, earthy minerals and dried apricots on the nose with Granny-Smith apple pie, peaches and more apricots on the palate. It still had a vibrant acidity and was expertly balanced – not too sweet, not too tangy – it was just right.

To be honest, icewine is something that I rarely take time to enjoy. The huge volume of sugar just overloads me and I just don’t feel very good after drinking icewine. There are a few recently that I’ve found that I enjoy but I’ll mostly bring them out at parties, have a tiny sip for myself and watch everyone else enjoy themselves. But this one was different. At 17 years old, this Riesling icewine had entered the prime of its life and it was the perfect time to taste it and reflect on one of BC’s pioneering wineries. I couldn’t let that opportunity pass me by.

Whatever the future holds for Lang and the rest of the wineries in the Holman-Lang group, I’m glad I had the chance to enjoy a truly great wine from a time when BC wine was just starting to build its reputation into what it is today. Cheers to the pioneers of BC wine!

Pinot Gris 2008 from Gray Monk

Ok, if you’re going to name your winery after a slang term for a grape, that winery better produce a great version of wine from that particular grape. That’s what Gray Monk has done again and again and this year is no exception.

Gray Monk has been around for quite a long time (by BC standards) and dates back to the late 1970′s. They have a large variety of wines in different styles to choose from and people who know their wines tend to have a favorite. A friend of mine picked out their Late Harvest Kerner as their absolute favorite white wine of all time. My wife frequently bought the Latitude 50 whites and reds, which is the first Gray Monk wine that I tried. Some people go for the Ehrenfelser or the Siegerebbe. They also have an outstanding pinot noir and a couple of different merlots. But the pinot gris is their namesake and that’s what makes this wine interesting for me.

I’ve had their gris in years past, probably starting with the ’01, which was out when I went there for the first time in the early spring of ’03 (my first real visit to ‘wine country’). The ’08 has that same aroma that always makes me remember that first visit (the Mission Hill Pinot Blanc does the same for me as well for some reason…) so there must be something to their grapes that gives them that kind of consistency. Anyways, this wine has a beautiful aroma of lemon meringue pie (like a sweet lemony aroma) mixed with a little flinty/mineral component that makes gives a little zing. The palate has some similar flavours with a little orange zest in there as well. It’s a beautiful, yummy wine that I would pair with some light appies (spinach & artichoke dip anyone?) or just enjoy it on its own, which is actually something that I rarely do.

In all, it’s a delightful wine that delivers on value, consistency and taste. Enjoy!

Zweigelt 2008 from Kalala Organic Estate

There hasn’t been a wine review in a while and this one caught my palate this afternoon, so here goes.

Kalala Organic Estate Winery’s Zweigelt 2007 did great things including winning a medal at the Northwest Wine Summit last spring. I remember it being quite bold and spicy, like a pinot noir with attitude. Their recent Zweigelt ’08 does not follow the ’07 in style but it is still a very interesting wine.

The ’08 is lighter in body and color that its predecessor. There is a good dose of black pepper, straw and cocoa on the nose, with a little dark cherry aromas in the background. It was quite light on the palate with flavours of sour cherries and cinnamon. It was bracingly acidic, which threw me for a little bit. Although at this point the wine is still quite young, I wasn’t quite prepared for that much acidity and thought it to be a little over the top.

Thinking about it a little more though, I remembered that I’ve always had trouble finding a good local wine to pair with Italian food. The best wines for Italian food have usually always been Italian wines, at least that’s the easy way. Italian wines can be quite acidic, which is what makes them pair well with tomato-based sauces or cream sauces. The ’08 Kalala Zweigelt would also match that style perfectly. It’s got more than enough acidity and fruit to match anything marinara sauce without any oak to get in the way. The next time I have a cannelloni, lasagna, or anything with an alfredo sauce, I’m going to try it with this Zweigelt. It might just be the wine that can match with foods that others from BC can’t. At the very least it’s different and good on them for making food worthy wine.

Okanagan Fall Winefest 2009

Hello all, and thank you for a great wine festival! It’s a special time of year when the leaves turn, and the fruit on the vine is coming in! The wineries are just get gearing up for a busy harvest with the cool weather coming sooner than expected….. most of the grapes are being processed already!

It’s been a great season, a long and warm autumn, and with things slowing down some now, I am able to think back on some of the great wines I’ve tasted these last few months and share some of them with you, along with their aproximated availability.

Road 13 Viognier Roussanne Marsanne ’08 (winery only)

Silk Scarf Viognier ’08 (winery and private retailers)

8th Generation Riesling Classic ’08 (winery, VQA stores, private retailers)

Twisted Tree Syrah ’07 (winery, VQA stores, private retailers)

Sumac Ridge Pipe ’05 (winery only)

Painted Rock Syrah ’07 (winery only)

Quails’ Gate ‘Stewart Family Reserve’ Chardonnay ’07 (winery, VQA stores)

Dunham Froese Pinot Blanc ’08 (winery, VQA stores, private retailers)

Kettle Valley Pinot Gris ’08 (winery, private retailers)

Sonoran Oraniensteiner Icewine ’07 (winery, private retailers)

 

Doing what we do, we are fortunate to taste many awesome wines, and it was hard to choose ten, but these are a few that are still available as I write this… and remember, the best wines never last, find them quick or you will have to wait ’til next year. Cheers!

Old Vines Foch 2007 from Quail’s Gate Estate Winery

Alright, I have to admit that I have a been a member of the ‘Foch Club’ for a while. I first tried Quail’s old vines foch a while ago with the 2000 or 2001 vintages and they were great – they were big and tasty without the drying tannic feel that usually accompanies big red wines. The local wine store manager told me that the foches from Quail’s had a loyal following and that the few cases that they were given were usually snapped up quite quickly.

So I was a little more than excited when I first saw the new vintage of the foch arrive from Quail’s Gate recently. It has a complex nose – sage, tar, black liquorice and red cherries – quite complex and a refreshing change from some of the simpler wines that we had been tasting earlier that week. It wasn’t as complex on the palate but had a good combination of dark fruit, plums, tar and leather to make it interesting.

Medium acid and low tannins, which is par for the course when it comes to foch, means that this variety doesn’t really age all that well. I learned that one the hard way when my 2001 foch from Quail’s Gate sat for 5 years in my less-than-ideal condo cellar. When we opened it, the fruit had left the building and taken most of the furniture with it. It tasted like dirt, although good quality dirt. This foch-not-really-good-at-aging thing was confirmed that same year when, visiting some family in Toronto, they opened a bottle of a ’98 foch from the Niagara with similar results. I like earthy, rustic, old-world style wines as much as anyone, but I do like to have at least a hint of fruit to remind me that the liquid in the glass did come from a grape.

Anyways, back to the ’07 Quail’s Gate Old Vines Foch – it is still hands down the best in the Okanagan and the ones to which all other foches aspire. It should be widely available throughout BC in specialty and VQA stores. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Are you the newest member of the foch club?

Tempranillo 2006 by D’Angelo Estate Winery

 

Tempranillo 2006 by D'Angelo

Tempranillo 2006

(VQA Okanagan Valley) by D’Angelo Estate Winery

We mostly hear about wines being over-priced. Sticker shock when browsing the shelves, especially for BC wines, is very common. This wine will still shock you, but in a much better way – it is only $15.00 and it delivers.

The color of this wine is relatively light, more akin to a pinot noir. It’s nose suggests ripe cherries, bricks and earth. The palate has lots of red fruit, leather, earth, and vanilla, but nothing dominates – it is pleasantly balanced and smooth. Drink it on its own or as a perfect match with pork (pork tenderloin on the grill perhaps) or chicken.

Tempranillo, the grape, is more often associated with Spain and hasn’t really been seen very much in BC. Inniskilin Okanagan on the Golden Mile, south of Oliver, and Twisted Tree in Osoyoos are the only other wineries that I know of currently that grow it. Inniskillin makes an icewine with theirs while Twisted Tree has a dry red, which I’m itching to try. Their offerening (at $28) is almost double the price of D’Angelo’s, which makes this dry wine a pretty sweet deal. Cheers!