Southern Okanagan Wine snuggles up to Burgundy

Here are my tasting notes for my recent Southern Okanagan wine trip. It blew me away as usual, one of my favourite wine regions in the world and cheaper than most BC wines by a few bucks. The region is similar to Burgundy in it's focus on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but with much more diversity due to the hot microclimates this desert region affords. Excellent merlot, pinot gris, meritgae and syrah are produced with gusto. A few stand out bottles of Gewurztraminer and a stunning sauvingnon blanc by Le Vieux Pin amazed me. Generally, I would say that they should leave the riesling to the Northern Okanagans cooler climate.

Below is a list of the shining stars of my collection from this trip. If you are going on a trip to this region (and I would recommend you do), hit these wineries for sure, especially, as you can't buy most of them anywhere except at the winery.

A note on 'facing' and soil- wineries gather grapes from different plots throughout the Okanagan, but their 'house grapes' would follow the facing I have listed. Soil types listed are general, specific sites will vary.

The Golden Mile Region
Soil - underlain by glacial fluvial sand and gravel, and alluvial fan deposits
Slope Facing - East
-Road 13-
2008 Chardonnay - Solid fruit, very fresh with a nice spicy finish from the finessed oak aging $20
2007 Jackpot Chardonnay - This is a big chardonnay, buttery as hell with balanced acidity, minerality and spice finish $35
2007 Pinot Noir - Cherry pie nose with characteristic pencil shavings, mouth full of delicate currents $23 great buy
2007 Jackson Pinot Noir - Same as above but bigger, more spicy and smooth. $35
2006 Fifth Element - Fine Bordeaux style wine, excellent value for the complexity. $36 & worth it
Syrah - generally high quality syrah with an earthy old world complexity
-Fairview Cellars- - sold out and closed, darn it

The Black Sage Bench
Soil - underlain by glacial fluvial sand and gravel, and alluvial fan deposits
Slope Facing - West
-Burrowing Owl-
2008 Pinot Gris - Light patio sipper with full fruit flavours; apple, pear with honeysuckle to boot. $25
2007 Merlot - A mouthful of earth and spice balanced on a handful of blackberries, caramel finish and light spice makes this one ready to drink. $30
-Le Vieux Pin-
2008 Sauvignon Blanc - Stunningly bold lychee & rose petal nose is reminiscent of a gewurtztraminer. Palette displays a balanced acidity delivering tropical fruit and a surprising minerality. Definitely stood apart from the rest in the valley. $35
2008 Petit Sigma Syrah Rose - A truly unique rose. Strawberries and spice dominates this lovely dry wine. $20

Osoyoos Lake Region
Soil - underlain by glacial fluvial sand and gravel, and alluvial fan deposits
Slope Facing - West, except for LaStella which is East facing
-Twisted Tree-
One of the most interesting South Okanagan Wineries, they edge their wines towards Spain and the Rhone Valley in France.
2008 Viognier Roussanne - Floral nose followed by a mineral grapefruit finish, really well done Rhone style wine. $20
Syrah - Bouquet of cinnamon, mild pepper, spice and a distinctive Okanagan sage note. Very buttery palette of current, spice and bitter lemon. Tannins are greenish and present, body is medium.
2007 Six Vines - Cassis, blackberry, cherry and dried herb aromas. The palate is broad and sweet showing cherry and cocoa flavors. The tannins are well integrated and fairly soft. The finish is long and smooth.
-Nk Mip- (pronounced Inkimip)
Very affordable, good quality wines in general, lacked the finish of the other wineries in the region.
2007 Pinot Noir - Black pepper, current and earth on the nose. Palette finds light cedar and cherry. Short finish, med+ acid. Amazing value. $20
2006 Merlot - Big fruity wine. Caramel, white pepper and strawberry nose. Green med+ tannins coat the mouth with a cedar brush. Plum and bitter lemon finish.
2006 Syrah - Full red berry, plum and jam notes with cedar box and cracked pepper to create an intriguing balance. Chewy tannins linger on the palate and harmonize with a soft, vanilla finish.
-La Stella-
This was a new find (only a year old) and the sister winery to Le Vieux Pin, showcasing more Italian style wines. They were bit high price straight out of the gate, but good quality and worth a try.
2008 Vivace, Pinot Grigio - Full nose of grapefruit and lychee; apple, flinty, lemon on the palette. A fine wine, but not worth $25
2008 Lastellina Merlot Rosato - Strawberries with a nice mineral bite to the finish. Again, a fine wine, but should be a few dollars cheaper. $25
2006 Allegreto Merlot - Smooth vanilla, blackberry and a dash of cloves on the nose. Mouth of current, cedar and a calming vanilla finish. Slightly green tannins give the wine a nice edge. $38 and worth it

Okanagan Falls Region - I think I'm in love.
Soil - underlain primarily by glacial lake silt
Slope Facing - Mostly West
-Blue Mountain-
This is the pinnacle winery of the Southern Okanagan in my book, and they are very affordable for the quality level. They baby their grapes from start to finish; all vines are solely from their own property. If you love French style wines; gorgeous pinot noir, lovely traditional method sparkling wine, make an appointment and go for a tasting at Blue Mountain.
Brut - Finessed, characteristic pear, almond nose, slight brioche. Palette is tart and refreshing with a lovely toasty finish. $24 !!! This is an amazing price.
2007 Pinot Gris - Light nose of pear followed by a subtle palette of pears and lemons. Lovely minerality, great patio wine. $21
2007 Pinot Noir - This is a classic Pinot. Berry fruit like currents and new strawberries are balanced wisely with notes like pencil shavings, vanilla and a good bout of earth. Excellent value Pinot Noir at $25
-Wild Goose-
If you want a good, dry riesling in the Southern Okanagan, this is your place. This winery is solid across the board, pinot gris to merlot to port style.
2008 Autumn gold - Great fresh and fruity sip some on their licensed patio.$19
2008 Gewurztraminer - Classic dry gewurztraminer with its intense lychee nose with a honeysuckle, apple palette. $19
2008 Pinot Gris - Fruit forward peach, great summer wine. $19
2007 Merlot - Nose of light spice and full berries with an interesting nutty note. Take a sip and you are met with black currents and vanilla, balanced acidity. Loved it at $20
2007 Merlot Reserve - Same as above merlot but more finessed and more plum like fruit. $25
2008 Black Brant - Mouthful of cassis, deep chocolate nose and a smokey finish. We have a WINNER! Especially at $20
-Noble Ridge-
Another favourite winery, you couldn't go wrong with buying any of their wines.
2007 Chardonnay - Siver medal winner in Burgundy, France for the Chardonnay du Monde competition, and rightly so. Crisp and fine with a strong minerality. Amazingly priced at $21
Kings Ransom - This one gave my head a shake; it was almost Spanish in style. Earth and spice dominated with lovely cherry, plum fruit. Smokey, tobacco, current finish, med+ tannins. Outstanding and very age worthy (5yrs min). $65

Yes, there are Wine Regions in BC

British Columbia, Canada, is one of the world's newest and most explosive wine regions. In the 1980s, there was a scant 1000 acres in BC devoted to vitis vinifera, but today that number has blossomed to 9000 acres and over 100 wineries. This newly discovered wine territory is still very small in comparison to the wine giants of France or Austrailia, but everyone is taking notice. The Bordeaux producer Groupe Taillan and Vincor Canada joined together in 1999 to produce one of the best examples of BC fine wine that I've ever had the pleasure to sip. The winery was dubbed, Osoyoos Larose, and all their wines are made in true Bordeaux style with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominating with a dash of Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot to add complexity. Being the new kid on the block in terms of wine production means that BC wineries take advantage of all the most progressive viticultural and vinification techniques available today. We hover around the 49th parallel, which is comparable to Champagne in France and Germany's famous Mosel and Rheingau regions. With better viticultural and vinification practices, vines are able to ripen in areas further and further north, especially when they take advantage of micro-climates that favour the sun.

The Vintners Quality Alliance is Canada's regulatory body, they have named four distinctive wine regions in BC. Our province has an extremely wide range of terrain from semi-desert country to Pacific islands which makes each of these areas very distinctive. The Okanagan Valley is by far the largest and most developed. I would further divide this area into North Okanagan and South Okanagan sub regions for clarity. Both regions' temperatures are moderated by a large lake body. The second region includes the southern Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island. This area has only 10 wineries, but a lot of potential. Another up and coming wine region is the Similkameen Valley, located south-west of the Okanagan Valley in the mountains at Keremeos.

The southern Okanagan Valley is Canada's only true desert, its heat produces the bulk of BC's fine red wine. Cabernet, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah are in fine form taking advantage of the valley's varied and Bordeaux-esque soil types: gravel, sand and clay. If you are a fan of big, bold, rich, spicy, aged reds you cannot go wrong in this region. Wineries like Nk'mip, Osoyoos Larose and Black Hills produce consistent examples of the excellence that can be achieved on BC soil. These wineries bring forth the essence of southern Okanagan terroir. Many of the vineyards are planted on the Black Sage Bench where sandy, clay soil runs deep and sage grass spice wines are produced from the vines.

The Similkameen Valley is a very new wine region for BC. Its rocky, mountainous terrain is very arid and windy which is just the way we like them for wine production. There are wide variety of vines planted in this region with merlot, gamay noir, chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon predominating. This area has yet to leave its mark on my palette, but with time and viticultural experience it may just hit the mark.

Northern Okanagan wineries focus on cooler climate grapes taking their direction from northern France and Germany. There is also a central Okanagan wine region, in my mind, around Okanagan Falls that produces good quality Chardonnay, pinot blanc and pinot gris, but most people seem to bulk that into the north. Some of the finest boutique winery, dry riesling is produced in the northern Okanagan with good acidity, buckets of fruit and the stoney minerality you need to push riesling to greatness. Some excellent pinot noirs are vinified by small and large producers alike: Quails Gate Winery and Nichol Vineyard. Many other lesser known, interesting and frequently German varietals are planted in the north: Ortega, siegerrebe, sylvanner, chasselas, marechal foch, gewurtztraminer and optima. Lang Vineyards produces an award wining late harvest Optima bursting with honey and tropical fruit. Lang is located on the famous Naramata Bench, a wine area on the East side of Lake Okanagan near Penticton. Some of our most famous wine houses were started here from Joie Farms crisp whites to Nichol Vineyards gorgeous pinot noir.

The Island wine region, for me, includes Cowichan Bay on the east coast of Vancouver Island, Saturna Island and Salt Spring Island (both part of the southern Gulf Islands). This is a very small area of production, but do NOT dismiss them. They produce some of the most distinct BC wines at very high quality. Pinot Noir, a grape that when expertly crafted picks up the flavours of the specific terroir like no other grape, is in its finest form on island soil. In a recent blind tasting I attended, three Island pinot noirs stood out from the competition. Five Burgundy, two California, one New Zealand, and one Oregon were present, all vetted to be at the top of their class under $150. I will say that California won hands down, $56, Ojai from Santa Maria Valley. But BC beat out all the Burgundy, the region most famously noted for fine pinot noir production. The key for me wasn't in the winning, but in the complexity of the flavour profile that the Island wineries were able to convey. Basically, they were really yummy. Venturi-Schulze ($45) 2006, Salt Spring Island Reserve ($32) 2006 and Averill Creek ($26) 2006 showed extremely well. The Island sits in a vine friendly, warm micro-climate, they call it the mediterranean of Canada. And the soils of the islands that you may taste in their stunning pinot noirs are frequently marine fossil, gravel, limestone and clay. Many of their best whites; pinot gris, pinot blanc, ortega, siegerrebe and sylvanner pick up a refreshing minerality and have excellent acidity. A mountain rainshadow to the west and the temperature moderating influences of the ocean positively influences the growth of the Islands precious vines. Venturi-Schulze Brut, Salt Spring Island Rose and Averill Creek Pinot Gris are some of the Islands best products. Unfortunately, because of the small production, they are very hard to find.

The one BC issue that keeps me up at night is price. BC wines are generally overpriced. There are two reasons as I see it, the local market will pay more to buy local (good for us... and bad), and the provincial liquor taxes bleed us dry. Also, some of the best wines are very difficult to get your lips on. Luckily, the best place to taste a glass to see if it tickles your fancy is at one of Vancouver's many fine restaurants that are always stocked to the teeth with BC product. For some of the best examples of BC regional differences try Averill Creek, Pinot Noir, Black Hills, Note Bene or Carmenere (at Salt Tasting Room), Tantalus, Old Vine Riesling and Nk'mip, Meritage most of which you can find at Rain City Grill on Denman Street in Vancouver. I would highly recommend a visit to this legendary restaurant that focuses solely on BC food and wine. Taste for yourself and decide if BC cuts the mustard in wine country.

http://www.winebc.com/tourbcwineregions.php
http://www.northwest-wine.com/Osoyoos-Larose-Winery.html#T3
http://www.nkmipcellars.com/