Introduction
Most of my wife's family lives in British Columbia, and her cousin was getting married in Kelowna on June 19th. I had only ever had two Okanagan wines in my life before this weekend, but of course knowing that this valley is the heart of BC's wine scene, I was excited to explore some of the wineries and see what Okanagan wine is all about. We departed North Vancouver at 7am in order to get as much tasting in as possible. I was a bit too eager, though, as driving through the pass and into Kelowna I was pulled over for doing 141kph in a 110 zone. Whoops! I couldn't believe it, especially since this was a bonafied speed trap (with 6 cop cars waiting), but he let me off! He said he knew I was here as a tourist (we told him we were here for a wedding), and he didn't want to ruin our trip. Apparently if I was going 9kph faster (40 over), it'd be one week of impound for the car, and a $1000 minimum fine. Ouch! What could have been a disaster star to our trip turned out to be an awesome one. On with it!
One interesting law in Canada is that a tasting room can not serve you more than 4oz of wine. Therefore, pours are either minuscule, or you only get 4 wines... as it turns out, we found a few work arounds down the line...
Flight 1 (0 notes)
Flight 2 - Rollingdale Winery (7 notes)
This was voted the best organic winery of the year by some publication. The whole of the estate is farmed organically, but they still purchase quite a bit of fruit so they can't label most of their wines as certified organic. I think the Pinot Grigio, which was just bottle the day before, was the only wine that said organic on the label. It was also the best wine of the bunch. The tasting room was just in the middle of a hanger looking cellar, in the middle of vine fields... pretty utilitarian, so I especially wasn't prepared for the wineries that were to come...
White
2010 Rollingdale Pinot Grigio Organic Estate
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
Really fruit forward nose, which is slightly sweet and nice, expressing some cantaloupe, pumpkin candy, and some ash. The palate shows some really nice texture, good pleasing soft fruit, which is slightly sweet. Slightly tart finish, with mild acid and slight sweetness of fruit, though not in a residual sugar kind of way. One of the best Pinot Grigio's of the trip.
Red
2007 Rollingdale Pinot Noir Reserve
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Tart, slightly sour aromas. It actually smells like straight grape juice, with a high concentration of skins. More grape juice type stuff on the palate. It tastes slightly under ripe. Really strange, interesting flavors. Tart finish, almost like some candy. It tastes like Norton or some other North American varietal. Totally weird...
Red
2008 Rollingdale Merlot Organic Iversen
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
Fruity, ripe aromas. The palate shows some candied red fruit, mild tartness, and pretty pleasing soft nature. Tart acids on the finish, which pucker the mouth, and the overall impression is pretty light bodied. Not too bad.
Red
2007 Rollingdale Cabernet Sauvignon La Gauche
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
Pretty exuberant fruits on the nose, blackberries, blueberries, and black currants. The palate is mildly gritty and powdery (like chalk powder). Nice tartness. Light on the finish, with a tart and gritty texture. Only 12.9% alcohol
Red
2008 Rollingdale Cabernet Sauvignon La Gauche
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
This one also has 10% Merlot, and is 13.5% alcohol. Certainly similar to the 2007, with lots of big fruit. The palate here though is larger, grittier, and shows some soft candied red fruits. Tart and gritty finish.
Red
2009 Rollingdale Estate Red
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
Comprised of 90% Marechal Foch and 10% Merlot. This smells very light, but fruity; almost like soft, under flavored jelly beans. The palate is big and candied, showing gummy fruit and very slight tannin. The finish is mild. Not bad... a pretty easy slurper, even if it's straight forward and uncomplex.
Rosé - Sweet/Dessert
2007 Rollingdale Pinot Noir Icewine
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
This wine was $70 and the woman behind the bar was actually telling people that it's great to put in mixed drinks, or even jello shots. I wonder if the winemaker knows she's telling people such things... in any case, I would probably agree that's about all it's good for, though. The aromas are a little funky, though generic. It smells like fermenting apples. The palate is similar, but this time the apples that are fermenting are also slightly rotten. It has thick texture, but doesn't feel very good in the mouth. The finish is slightly tart, but pretty rancid, funky, and generic. Just a little bit of alcoholic sugar water.
Flight 3 - CedarCreek Estate Winery (6 notes)
I was originally tipped to this place after visiting their website and seeing a truly spectacular shot of the winery with the Okanagan lake in the background. The scenery was just beautiful. The website shot was taken at the top of the vineyard though, so the guests never really got that view. It also marked a good starting place as it was the last winery on the road, so as we traveled back north towards Kelowna, and the hotel, we were able to make the next stops along the way.
This was a beautiful spot, with a restaurant attached where we had lunch. The food was pretty good, but my muscles in my pasta tasted a bit rancid. The wine here was all quite mediocre, with no personality. It's done in a very standard, international style, and I'm sure it sells well as it tastes like pricey California consumer wine. At least they had a spot for the pretty Natasha to pose:
White
2008 CedarCreek Estate Winery Chardonnay Platinum
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Certainly tons of grippy oak aromas; almost astringent. The palate is mildly chunky in texture, with plenty of oak, some white strawberries (if they existed) with milk poured on top. Creamy. The finish shows sweet oak, nice creaminess, and overall is fairly mild.
White
2010 CedarCreek Estate Winery Ehrenfelser
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
I only had a minuscule pour of this, so no score. It was odd, with a nice woodsy aroma that was slightly sweet and gummy. Good, odd wood flavor again.
Red
2007 CedarCreek Estate Winery Pinot Noir Platinum
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Strangely, this had 2g residual sugar. 13.8% alcohol. Really oaky aromas. It smells more like Syrah, and it's quite spicy. I literally thought she poured me the Syrah, which was suppose to be the next wine... pretty dark (but certainly not as dark as the Syrah, once she did pour it). The palate is thin and chunky in texture, soft and creamy, showing mild tannins, mild acid, and really creamy flavors. The finish is spicy and a bit hot. Not very good typicity.
Red
2008 CedarCreek Estate Winery Syrah
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
This smells exactly like candied beef jerky covered in pine sap. Chunky texture on the palate, slightly alcoholic feeling, and grippy. The finish is tart and chunky, really coating my mouth. It's almost like you put grape skins in the blender and covered my mouth with then pulp. Mild acid.
Red
2007 CedarCreek Estate Winery Syrah Platinum
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Soft, creamy aromas of thick fruit. The palate is creamy, showing similar thick fruit, and slightly coating the palate. Grippy, spicy, and tart finish that's pretty large in scale. Not too much interest.
Red
2007 CedarCreek Estate Winery Merlot Platinum
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Big and rich aromas, but pretty pleasing here. Nice and soft palate, with pleasing sweet fruit; almost like a berry candy. The finish is decent, with nice balance. Pretty good. The best of the reds here.
Flight 4 - St. Hubertus (5 notes)
I guess this place is owned by two brothers, one who produces under the St. Hubertus label, and the other under Oak Bay. Again only four pours each (though I tried one of Natasha's wines). Nothing exciting here...
I guess there was a burn just a few years back on the mountain top just above all these vineyards. You can see some of the charred remains of some evergreen trees in this photo taken just outside the door of the tasting room:
White
2009 St. Hubertus Estate Winery Pinot Blanc
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Light nose, showing some slightly tart melons and light cream. Very fruit forward on the palate, showing juicy fruit, slight acid, and nice dry texture. Some gummy candy flavored fruit on the finish.
White
2009 St. Hubertus Estate Winery Chasselas
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Fairly light and crisp aromas. Mild white fruit. The palate is soft, slightly chunky, and off balanced a bit. The finish shows some strange acid, slightly funky fruit, and a metallic notion.
Red
2008 Oak Bay Vineyard (St. Hubertus) Gamay Noir
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
A litthe funky and light on the nose. The palate is even more funky, with a strange bitterness. More bitter funk on the finish. Couldn't get into this.
Red
2009 Oak Bay Vineyard (St. Hubertus) Chambourcin
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Really spicy, peppery aromas, with big fruit, and a campfire notion running through it. Nice and fruity palate, which shows some pretty decent balance of acid and fruit. Soft. The finish shows nice spice, an inside of a rubber tube, and plastic. Mild fruit as well. Chambourcin's are always quite interesting, and this is no different.
Red
2009 Oak Bay Vineyard (St. Hubertus) Marechal Foch
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Grippy aromas, with plenty of woodsy stem notes. Big, grippy in the mouth. The flavors taste like "blah." Tart and grippy, tannic finish. Kind of nasty, really...
Flight 5 - Summerhill Pyramid Winery (8 notes)
A pleasant stop. They had one of the cheesiest statues I've ever seen at a winery at the entrance... how can they expect anyone to take them seriously with this thing here?
Surprisingly enough, the staff were the most knowledgeable of any visit yet, and the wine was pretty good. Here too you could only have 4 wines, but I had Natasha join me for the start of the tasting, and we "shared" two sets of tastings, so 8 wines... somehow though after the first pour she disappeared with her family and they didn't mind pouring the remaining 7 wines just for me. The Sparkling wines were particularly good, and at $25, not a bad value.
White - Sparkling
N.V. Summerhill Pyramid Winery Cipes Brut
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
$25 at the winery, this is composed of Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Blanc; 4.9% RS. The aromas are really exuberant, and show creamy, lush fruit. The bubbles are very nice on the palate, with similar fruit here too, almost candied in nature, showing some tartness and that residual sugar is definitely noticed. Slightly tart finish, showing puckering acids. Really nice and soft with pleasing fruit. A well balanced wine, that could pass fairly well for a Champagne. Surprising, considering the makeup of the fruit.
Rosé - Sparkling
N.V. Summerhill Pyramid Winery Pinot Noir Cipes Brut
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
Very nice again, but not quite as interesting as the white Cipes. This is 100% Pinot Noir that showed 72 hours on the skins. The aromas show slightly strawberry fruit. On the palate, some biscuitiness, with slight yeast noticed. Lighter on the bubbles than the white Cipes, with some grainy woodsy character. Tart finish, and a little coating of the mouth, with interesting texture.
White
2006 Summerhill Pyramid Winery Riesling
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
They only make one "Riesling", and some years it's dry and other years it has a little Risidual sugar. In 2006 it was a completely dry wine. It already shows some nice typical aromas of slightly aged Riesling, with a light petrol note, a rubber tire, and really interesting melon. The palate is slightly chunky, tart, and bitter, with a strange dryness on the palate. Very lightly metallic, and thin texture. This finishes with some tart, and slightly bitter character, and dries out the palate in a strange way. Not as interesting as the nose promised.
Red
2008 Summerhill Pyramid Winery Pinot Noir
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Only 12.5% alcohol. Pretty thick and big aromas. Blind, I'd never guess this to be Pinot Noir. Surprisingly after the large nose, the palate is quite thin and drying. Really bitter and slightly metallic notes arise as it builds on the tongue. Really drying and not pleasing. The finish leaves the tongue and whole mouth craving moisture. Light typical Pinot fruits here that were similar to those on the palate, though this is entirely dominated by its dryness. It's hard to drink alone.
Red
2007 Summerhill Pyramid Winery Cabernet Sauvignon
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
Very large aromas of massive fruit, and slight alcohol. The palate shows a strange texture, kind of like watered down melted ice cream. It even tastes like that, while also being slightly tannic. Spicy on the finish, with flavors like a butter cracker. Pretty tasty actually, with nice tannins and some good acid and tartness. Slightly sweet red fruits. Pretty well balanced for a 14.6% wine.
Red
2007 Summerhill Pyramid Winery Cabernet Franc Organic
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
Creamy oakiness noticed on the aromas. Definitely smells of typically overdone North American Cabernet Franc. Soft and creamy palate, with pretty nice soft red apple skins, blackberry, and grippy tannins. Really grippy on the finish, and slightly bitter, showing plenty of dryness.
White - Fortified
N.V. Summerhill Pyramid Winery Chalice
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
I guess this was originally made by accident when a barrel of Merlot was left outside in the sun for some time and when they tried it they actually liked it, so they're now doing it on purpose... so this spent 6 years in oak barrels, mostly outdoors... and it tastes as bad as that sounds. Certainly some nutty aromas, which comes across as oxidized. Pretty intense aromas, and slightly rancid. The palate is similar, with sickly oxidized desert wine flavors. blah. Pretty nasty finish. Really sweet, but just straight rancid flavors. This tastes like an accident indeed.
Flight 6 - Mission Hill (0 notes)
I heard mixed things about Mission Hill... a couple locals said the wine isn't any good, but here on CT they have some of the highest quantitiy of Okanagan bottles tracked, and some pretty decent scores. We did not expect to find massive, sprawling grounds like this when we visited, though...
Unfortunately the tasting room closed at 5pm, which is when we arrived (our book said 6!). But the grounds remained open, so we got to walk around. The first photo shows the bell tower, which at 5pm, began ringing, and didn't stop for 5 minutes. There were about 3 different bells all going at once. It was really cool. Later in our trip we heard that they put something like $35 million into this property a few years ago. I forget who owns it, but it's one of the massive beverage conglomerations. Several places have voted this one of the 10 most beautiful wineries in the world.. I'd love to come back and get a tour of the whole grounds. A beautiful spot.
Flight 7 - Quails' Gate (6 notes)
At a Pinot Noir tasting from around the world I put on earlier in the year a Quails' Gate Pinot Noir showed up, so I wanted to come check this place out. Of course that Pinot was horrible, but things showed better today. We did find the finest Pinot Noir of our trip here, though the price didn't really make sense. Overall the wines were quite good, and the building was nice as well.
White
2010 Quails' Gate Estate Winery Dry Riesling
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
Nice aromas, showing some squash, pumpkin innards... very much smells like a fall vegetable salad. The palate is soft and creamy, showing some gummy bear flavors, lush texture, and a slight floral note. Virtually no acid though. Slightly tart finish, expressing some nice pleasing fruit. Pretty good. This would be much better with the addition of some more acid.
White
2010 Quails' Gate Estate Winery Chenin Blanc
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Crisp aromas and again some slight pumpkin. Kind of chunky texture, expressing really interesting tropical fruit flavors, mild acid, and a tartness that builds. Nice and cutting acids on the finish, lime, and a tartness that lingers.
White
2009 Quails' Gate Estate Winery Chardonnay
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Quite a bit of oak on the nose, and slightly spicy. The only thing tasteable on the palate is oak juice. The finish is all spice and oak again... just way over done.
Red
2009 Quails' Gate Estate Winery Pinot Noir
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
I enjoyed this much more than I did the 2008 rendition of this wine. This shows tons of spice, and oak dominating a pretty funky and thick smelling nice. It almost smells like there's American oak here, but it's all French (80% 1-2 year and 20% new). The palate is thin and light, showing some green tannins but overall it's pretty slight in character. The finish shows some gritty tannins, and a slight tartness lingers.
Red
2008 Quails' Gate Estate Winery Pinot Noir Stewart Family Reserve
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Better balance here; quite nice aromas. Definitely bigger in size than the standard Pinot, but at least this one smells of proper Pinot Noir. There's aromas of mild oak, slightly green stems, nice spice, and some briar. The palate is fairly light in body, showing some mild spice and oak. Soft over ripe raspberries and tartness are the dominant flavors. The finish shows good spice on the finish, with really nice acids building. Good building tart fruit as well, which lingers deep into the finish. This was the best Pinot Noir of our trip, but at $45 not worth the price of admission.
Red
2008 Quails' Gate Estate Winery Old Vines Foch (O.V.F.) Reserve
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
One of the finest Marechal Foch's I've had, if not the best. Smells like milk chocolate sauce; really delicious. Soft and creamy palate, again tasting of chocolate sauce and gummy candy. Delicious on the finish... this is not really all that interesting, but it's undeniably tasty. A bit pricey for that, though.
Flight 8 (0 notes)
June 19th
After the wedding in Lake Country, it turns out we had a number of hours to kill so we decided to hit up some local wineries on the way back to the Hotel. A couple beautiful spots again. Of course I did not have my notebook, so I didn't take any formal notes, just recorded a brief audio note in my phone, and kept track of scores.
Flight 9 - Gray Monk (6 notes)
Some ok wines here, but pretty basic stuff. At least they weren't overdone, and trying to be like California wines like some of these places. These were just light, simple wines that were all pretty decent. I was amazed how little everyone behind the bar knew about the wines, though. I was asking some very basic questions about the stuff and no one could answer any.
While we were here, my niece, Shyla, noticed us all drinking wine, and began asking for some water. The woman behind the bar got a fresh wine glass for her and gave her some water. Of course without that caption, it just looks like I'm teaching her how to appreciate wine at a young age...
White
2009 Gray Monk Estate Winery Chardonnay Unwooded
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
No formal notes. Pretty good, smooth and creamy. This feels like it had quite a bit of risidual, as it was fairly sweet tasting, though it was certainly not advertised as such. There were no data sheets available at the winery and no one behind the bar could tell me whether it had any residual at all, let alone the amount. Looking up the data sheet online now, it shows to have 30 grams/liter of RS! Pretty darn high alright...
Red
2008 Gray Monk Estate Winery Gamay Noir
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
No formal notes. Decent, kind of a funny, light color (almost looks like a Rose). Very light body, but very smooth showing good spice throughout.
Red
2008 Gray Monk Estate Winery Pinot Noir Odyssey
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
No formal notes. Definitely has noticeable alcohol (though the sheet says 12.5), with very light wood. Kind of spicy, but doesn't feel very typical of Pinot Noir...
Flight 10 - Ex Nihilo (4 notes)
Definitely a little uppity of a place, but the Bordeaux blend was quite nice. They have some connection to the Rolling Stones, as they actually have the Stone's tongue photo on one of their bottles. A few other bottles, particularly the icewine, had beautiful etched bottles. A nice stop, with a couple nice barrel rooms with tasting tables in the middle.
White
2009 Ex Nihilo Vineyards Pinot Gris
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
No formal notes. 14.2% alcohol and 6 g/liter residual sugar. That alcohol was noticeable all throughout. Really not enjoyable. Astringent and metallic.
Red
2008 Ex Nihilo Vineyards Merlot
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
No formal notes. Okay, but a little boring. Strong oak component on the nose. A little spicy, with some alcohol noticible.
Red
2007 Ex Nihilo Vineyards Night
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley
No formal notes. This was really nice; no oak on the nose, unlike some of the other Bordeaux blends we've had on this trip. This was really balanced quite well throughout. A proper Bordeaux blend, and even at 14.5% alcohol it wasn't noticeable. This was the best Bordeaux blend of the trip. I had thoughts to pick up a bottle, but at $40 there are much better values in the world.
Flight 11 (0 notes)
Flight 12 - Inniskillin (11 notes)
This was on our way back to the US on Monday... just decided to make a couple quick stops farther south in the valley, just 15 miles from the US border. I hadn't realized when we got here that Inniskillin is a Constellation Brand, another massive beverage conglomeration. No bother, the winery seems to be run fairly independently, and they had some of the better wine we had. The Dark Horse Estate Riesling Icewine was so good I purchased a bottle. The woman pouring was also the most knowledable of anyone we ran into, and one of the friendliest. She offered to allow me to try as many wines as I like if I was willing to spit. Okay, sounded good to me... of course the wines I liked I wound up swallowing while she wasn't looking. A definite worth while stop...
White
2009 Inniskillin Pinot Grigio
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
A little bit of alcohol is the only noticeable thing on the nose. The palate is slightly creamy, showing some spice, a bit of booze, and some good lemon. Spicy, and slightly burning finish, showing some tartness and plenty of alcohol.
Red
2008 Inniskillin Pinot Noir Reserve
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Spicy, dark fruited aromas, coupled with some charcoal. The charcoal keeps this a bit pretty, though. The palate has tannins building, some tartness, and grippy nature, along with some noticeable alcohol. Spicy on the finish, and this burns a little. Mildly off balance with some tartness, and a metallic notion.
Red
2007 Inniskillin Pinot Noir Single Vineyard Series Dark Horse Estate Vineyard
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
This shows tons of heavy spice aromas; almost like a campfire. There definitely seems to be some decently toasted oak used here. The palate is nice and mild, with mild, soft and round red fruits. This is balanced well with nice spice. Good finish, with fine balance and spice. Quite nice. Probably the second best Pinot Noir of the trip, and a pretty good value all things considered. I probably would have bought one if it weren't for the killer Icewine I picked up instead.
Red
2008 Inniskillin Pinotage Discovery Series
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Yup, tastes like Pinotage, even if it comes from Canada. The aromas are spicy and pretty fruit forward. Nice. The palate is quite soft and mild, showing some typical ground beef flavors. Nice balance on the finish. Straight forward stuff, but pretty decent for what it is.
Red
2008 Inniskillin Sangiovese Discovery Series
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Very nice aromas of charcoal and graphite, coupled with typical Sangio red fruit. Very nice balance on the palate as well, with nice tart tannins. Mild finish, with good spice and balance. Nothing earth shattering here, but this could even pass as an Italian Sangiovese. Often times it's way over done in North America, but not here.
Red
2007 Inniskillin Petit Verdot Discovery Series
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
I was very excited to try this as I love 100% Petit Verdot, and you don't see it too often. Unfortunately, this didn't quite deliver, and also didn't deliver too much typicity for what I'm used to in PV. This just tasted like any international Bordeaux style blend. The aromas here were incredibly light, which is quite the opposite of what I'm used to in PV. It is delicious, but not very explosive. The palate is very soft and creamy, and tannins begin getting intense as its held in the mouth. Overall though, the palate is quite soft, and not much in the way of complexity or flavor delineation. I do get this strange crab shell flavor, though. The finish is nice and spicy, but quite mild. Pretty light stuff.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2007 Inniskillin Riesling Icewine Single Vineyard Series Dark Horse Estate Vineyard
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Lightly floral aromas coupled with vaseline and model airplane glue smeared on rubber. It's actually quite nice, despite how that may sound. The palate is very thick, soft and creamy, with nice pleasing sweetness that balances some pretty awesome acidity and mild minerality coming on as it stays on the tongue. Feels nice as it sticks around, with more and more minerality kicking up. Fantastic finish of huge cutting minerals and acid. Yes it's sweet, but these great minerals and acid cut right through that and it's the dominate note on the finish. Impressive stuff. The pour was small, so I could see this score varying up with a larger taste. Glad I have a bottle for future exploration in greater detail. 93+
White - Sweet/Dessert
2008 Inniskillin Vidal Icewine Okanagan Valley VQA
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Not nearly as good as the Riesling, but still a nice wine. The aromas are that of a strange rotting vegetable... not too appealing. Better on the palate, which is tart, light, and a bit overly sweet. The finish is mild, tart, and pretty sweet, coating the palate.
Flight 13 - Burrowing Owl (4 notes)
Really only picked this place because it looked like another resort style winery (some CT reviews looked alright, too). Pretty impressive grounds here too. Unfortunately the wine was done in this attempted international style, and they didn't show much character. A nice visit for the beauty of the grounds, but not for the wine... after this stop, it was a long 9 hour drive back to Portland.
White
2008 Burrowing Owl Chardonnay
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Quite spicy charred oak aromas coupled with light flowers. The palate is slightly chunky, with good texture and nice balance of acids. The finish shows more oak spiciness, but the acid balances things out well. Decent stuff.
Red
2008 Burrowing Owl Merlot
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Mild, with some nice big fruit on the nose. The palate is decent, with good fruit and a slightly tart character. Tastes like marshmallows. Mild, spicy finish, with some alcohol noticed.
Red
2008 Burrowing Owl Syrah
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
Big, with some alcohol noticeable. Like their Merlot, this too shows some marshmallows, but this time coupled with deeper dark berry flavors. Pretty large, but balanced. Some spice on the finish, with nice fruit lingering.
Red
2008 Burrowing Owl Cabernet Franc
Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA
More typical North American overdone Cabernet Franc, trying to make it taste like overdone Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine was incredibly mellow throughout. Gritty palate, and decent enough fruit. But the finish shows a big wallop of alcohol. Pretty generic. Tastes like anywhere Cabernet Sauvignon.
Flight 14 (0 notes)
When taking this photo I noticed what had been obvious throughout this journey: Everything here is irrigated. It had been (uncharacteristically) pouring rain for days prior to this beautiful day, and they were still irrigating as scheduled on this day. This is basically a desert, so of course they have to in order to have any hope of producing wine... I still feel as if you should not be growing grapes somewhere that they could not survive naturally, but oh well...
Closing
I was amazed at the beauty of the Okanagan valley. All of the wineries are right along the lake, with spectacular views. I can't believe the number of wineries with beautiful grounds. The amount of money spent in this place is shocking. It's as fancy, or fancier, than some Napa places. Certainly more money is spent in the tasting rooms than most places in the Willamette Valley. Surprising, considering how young the wine industry is here.
There's some good white wines made here, but I found very few interesting reds. In general they are just over extracted messes. Several people I had talked to along the way just thought the youth of the industry was partly at play here, as they try and find their own way and stop just trying to taste like everything else. It will be interesting to see how the culture here evolves, and I certainly plan return trips to this area to explore the wines in even greater depth.
