B.C. wine of year honour goes to Naramata vintner
The superlatives used to describe British Columbia’s new wine of the year are never-ending. Seductively elegant. Outstanding. Textbook true. Impressive balance of lively fresh crispiness and smooth textures. So attractive. Nuance of appropriate oak. A deserving winner indeed! That’s how wine judge Sid Cross describes the 2016 Pinot Noir ($26) from Lake Breeze Vineyards in Naramata.
Cross was one of several judges so dazzled by the Lake Breeze Pinot that naming it wine of the year at the B.C. Lieutenant Governor’s Wine Awards was easy.
The accolade is extra special this year because the awards are the inaugural combination of the province’s two premier competitions – the B.C. Wine Awards and the Lieutenant Governor’s Awards of Excellence for Wine.
The B.C. Wine Awards have always been handed out during the flagship Fall Okanagan Wine Festival.
The new and expanded contest was no exception, with trophies handed out Thursday night at the fest’s kick-off event at the Laurel Packing House in downtown Kelowna.
If you want to get your hands on the winning Pinot, act quickly.
It’s already sold out at the winery, but some Save-On Foods wine sections and select private liquor stores may still have bottles.
The awards was the biggest yet with 715 wines from 104 wineries submitted for judging. Of course, there’s only one wine of the year. But a dozen platinum medals were awarded, 84 gold, 188 silver and 206 bronze. The platinum winners are: – Sperling 2011 Sparkling Brut (Kelowna) ($42) – Black Hills 2016 Syrah (Oliver) ($40) – Hillside 2017 Reserve Pinot Gris (Naramata) ($24) – Kismet 2016 Syrah Reserve (Oliver) ($40) – Kismet 2016 Reserve Cabernet Franc (Oliver) ($40) – Little Engine 2016 Pinot Noir (Naramata) ($35) – Moon Curser 2016 Touriga Nacional (Osoyoos) ($52)
– Nk’Mip 2016 Qwam Qwmt Chardonnay (Osoyoos) ($29)
– Quails’ Gate 2017 Totally Botrytis Affected Optima (West Kelowna) ($29) – Rust Okanagan Valley Syrah 2016 (Oliver) ($37) – Wild Goose 2017 Mystic River Pinot Blanc (Okanagan Falls) ($17)
– Wild Goose Riesling 2017 (Okanagan Falls) ($17)
See a full list of the gold, silver and bronze medal winners at TheWineFestivals.com.
More fest
The 11-day fall wine fest continues through Oct. 7 with close to 100 events up and down the Valley.
Tonight, the flagship WestJet Wine Tasting, which is being held for the first time in a hangar at Kelowna airport, is sold out.
But there are lots of other events this weekend, including today’s Garlic Festival, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Hester Creek Winery in Oliver.
Farmers will be selling garlic and garlicky products, artisans will have booths, there will be live music, food carts and, of course, wine tasting.
House of Rose Winery in Kelowna has its free grape stomping party today from 1 to 4:30 p.m., loads of wineries and restaurants have wine-and-food pairing lunches and dinners and scores of wineries have special tours and tastings.
Check out the full schedule at TheWineFestivals.com.
Happy hour and dinner
Friday Happy Hour and Fall Dinner Series are back at Sandhill Wines in Kelowna.
During the fall, winter and spring, the winery throws a party every Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. with $8 glasses of wine, appetizers by a revolving line up of restaurants and live music.
The Fall Dinner Series is also Fridays, starting at 7:15 p.m. in the barrel room.
Only 46 people get to sit under the chandeliers at the long table for $89 for a three-course wine-paired dinner prepared by a different chef every week.
When my wife and I dined earlier this month, chef James Holmes from Salt & Brick served up seared foie gras as a starter, duck breast with blueberries as a main and cherry pot de creme for dessert.
The courses were paired, respectively, with Sandhill’s 2017 Terroir Driven Pinot Gris, 2015 Sangiovese and 2015 Small Lots Block 11 Chardonnay.
Check out the schedule of upcoming dinners at SanhillWines.ca.
Food and wine radio
B.C. Food and Wine Radio was back in the Okanagan last week taping segments that will air over the next three weekends.
Vancouver Sun wine columnist Anthony Gismondi and food and wine writer Kasey Wilson usually do the show from studios in Vancouver, but last weekend set up at West Kelowna’s Mission Hill Family Estate to tape two episodes.
For the show airing this weekend, the hosts spoke with Mission Hill winemaker Darryl Brooker and winery chef Patrick Gayler, Jennifer Molgat of Kelowna’s View Winery and Wards Cider, winemaker Ross Baker and communications manager Lindsay Kelm of Quails’ Gate in West Kelowna and winemaker Grant Stanley of Spearhead Winery in Kelowna.
The show will be played on EZ Rock in Penticton, Summerland and Osoyoos this morning from 9 to 10 a.m. and on Kelowna’s AM 1150 tomorrow from 11 a.m. to noon.
The show also airs on BNN Bloomberg in Vancouver, CFAX in Victoria and CKNL in Kamloops.
Next weekend’s show will feature Brooker again, winemaker Shane Munn from Martin’s Lane in Kelowna, Jesse Harnden and Craig McCulloch of West Kelowna’s Mt. Boucherie, Jim Wyse from Burrowing Owl in Oliver, Glenn Fawcett from Oliver’s Black Hills and vice-president of winemaking Craig McDonald of Andrew Peller Limited, which owns Sandhill, Peller Estates, Conviction, Calona, Wayne Gretzky, Red Rooster, Gray Monk, Black Hills and Tinhorn Creek wineries.
Interviews with winemaker Taylor Whelan of Kelowna’s CedarCreek and winemaker Phil McGahan from CheckMate in Oliver will air the weekend of Oct. 13-14.
Bordeaux release
It’s billed as one of the annual highlights at government liquor stores.
It’s the late-September arrival of new-release Bordeaux wines from France.
The 2015 vintage of red blends famously made of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot are expected to be snapped up shortly after they go on sale at 30 stores across the province, including the ones in Penticton, Vernon and Kelowna.
The 170 different wines range from $25 bottles you can enjoy now or rare bottles of up to $3,500 that collectors covet to age in their cellars.
French producers also make a white Bordeaux blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, but that receives no fanfare this time of year.
Of course, you can buy both red and white Bordeauxs year-round at government liquor stores, but the selection isn’t as exclusive and varied.