6 extraordinary wines to help you start the new year right
My wife and I have made a New Year’s resolution is to drink more, not less, wine. The caveat being it has to be good, if not exceptional, wine with a sense of place and a story to tell.
Luckily, most Okanagan wine fits this strict criteria. Quality is high, fruit forward wines with lively acidity reflect the Okanagan terroir and vintages can be traced back to proprietors and winemakers who love this Valley.
So, at a time of year when people are vowing to stay away from alcohol and fine foods, Kerry and I carry on as usual.
Here are six wines that meet, and exceed, the standard of extraordinary.
– If you can only name one Okanagan winery, it’s likely West Kelowna’s Mission Hill Family Estate.
After all, the mountaintop showpiece is one of the Valley’s first wineries and proprietor Anthony von Mandl’s vision of world-class wines in the Okanagan was a catalyst for the explosion of the industry.
As a result, wine has become one of the Valley’s tourism cornerstones with people hopping from winery to winery, enjoying the mountain-lake-and-vineyard scenery, tasting wine, eating at winery restaurants and, of course, buying bottles everywhere along the way.
Mission Hill’s Reserve series is “a direct result of our extreme attention to detail,” according to head winemaker Darryl Brooker.
The designation is only for vintages made from the top 15 per cent of grapes from hand-selected blocks of estate vineyards that are managed with reverence throughout the winemaking process.
As such, the 2016 Meritage Reserve ($27) is a smooth Bordeaux-style red blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot.
All the hallmarks of a great Bordeaux are there from blackberry and cherry to a touch of earth.
– The exotic Mission Hill Reserve 2017 Chardonnay ($22) has aromas and flavours of pineapple, coconut, lemon, apple, orange blossom and baking spices.
– It’s classic Merlot all the way with the Mission Hill Reserve 2016 Merlot ($27) and its plum-blackberry-fig profile.
– Arterra Wines is a huge wine conglomerate owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which has eight brands in the Okanagan – Jackson-Triggs, See Ya Later Ranch, Sumac Ridge, Nk’Mip, Inniskillin, Steller’s Jay, SunRock and Black Sage.
While big, Arterra maintains separate wineries for the all the brands to keep the winemaking distinctive and the quality high.
However, to be cohesive, Arterra also has the Great Estates Okanagan umbrella and the Great Estates Okanagan wine experience centre and tasting gallery in downtown Penticton where you can try all the wines.
One of the wines you should make a point of tasting is See Ya Later Ranch 2017 Riesling ($17).
It’s textbook lush, but racy, Riesling with an apple-pear-and-lime profile.
– My wife made panko-crusted, pan-fried cod, with homemade chips and peas to go with a bottle of the Jackson-Triggs Grand Reserve White Meritage
2 0 1 6 ($20).
The classic French Bordeaux white blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon was the perfect pairing with aromas and flavours of pineapple, coconut, lime and fresh-cut grass.
– One doesn’t have to drink Okanagan wines exclusively.
That’s how we found ourselves enjoying charcuterie with a bottle of Montes Alpha 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon ($24) from Chile.
We imagined the South American sun warming the grapes that created this full-bodied wine with a hints of fig, blackberry, chocolate, leather and tobacco.
Passion Pit
This vineyard gets its name from the fact it used to be a commercial gravel pit where couples would make out on dark nights.
Orofino Winery in Cawston has bumped its vineyard holdings up to 19.5 acres with the purchase of the 10.5-acre Passion Pit property.
Fittingly, the new vineyard is close by at the foot of Orofino Mountain, the winery’s namesake.
“Two acres of Cabernet Sauvignon were planted at the Passion Pit exclusiveluy for us in 2007,” said Orofino winemaker John Weber, who owns the winery with his wife Virginia.
“We purchased all of the grapes starting with the inaugural 2009 crop. In 2015, we leased the vineyard and have congtrolled the farming ever since.”
Recently, Orofino had the opportunity to buy the vineyard and snapped it up.
“We know the quality of wine we can produce from this special site and we are thrilled at the prospect of making more Passion Pit single-vineyard wine,” added Weber.
The granite on the site, the slight elevation on the Cawston Bench and the location to catch the sun all contribute to sensational Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.
Orofino has been bottling a single-vineyard Passion Pit Cabernet Sauvignon for years and it is always a quick sellout.
The Webers will plant some Syrah vines in the vineyard in the spring. In addition to the six acres the Webers originally purchased in 2001, they bought three adjacent acres in 2015, lease another eight acres in Cawston and have 15 acres under long-term contracts with three other local growers.
Winter wine fest
The Winter Okanagan Wine Festival at
Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops starts Friday with the Wine Crawl – an event that will see three groups of 100 rotate to visit three separate venues for wine and appetizers.
The 21st annual event, Jan. 11-20, has 19 other events from wine-pairing brunches and dinners to a moonlight snowshoe with mulled wine, a wine-and-chocolate pairing event and a progressive tasting.
Tickets at SunPeaksResort.com.
“Mother Nature is also co-operating with lots of new snow, which bodes well for a festive atmosphere and excellent conditions for pre-event skiing,” said Tourism Sun Peaks president and CEO Arlene Schieven.
Okanagan Wine Festivals Society marketing chair Lindsay Kelm, who is also the marketing manager at West Kelowna’s Quails’ Gate Winery, said the Winter Okanagan Wine Festival is one of the most magical events in the country.
“Surrounded by the natural beauty of Sun Peaks, the festival features more than 150 top local wines alongside exceptional food partners to create a truly unforgettable experience,” she said.