WEEKEND WINE PICKS
50th Parallel Estate Pinot Gris 2017, Lake Country, Okanagan Valley $19.90 | 89/100 UPC: 626990130246 The fruit is hand harvested and whole bunch pressed before it’s cold settled in an oxygen-free environment to up its aromatic expression. The ferment is an 80/20 split of stainless steel and three-year-old French oak barrels. The wood adds texture to this exuberant, bright orchard fruit with peach, nectarine and citrus notes. The palate is round and ripe with just the right amount of sweet figgy quince fruit and acidity to bring you back the glass. Salmon, chicken, seafood: it all works here.
Stag’s Hollow Albarino Shuttleworth Creek Vineyard 2016, Okanagan Valley $20.25 | 90/100 UPC: 626990195771 Impressive Okanagan Falls-based Albariño fruit showing a tighter, leaner, thread of pear and melon with a citrus, licorice undercurrent. Winemaker Dwight Sick does some partial barrel ferments in 500-litre French puncheons, but with no acid lowering malolactic fermentation. Six weeks of lees stirring gives it just the right texture to please without overwhelming your palate. A clean, bright version made for local seafood or a Margherita pizza. A rare appearance in B.C. Liquor Stores.
Errazuriz Aconcagua Costa Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Valle de Aconcagua, Chile $24 | 90/100 UPC: 00608057106319 This is a first-class Chilean Sauvignon and should be widely available in B.C. but for some reason it’s off the radar of retailers and restaurants. The vines are grown at the Manzanar Vineyard, Aconcagua Costa, only 12 kilometres from the cool Pacific Ocean. Very little premaceration has led to a beautifully structured, aromatic, complex white wine that dances across the palate with herbal, mineral, guava, passion fruit flavours. Delicacy and tension is the story. Sold only in a few private wine shops and it does reside on the reserve wine list at Earls. Delicious. Real wine.
Concha y Toro Marqués de Casa Concha Chardonnay 2016, Valle del Limari, Chile $22.99 | 89/100 UPC: 07804320411149 An extreme Chilean Chardonnay from Limari’s Quebrada Seca Vineyard just 29 km from the Pacific Ocean. It’s grown on silty clay soils, rich in calcium carbonate and under cool temperatures. Winemaker Marcelo Papa has been pushing the “Marques” range away from the predictable, super-ripe, over-extracted, too-much-new-oak-style, toward a fresher, juicier white. The attack is svelte with vibrant tropical fruit aromas and flavours before a creamy mid-section kicks in to provide some balance. Best with richer, creamier pastas or roasted chicken.
San Pedro 1865 Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, Valle del Maipo, Chile $20 | 89/100 UPC: 7804300123345 A salute to the origins of San Pedro, now over 150 years old. The 1865 is a selection of top Cabernet grapes grown on 40-year-old, thin, rocky, alluvia soils in the Maipo Valley. A five-day cold soak previews a 30-day ferment and a year’s aging in 95 per cent French oak; half new, half second fill. The fruit is red, blue and aromatic lifted by a classic bay leaf, boldo (wild herbs) nose with a spicy back end flecked with dark chocolate. Serve now with grilled beef, or age through 2020. Impressive.