2014 Icon Wine of the Year

Painted Rock's Red Icon has long been a yearly entrant in the top 5 of our Top 25 Icon Wines of the Year, but for 2014, we had to award this fabulous blend the top spot. Though the tasting score equals previous vintages, there's just something about the 2012 Red Icon that stays with you, even months later and proves it's worthy to be this year's Icon Wine of the Year:

Painted Rock Estate Winery 2012 Red Icon
31% Malbec blended with 28% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Franc and 15% Petit Verdot
$55 - 14.9%
93+pts - Full Review

Congratulations to our runner-ups for this year's Icon Wine of the Year award: the 2011 Château de Beaucastel and the supremely elegant LaStella 2011 Maestoso "Solo" Merlot.



The Wine
Though the components change year-to-year, Painted Rock's Red Icon is an exceptionally consistent, high-end blend that successfully executes its but de vie to deliver complex, New World flavours wrapped in an elegant, Old World structure.

This BC Icon offers a gorgeous, feminine nose of spiced plum, sweet red fruit, light vanilla-mocha and floral aromas. The understated, refined, palate follows with both dark and red fruit flavours creating the perception of sweetness upon entry, supported by silky-smooth tannins, rich savoury notes and effortless acidity through the very long, dry and balanced finish.

The Story
We love this wine for its uniqueness in the world of cookie-cutter big reds. The first vintage (2007) had Petit Verdot as the leading grape in the blend... yeah, Petit Verdot! None of the corporate wineries would ever try that. (And to be fair, I doubt proprietor John Skinner would ever again either... the bane of originality.) These bold risks combined with continual refinement of the winery's detailed vineyard management practices, pruning and harvesting programs have paid off delivering a unique blend from a picture perfect vineyard offering honest vintage variation. 

There's every reason to expect to see future vintages of the Red Icon in our top 5 for years to come as the Painted Rock team have committed to producing a flagship product for the BC wine industry. Lofty goals, but ones the team has thus far been able to deliver.
 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2014 IconWines.ca