Chardon'Eh!

There are so many great new BC Chardonnay releases making their way to market from the excellent 2014 and 2015 vintages. Too many for one post, so here are a few of my favourites to seek-out at your earliest convenience.

SpierHead Winery 2014 Chardonnay - $22
A partially oaked (20%) Chardonnay with a focus on clean, crisp fruit and cool mineral characters, using grapes sourced from the winery's East Kelowna vineyard. A masculine, yet, generous wine with loads of apricot, nectarine and citrus aromas and flavours all wrapped in the firm, supportive embrace of river stone and steel notes.
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Upper Bench Estate Winery 2014 Chardonnay - $25
A consistently well produced Chardonnay that is full-bodied and loaded with juicy orchard fruit flavours and tangy citrus acidity which invigorate the palate and begs, no, demands to be paired with smoky Gouda cheese. Finish is long and mineral-y with rich, leesy brioche notes and some lingering spice.
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Black Hills Estate Winery 2014 Chardonnay - $26 + taxes
The palate is vibrant and alive with Chardonnay's naturally high acidity suggesting the wine saw little-to-no malolactic fermentation. Good consistency carries the aroma profile of the nose through as flavours on the palate, with citrus fruit playing a more prominent role. Intensity of the finish fades quickly, though, a vein of mineral and spice notes linger patiently until the next sip.
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Maverick Estate Winery 2014 Chardonnay - $26.50
A delicious, single-vineyard Chardonnay with excellent balance on the perfumed, feminine nose and the expressive, orchard'n'citrus infused palate. Sourced from the winery's Golden Mile property, the juice was fermented in French oak and then spent a further 6 months in barrel, on lees, which helped impart some body and texture to the palate and contributed warm, nutty-baked good notes to the nose.
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Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 2014 Oldfield Series Chardonnay - $35
Sourced from the winery's Golden Mile Bench vineyard from youthful vines, the juice was barrel fermented in French oak then aged for 16 months in a 50/50 split of oak and stainless steel vessels where the wine underwent a softening of the acids via a secondary, malolactice fermentation. The result of all this work is a beautifully constructed Chardonnay with ample, peach, caramel-golden delicious apple, lemon rind and sweet nutty-brioche notes on the pleasing nose.
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Painted Rock Estate Winery 2015 Chardonnay - $35
The finished wine is as complex as its ever-evolving, multifaceted recipe with aromas and flavours of honeydew, pear, tangerine, lemon/lime, vanilla, stonefruit, spice and brioche. Pure, refined and elegant with a harmonious balance of its core elements: fruit, acid and texture. An effortless intensity which will help the wine hold for many years and develop further over time as the intensity is slowly dialled back to reveal layers of dried and candied fruit aromas and flavours.
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 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2016 IconWines.ca

Best of BC: Sauvignon Blanc

BC Sauvignon Blanc has been good for a long time, however, only a handful of producers were giving the Loire Valley grape the proper attention to detail it deserves. This has changed over the past few years and therefore, we're happy to include it in our Best of BC section.

Also included are Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blends as this effortless pairing has helped popularize the tangy-stinky variety around the world.

Calliope Wines 2014 Sauvignon Blanc - $17
Pleasantly pungent, at first sniff, with fresh grass and baked lemon aromas supported by honey-crisp apple flesh and green apple skin notes. The (mostly) dry palate follows with citrus and apple-pear flavours and a fine vein of lime rind acidity and light, steely-mineral notes. Refreshing, crisp and memorable; excellent value.
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Stag's Hollow Winery 2015 Sauvignon Blanc - $17
A partially oaked (20% in 2nd fill French oak barrels), cool fermented Sauvignon Blanc with a lovely, graceful nose of tropical and citrus fruit, peach skins, cranberry scones and light grass aromas. A dry, vibrant palate follows with a nice combination of mouth-watering, citrus acidity and rich, textured flavours of passion fruit, apples, ripe peaches and lees.
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Maverick Estate Winery 2014 Sauvignon Blanc - $19
A boisterous, fruit'n'acid driven Sauvignon Blanc with underlying fullness from rich, ripe apple and pear flavours and a touch of residual sugar. Refreshing, tangy citrus, light minerals, savoury wild herb and light lees characters add depth and complexity. The finish is long and well balanced with lingering spice and grapefruit peel notes. Has the structure and balance to hold for several years.
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Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars 2014 Sauvignon Blanc - $19
An intense Loire Valley-styled Sauvignon Blanc with a kiss of subtle oak supporting a mouth-watering profile of lemon zest, minerals and grapefruit aromas and flavours. The palate opens with a fairly full-ish mouth-feel with some hints of herbs, until waves of citrus and minerals liven things up and take over though to a moderate finish where citrus peel lingers. 
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Fairview Cellars 2013 Sauvignon Blanc - $20
The nose of this Sauvignon Blanc doesn't appear until the wine has warmed in the glass, which many of us won't wait to experience. If you do, it's a nose fuelled by apples, citrus and stonefruit aromas.Instead, we'll enjoy this tasty wine, with our favourite seafood dish or a hard cheese plate and appreciate the multitudes of textures on the palate.
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Burrowing Owl Estate Winery 2014 Sauvignon Blanc - $22
Nearing Fumé Blanc levels of richness on the delicious, blanketed nose of tropical fruit, ripe pear, lemon grass, sweet sage and crisp minerals. The palate is richly textured with sweet layers of orchard fruit flavours and others of lean, minerals and mouth-watering citrus acidity. The balance on the long finish sways ever-so-slightly towards sour. A touch of spice lingers through to the next sip.
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Black Hills Estate Winery 2014 Alibi - $25
A blend of 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Semillon.delicious? Opens with a fruity nose of ripe, apricot, nectarine and white peach aromas; you want to jump into the glass and take a bite! The palate follows through on that desire offering up juicy, sweet orchard fruit flavours with a solid backbone of citrus acidity and minerals balancing out the fruit.
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Bench 1775 Winery 2014 Sauvignon Blanc - $25
Has the rawness and funk of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and the minerality and acidity of those from the Loire Valley. Delivers the 4 Gs of Sauvignon Blanc expertly: gooseberry, grapefruit, grass and gravitas. Add in some cool, river stone and warm, tropical fruit elements and you're left with a winner of a wine that can be enjoyed on its own or as a confident companion to seafood dishes.
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Le Vieux Pin 2015 Sauvignon Blanc - $30
The devil is in the details and this excellent Sauvignon Blanc is sinfully good. Each vintage is an exploration of the art of blending with the 2015 being sourced from vineyards in both the Southern Okangan and Similkameen valleys and separate lots using a range of fermentation vessels from stainless steel vats to neutral, oak barrels and even a kiss of new French oak.
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Try This, Cellar That - BC Cabernet Franc

This week we feature BC Cabernet Franc:

Try This...

Cassini Cellars 2011 Cabernet Franc - $29
Cabernet Franc opens with a perfumed, instantly enjoyable nose of blackberry, black plum, violet and Christmas cake aromas. The dry palate that follows is medium bodied with similar fruit and savoury flavours offering excellent continuity from the nose. Ready to go now with several years of enjoyment ahead.
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Cellar That...

Church and State Wines 2011 Cabernet Franc - $25
After 2 hrs of decanting, this youthful Cabernet Franc will begin to reveal sweetened pot-pourri and crushed fresh flower notes which float delicately above the blueberry, black cherry and vanilla aromas. Despite the brightness of the fruit, the finish is long and measured with lingering, grippy tannins and dusty cocoa powder. Another year+ of bottle age will do nicely.
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 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2014 IconWines.ca

#WBC13 Day 1 - Part1

Day one of the Wine Bloggers' Conference began with a key note address from the dry-humoured Jim Conaway, author of the novel "Nose" and a best selling historical book of "Napa: The Story of American Eden", who recounted his long journey to fine wine through the mediocre plunk that many of us experiment with before our personal wine education begins in earnest. Conaway's entertaining thesis was the important role writers play in presenting and interpreting the milieu between the wine industry's message and that of the "truth" behind the spin. Essentially, what all writers should strive for and some do better than others in this age of free online content where the lines between personal opinion and industry-fed talking points can be thin.

Affable and soft spoken, Conaway's comforting southern accent contrasted his stark appraisal of the current state of publishing during the Q and A session - a reminder to all bloggers attending the conference to keep their dreams of inevitable financial reward for their hard work in-check.

A good segue into the next session on "The State of Wine Blogging" based on data collected from a survey to current and past WBC attendees (256 people contributed). The results? Well, predictably the majority of wine bloggers are male, don't generate any revenue from their endeavor and write the blog the satisfy their own passion for wine. Sounds familiar. For a full breakdown of the survey results view the report visit the wine bloggers' conference website.
 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2013 IconWines.ca

WBC13 Related Articles

A collection of Wine Bloggers' Conference related articles for quite reference.

I will be in attendance, hope to see you there. Contact me on Twitter (@IconWines) using #IconWines, #WBC13.

Must Try Wines: Monthly Picks June 2013

A Signature Grape for BC?

"Value" and the Wine Bloggers' Conference

Day 1 Recap - Part 1

Day 1 Recap - Part 2

Speed Tasting Whites

BC Wineries Win Big in California

Results from the most recent Riverside International Wine Competition have surfaced and BC wineries scored an impressive 12 gold medals.
For the full list of awards visit the competition's website: www.riversidewinecompetition.com

Bench 1775 Winery 2011 Paradise Ranch Ice Wine - $50
Bench 1775 Winery 2011 Paradise Ranch Ice Wine - $30
Bench 1775 Winery 2011 Paradise Ranch Sweet Red Blend - $20
Calona Vineyards 2012 Artist Series Sovereign Opal - $15 (Chairman's Award)
JoieFarm 2012 "Think Pink" Rose - $22 (Sweepstakes Award)
JoieFarm 2011 Gamay - $24 (Best of Class)
JoieFarm 2011 PTG - $24 (Best of Class)
La Frenz Winery 2011 Reserve Chardonnay - $29
La Frenz Winery 2011 Sauvignon Blanc - $22
La Frenz Winery 2011 Viognier - $22 (Chairman's Award)
La Frenz Winery 2012 Sauvignon Blanc - $22 (Chairman's Award)
La Frenz Winery 2012 Riesling - $22 (Best of Class)

Buy Mum a Rose

Mother's Day is just a few days away and you may be scrambling for gift ideas and a plan to make the mums in your life feel special. If reservations to her favourite restaurant don't pan out then why not just organize a potluck brunch at home? Not only will the effort be highly appreciated, but the standard potluck fare cries out for rosé wines due to their versatility to pair with a variety of foods.

To satisfy the gift element of the celebration, ask all of your guests to bring a bottle of pink for mum to take home. Below are but a few of the food-friendliest rosé wines on the market in BC today.

Fort Berens Estate Winery 2012 Pinot Noir Rosé - 18
Produced from 100% estate grown fruit in Lillooet, this cheerfully pink Pinot Noir rosé has generous aromas of juicy red fruit and light mineral notes followed by a dry palate with similar flavours, terroir influence and just a hint of tannins.
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Stag's Hollow Winery 2012 Syrah Rosé - $20
The 2012 edition of this excellent Syrah rosé from Stag's Hollow sees only a nominal amount of Orange Muscat and Viognier (2% and 1% respectively) added to the blend but the effect is impressive with gorgeous, sweet, floral and tangy aromas of cherry, rose petals, tangerine, lime rind and rhubarb appearing on the nose.
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SynchroMesh Wines 2011 Pinot Noir Rosé - $20
Look for a new vintage to be released soon. Ever-so-slightly off-dry on the rhubarb and strawberry infused palate adding texture and body - but not a girlie, sweet rosé and certainly far from being a push-over.
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River Stone Estate Winery 2012 Malbec Rosé - $20
Bold, both in hue and in flavour, the River Stone Malbec Rosé is one of the more colourful and fuller-bodied blush wines on the market in BC today. Juicy and ripe cran-apple, pomegranate and strawberry flavours are supported by light tannins and grapefruit acidity.
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JoieFarm 2012 Rosé - $21
A remarkably consistent wine, year-to-year, thanks to the Naramata Bench winery's flexibility with each year's blend. The 2012 assemblage is made up of 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Gamay, 5% Pinot Meunier and 5% Pinot Gris with the components soaked on their skins for 3 to 4 days, helping to extract just the right amount of tannin and create the signature watermelon Jolly Rancher colour.
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Tinhorn Creek Vineyards 2012 Oldfield Series 2Bench Rosé - $23
The signature light brick/salmon colour remains for the new 2012 edition, as does the refreshing blend of cranberry and strawberry-kiwi fruit flavours, ever-so-light tannins and delightful, aromatic nose.
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 - Liam Carrier ©copyright 2013 IconWines.ca

A Signature Grape for BC?

Does BC need to produce and promote a signature grape to become a world renown wine region for the international market? Some BC wine writers have suggested as much, but is it truly a practical venture for such a young and relatively small wine industry?

Which Grape?
Today, there is yet no true consensus on what BC's signature grape (or grapes) should actually be. The suggestions made most often over the past 12 months as the subject has gained attention, are Cabernet Franc or Syrah as BC's signature red varietal. On the surface, both seem to fit the bill: they are familiar to the worldwide market thanks to Syrah's prominence in the Rhone Valley and Cabernet Franc's use as a blending component by Bordeaux's famous Chateaux. Plus, both varieties produce a distinct and (most important) a pleasant flavour profile in BC's unique terroir. "Sounds great, where do I sign the signature grape petition?" you may be asking.

However, the problem with Syrah is that it doesn't survive well through particularly cold and frosty winters and the problem with Cabernet Franc is, there simply isn't that much of it.

Syrah
Syrah seems like the clear choice to anyone who has enjoyed a sip of the excellent examples being produced in the past 5 years from the likes of Painted Rock, Cassini, Church and State, La Frenz, Stag's Hollow, Le Vieux Pin and Tinhorn Creek. All have produced world-class Syrah from hot years like 2009 and again from milder years like 2010 which emphasizes the natural spiciness of the grape in BC's cool climate. However, talking to these producers about growing Syrah is like discussing the ailment history of a self-diagnosing hypochondriac: you'll get a laundry list of complaints about keeping the vines healthy - even in good-weather years. Mention the particularly cold winter of 2008 and you'll be amazed that the vines survive at all. In short, it is not easy to grow Syrah in BC and we shouldn't expect to see a large increase in acreage unless climate change removes the threat of severe cold during the winter - which isn't likely.

Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc ranks only 5th on the BC Wine Institute's Red Varietals by Acreage list as of 2012. This early budding and late-ripening variety has some vocal local supporters who champion the variety's unique flavours and delicate structure achieved in the Okanagan Valley. But how does one market a grape as the signature wine of a region when few producers even grow the vine and fewer still are able to consistently ripen the grapes to the degree that the finished product can stand on its own? That's a tough sell.

"Come to the Okanagan, try the fabulous Cabernet Franc... (assuming you can find some)."

Naming a relatively rare vine like Cabernet Franc your region's signature grape is also a bit of a slap in the face to the many other vines that excel and produce world-class wines when planted in the appropriate micro-climate within BC's diverse wine growing regions, including Syrah.

"But can't we plant more or graft vines to produce more?"

Yes, but there's an economic angle to the debate as well...