Discovering Wines in the Great (Red) North - Part 3 of 3 Osoyoos and a Little Wine called "The Judge"

So I must apologize for the long gap between this and my last post.  As many of you reading this may know, in that span of time I got married, and I can say with complete honesty and sincerity that it was the best day of my life.  As my wife has stated several times since, there’s not a single detail about the day that she’d change (and nor would I for that matter) so I think that pretty well sums up the experience in a sentence.

The following is the 3^rd and final post about our experience touring the British Columbia’s Okanagan wine country.  There are some real gems to follow so I hope you enjoy the conclusion of this brief series.  We start this adventure with Desert Hills Winery:

Desert Hills Estate Winery

After being picked up at our home base at Burrowing Owl, Desert Hills Estate Hills Winery was the first stop on our HOHO wine tour with OK Wine Shuttle.   A minor diversion here, the HOHO wine tour is a fun, relatively inexpensive way to see a lot of wineries in a short period of time.  We "only" hit 5 but that's because we were adamant that we wanted to go to Black Hills Winery at the end of our day and it eats up an hour and a half.  Our driver was knowledgeable and able to cater the experience to several differing interests and based on your individual preferences. There were 6 small groups of us on a 15 passenger van and somehow we all still got to go to the wineries that we wanted, and caught a few on the recommendation of our driver that we otherwise might not have experienced.  To this day I'm not 100% sure how it all works but it does and it was  a lot of fun.  

Desert Hills was a winery that we'd had prior experience with and thoroughly enjoyed their 2014 Gamay Noir so we were excited to be able to catch it as part of this tour.  This is a relatively small tasting room so the addition of our full van didn't aid the tight quarters.  With that said, the tasting menu was generous.  9 wines in all, they let our full group sample their entire lineup.  The star of the show from our perspective was again, their Gamay Noir.  It is a nicely balanced wine with bright acidity and red fruit flavors.  The 2015 vintage has a smokiness to it that adds another layer of complexity to this wine.  We did find the rest of their offerings to be a bit thin for our liking, lacking a bit of depth and structure that varietals like Syrah and Cabernet are known for in their best examples.  The Gamay is worth a try but I'd try to get to this winery early and avoid the crowds as best you can.

Hester Creek Winery

Hester Creek was officially our biggest positive surprise of the trip.  A winery that was not on our radar previously sits solidly in our top 2 or 3 winery experiences of the trip.  Once again messing with the timeline of this series of posts, we made a dinner reservation at Hester Creek's Terrafina restaurant on the first evening of our trip.  We were able to enjoy our evening out on the grape vine covered patio at this lovely restaurant.  The view from the patio is a manicured lawn and garden of roses and lavender fading out into the estate vineyards that flow into the valley below.  Sunsets over this desert landscape are nostalgic for me and conjure up images of the Arizona sunsets I grew up with.  The only image of the night that surpassed this sight in its beauty was the one seated directly across the table from me. 

The fair was exquisite.  Lindsay had done a little research and discovered that a wine called "The Judge" was their top rated (and conveniently most expensive) wine produced at this winery.  It also has the honor of being the wine with the most bad ass name in the Okanagan.  As this was our pre-moon, we spared no expense and ordered a bottle of it.  After allowing it to rest for about 20 minutes in a decanter, this wine was served to us in what had to be 650 ml glasses.  They were enormous and appropriate for a wine called the Judge.  The aromas coming off this wine were haunting.  As the other guests on the HOHO bus can attest, my sales pitch on this wine is that I literally had dreams about it when we went to bed that night, and it's not far from the truth.  Lindsay was nearing annoyance with my obsession with sniffing the contents of these giant glasses all evening.  Dark fruits, floral notes, spice and oak jumped out of the glass.  The meal that accompanied this exceptional wine was great too.  I would rate it a small notch below Burrowing Owl's Sonora Room on food quality alone but it more than made up for it with service and atmosphere.   It was a very memorable dining experience.

Visiting the winery the next day was a treat as well.  The winery and tasting room are beautiful.  Red brick, wood, and iron accent the room, the centerpiece of which is a big stone bar and cobble stone floors.  It has a rustic elegance about it that is a theme throughout the restaurant, tasting room, and wine shop.  A live band in the wine shop was successful in remaining in the background as an accent that enhanced the experience rather than diverting your focus and distracting.  It was a holistic approach to the winery experience only enhanced by the quality of the wines being offered.  As we were quite familiar with their flagship offering from the previous evening, we focused more on their single varietal and standard label blends.  I'd highly recommend the Character red, the Cab Franc, and the Cabernet Merlot because at sub $20 prices, they're hard wines to beat.  They by no means rival The Judge, but they're also less than half the price.  I must mention here that we did prefer their standard label offerings to their "reserve" wines. We picked up a bottle of each along with a Magnum of our new friend the Judge. 

Church and State Winery

For our third winery of the day, we broke off from the main group to enjoy a "big red wine" focused winery in Church and State.  Unfortunately I don't have a lot of information on this winery as the staff in the tasting room was a bit less than forthcoming with information.  The winery is very modern and the views, as are always true in this region, were beautiful. The tasting bar looks into the barrel room which is a cool backdrop for a wine tasting.  The vibe in this winery is completely irreverent, which makes sense if you've ever caught any of the labels of their "Lost Inhibitions" line (if you haven't seen these labels, I encourage you to look them up as they're quite entertaining). 

The wines themselves are fantastic.  As advertised, this is a winery that does big reds and does them well.  They are saturated, heavily oaked, and expressive.  We thoroughly enjoyed their "Coyote Bowl Series" Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Meritage blend.  Top to bottom, there was not a wine we didn't enjoy in this tasting and this was another winery that we brought multiple bottles home from.  If you're looking to visit a winery for the atmosphere, I don't know if I'd put this at the top of my list but if you're seeking out quality South Okanagan red wines, these are fantastic and certainly worth a try.  

Tinhorn Creek Winery

We had Tinhorn Creek on our must visit list for a bit of a sentimental reason.  As noted, Lindsay and I are not white wine drinkers in order of preference.  However, with our pending wedding, we recognized that a good portion of our guests would be enjoying white wine so we sacrificed our palates in honor of their well being and tried several white wines.  One particular evening, our local wine store had a sale on the 2014 Tinhorn Creek Pinot Gris.  In order to make sure we had some "good wine" to enjoy that evening, we had a glass of red wine with dinner before deciding to try out the Pinot Gris.  To our surprise, we loved it.  So much so, we killed the whole bottle, called the wine store to reserve a couple cases for the wedding, and still had the remainder of our red wine to drink 

A free sample of the latest (2015) vintage of the aforementioned Pinot Gris was given out upon entry into the tasting room and wine shop.  At the official tasting we were offered 4 wines of our choice, so naturally, Lindsay and I chose differently so we could attempt all 8 different wines.  Tinhorn's "Oldfield Series" is their reserve series of wines catered to the palate of their original winemaker.  As with our friends at Hester Creek (The Judge being the obvious exception to this), our preferences leaned toward their standard label wines and not their reserves.  It's counter intuitive but it was a big lesson learned on this trip.  The overall quality of the wines I'd call good but not great.  They are a bit thinner, more fruit forward styles but lacking in depth and complexity.  We found the Oldfield series wines to be a bit acidic and out of balance. The highlight for us was the wine shop, fully stocked with wine based jams, sauces, and their full line of wines.  It was quite elaborate and easy to burn a half hour in. Overall, we're glad we didn't miss this place on account of its ties to our wedding but I don't know that I'd call it a can't miss for others. 

Black Hills Winery

The final stop on our tour and trip was at Black Hills Winery.  This winery is as close to the Napa experience as we found in the Okanagan.  Black Hills goes to great lengths to avoid the crowded, often impersonal, bar-style wine tastings that a majority of wineries employ (though some with reasonable success).  Theirs is a seated event with a server to explain the full suite of offerings and a little history and culture of the winery.  Tastings here are double pours of each wine and also the most expensive of any tasting we found in the valley ($20 per person) and take up to an hour and a half.  There is also a menu of wine friendly foods to enhance your tasting experience.  

We sat at a window table that overlooked a swimming pool area and the vineyards.  A beautiful setting as is always the case at these wineries.  It's hard to overstate the natural beauty of this region.  On offer this day were their Viognier (the 2015 showing much better than a 2014 bottle we'd had previously), their Syrah, varietal Carmenere, and the flagship Nota Bene.  I'll have to say, these wines are built for people like Lindsay and me.  They are dense, structured, fully extracted wines.  They're rich and fruit forward with great balance and ripe tannins.  We absolutely loved all of them.  We'd had prior experience with the wines from this winery and the visit and current vintage lived up to, and in some cases, exceeded already high expectations.  

If you're in this region, on quality of the wines, serenity of the scenery, and quality of the experience, it would be a shame to miss this winery.  It takes a time commitment not required by others but that's some of the beauty of the experience, and part of the enjoyment of wine.  You have time to sit, and sip, to think about what's in the glass, and converse with your table mate.  That to me is what gives me so much joy in drinking wine and Black Hill does a great job of trying to provide that experience, to tie what's in a glass into a broader context and to give their customers the opportunity to ponder and enjoy it. 

I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our trip and the beauty of this region and the amazing wines and great values it has to offer.  Now members of several Okanagan wine clubs, we fully intend to make at least an annual trip back to this region and see what new and exciting wineries and experiences await.  And if you’re looking for an exciting new wine region to visit that not many of your friends will have been to (if you’re reading anywhere but Western Canada), I hope you’ll consider giving he Okanagan a try.  I can’t imagine you’d regret it.

Discovering Wines in the Great (Red) North - Part 2 of 3 Painted Rock and the First Views of Osoyoos

Welcome back!  And thank you for joining me on the second part of our South Okanagan wine adventure.  In my previous post, I went into some detail of the wineries we visited the first morning of our trip on the Naramata bench.  This post will pick up right after we departed from Naramata and journeyed southward toward Osoyoos.  It begins at what ended up being perhaps our favorite winery of the trip:

Painted Rock Estate Winery

After departing the Naramata bench, we headed south along the eastern bank of Skaha Lake to Painted Rock Estate Winery. If I were to rate all of the wineries we visited on the basis of two criteria, overall wine quality and pictures worthy of a post card, Painted Rock would get the top overall score.  Please note you were warned in advance of my gushing over this winery.

Painted Rock sits up on a cliff overlooking Skaha Lake on 60 acres of land.  Due to the rugged terrain, only 25 acres of the property is under vine.  Standing in the newly constructed open air tasting room, you look out over the vineyards and into Skaha Lake.  The view of the vineyards, resembles an infinity edge pool; gazing out toward the lake, the neat rows of lush grape vines appear to flow directly into blue water in the background.  To the south of the vineyards sits a huge rock face that contrasts beautifully with the lush vines and sapphire waters below. It's striking in its beauty. That there were preparations under way for a wedding to be held on site the day following our visit is no mystery.

The new tasting room, designed by local Penticton architect Robert Mackenzie, is the perfect setting to enjoy both the scenery and their fantastic lineup of wines (though I do wish I’d made it by for a tasting in the old, small yellow shack on the property that was the home of the winery’s first tasting room).  One of my favorite elements of the current tasting room, the white table top bar that actually lights up, though only slightly, allows you to take in the true color of the wine before you get down to drinking.  The wines are rich and expressive of both vintage and vineyard.  Sitting up on the hill, these vines catch a lot of rays, and it shows through in the richness of the wines.  The 2014 Syrah smells like fresh cracked pepper but tastes ripe and structured.  The flagship "Red Icon," another Bordeaux style blend, had only been in bottle for 2 weeks upon our tasting but was drinking as if it had been in bottle for a year.  Again, full bodied, dark fruit and great structure and tannins to these age-worthy wines.  On the merits of this tasting, we added this to our list of wine clubs we joined on this trip.

Side note on Cab Franc - this is yet another winery that intends to make a single varietal Cab Franc in their next release based solely on the unexpected quality of the fruit being produced on site.  Our gracious host for the afternoon mentioned that the past two vintages, a certain block of Cab Franc vines were producing exceptional grapes, inspiring their winemaker to both increase its quantity in the blends and to go out on a limb and make a single varietal (released only to wine club members).

Their distribution is small, and by the sounds of it intentionally so.  Proprietor John Skinner’s previous life was in finance and he has parlayed his contacts in the Chinese finance industry into sales leads for a portion of his annual production. With anywhere from 20-50% of their sub 10,000 case annual production sold abroad prior to the vintage being released, these wines can be tough to find. If you’re fortunate enough to find them, I can't recommend them highly enough.

Burrowing Owl Estate Winery

Our final true tasting of our first the day of the trip was at Burrowing Owl Estate Winery just north of Osoyoos Lake.  This also happened to be our lodging for the weekend.  Burrowing Owl holds some of my highest praise and is the source of some of my biggest head scratches through the weekend.  As we spent a lot of time here, I had ample time to overanalyze this place.

The Winery and the Wines - We had as much experience with Burrowing Owl going into this trip as we had with any BC winery.  With over 160 planted acres on 3 vineyard sights, their production is massive and their distribution wide.  It is astonishing they've been able to maintain the quality and consistency they have in their offerings.  We tried their 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon (fully reviewed in my prior post) and fully anticipated this being one of our favorites based on our prior experiences.  However, we found that there were 2 wines we appreciated even more.  The 2013 Athene was on release as well.  This is a 50/50 Cab Sav and Syrah "cofermented" wine.  Cofermentation was a new one on me and involves crushing and fermenting the wines pre-blended (as opposed to crushing and fermenting each varietal individually and blending at a later date).  It's a risky proposition but the results were fantastic.  It was darker, richer and more vibrant than the 100% varietal Cab Sav.  The other wine we thoroughly enjoyed (and was our favorite overall from this winery) was the 2012 Meritage.  Once I discovered that Cab Franc was the dominant varietal in this blend at 43%, it was no mystery why we loved it so much.

The winery experience itself was one that was a bit of a head scratcher.  I'll have to say that the multiple different attendants we worked with both to purchase wine and complete our tastings were some of the least knowledgeable we encountered on our trip.  There were no prior releases on site, wine clubs to join, or any notable effort at marketing to the general public.  My questions about annual production and where we could find prior vintages went frustratingly unanswered.  Where others wineries were happy to share notes on their wine making philosophy, vineyard specifics and history, the only nugget we got from our hosts at the winery was a bit of an awkward tale about removing burrowing owls from the vineyard site during planting (they are deemed to be pests in the vineyard apparently) and relocating them to a bird sanctuary.  In what I have to assume is a rationalization of their guilt, they winery was named after the eradicated pests.  It appears to me that the commercial success of this winery must primarily be generated through distribution and commercial accounts.  It definitely helps that the product quality is on par with the best in their industry.

The Guest Houses - Our experience with the guest house, in contrast to my frustration with the wine tasting experience, was stellar.  The suites were beautiful and the service was top notch.  Our hosts greeted us, walked us to our rooms, detailing the onsite amenities and features of the suite.  In all of our travels, there have been few experiences that have exceeded this one in both service and setting.  Waking up to the site of acres of lush vineyards fading into the valley and ultimately out to Osoyoos Lake off in the distance, and spending an afternoon in the onsite swimming pool and patio is the essence of why we wanted to take this vacation.  The fact that there was a hot breakfast served to us every morning, complete with a new egg dish (think benedicts and frittatas) and a daily hot pastry, only enhanced an already incredible experience.  Staying at a winery, and one in as beautiful a setting as this one, is truly a unique experience and one you shouldn't go your life without experiencing.

The Sonora Room Restaurant - Breaking with the sequence or our trip, we did enjoy what was the single finest meal of our trip at The Sonora Room restaurant on site at Burrowing Owl winery.  If you are looking for a unique wine experience or library wines from Burrowing Owl, this is the place for you.  On this evening, they had vertical tastings of their 2007-2010 vintages of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  The wine list had multiple vintages of all of their most popular wines so you could create any experience for yourself that you wanted.  The menu itself was stellar.

For our meal, we opted for the vertical tasting of Pinot Noir.  It was my first real experience with a true vertical tasting and I will say the 2007 vintage stood out for me.  Smooth, mellow and earthy.  It was a perfect paring for my meal to follow.  2007 was closely trailed by 2009 for similar qualities that will ultimately shine through after another couple years rest.  The 2008 and 2010 vintages were more fruit forward and more acidic than the '07 and '09 vintages and really resembled one another with the 2010 again only needing a couple years to catch up to its older counterpart.

For starters we enjoyed a silky smooth mushroom veloute.  Our mains were an oven roasted Cornish hen with a pan sauce (these were flavours that take time to build - deep, dark and rich) and a poached arctic char (light, delicate and cooked to perfection).  We followed up the meal with a 3 way tasting of chocolate (sorbet, soufflé cake, and "cold hot chocolate” - all decadent in their own right with the cake stealing the show) and pared it with Burrowing Owl's "Coruga" port style wine.  All in all, this was a fantastic wine and dining experience and one that we'll remember for years to come.  Compliments to a truly talented chef for executing a near perfect meal.

Nk' Mip Cellars

As our first winery of the second day of our trip, Nk' Mip (pronounced INK MEEP) is a winery I had no expectations for.  As the first winery in North America to be wholly owned and operated by an Aboriginal tribe, there is no precedent from which to draw expectations.  We'd enjoyed one of their Pinot Noirs in the past but hadn't done much research into the winery itself.  Despite my lack of expectation, I'll have to say, this place exceeded whatever expectations I could have set for myself.  The winery itself is a relatively small part of a much larger complex that sits amongst vineyards that expand down near the shores of Osoyoos Lake.  The broader complex includes a cultural center dedicated to the history and culture of the Osoyoos Indian Band, a four-star resort, 9-hole golf course, and conspicuously does not include a casino (a welcome omission in my opinion).  

Set in the desert, the pueblo style architecture and desert landscape of the complex play to its surroundings .  The tasting room itself has been newly renovated and has a modern appeal.  We showed up right at opening.  A half hour later, we had our first tasting.  A bit disorganized on the start but we'll chalk it up to the staff their product a bit too much the night before.  What struck me about this winery is that, while some of their peers in Osoyoos are dedicating their land to warm weather varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, Nk' Mip predominantly produces and excels in the cooler weather red varietals like Merlot and Pinot Noir.  Their varietal Cab Sav and Meritage blends were their least successful of the tasting.  The Merlot was fruity with lots of raspberry on the nose and palate.  The star of the show however was a Riesling ice wine.  It had a complex nose of lilies and apricots and did not overwhelm with its sweetness.  A fine example of an ice wine, and a big step above some of its more famous producers in Ontario.  Overall, I wouldn't say this winery produced the big, complex wines we'd tasted and enjoyed so much throughout our prior day’s tastings, but it is definitely worth the visit to see the facilities, walk through the vineyards, and experience some of the cultural elements they offer up as part of your experience.   

La Stella Winery

La Stella Winery is the Italian style sister winery of the French themed La Vieux Pin Winery (which we did not make it to on this trip).  The setting and architecture do inspire images of Tuscany with an Italian style villa built atop a steep vine covered hill that runs down to the shore of Osyoos Lake.  Our tasting this day was on the winery balcony overlooking the beautiful lakefront vineyards. As we'd previously tried and thoroughly enjoyed the 2013 Fortissimo, this one was a must hit on our list of wineries to visit on our trip.  I am sad to say, our enjoyment of their offerings fell far short of our lofty expectations.  

Our host was gracious and knowledgeable.  She made a strong effort at selling these wines to us on the basis of their merits.  The vineyards are managed organically though not technically certified as such.  The vines are allowed to grow each season without leaf thinning and apparently up to 50% of the fruit is dropped prior to harvest.  Typically this is to select the best quality fruit on the vine and focus the vines' efforts on ripening and pumping all of their energy into fewer fruit clusters.  In the wine making process, there are no additions of sulfites (which is great for those with sulfite sensitivities) and the fruit is triple sorted to select the best clusters and berries for each specific use.  All of this serves to set some pretty lofty expectations for the wine.  Unfortunately, at least for the 2014 vintage, the added effort in the vinification did not translate to the glass. 

We were able to sample 2 of their white wines, their rose (which we thought was their best effort) and 3 of their most prestigious reds.  While at home and drinking their 2013 vintage Fortissimo, a Merlot dominant red blend with the intriguing addition of the Italian Sangiovese grape, we found the wine fruit forward, structured, and complex with a smooth mouth feel.  The 2014 version unfortunately did not stack up. We found this wine thin, acidic, and tannic.  This unfortunately was true for their flagship Maestoso (100% Merlot) and premium blend "La Sophia" wines as well, which price at $90 and $80 per bottle respectively at the winery (by far the highest price tags we found on our trip).  In both cases, the acid and tannins overwhelmed the fruit character of the wine and pulled them consistently out of balance in our estimation.  I've questioned my evaluation of these wines thoroughly now and I become more confident every time.  These wines had everything going for them, a super technical vineyard management system (which I'm a huge sucker for), a beautiful setting, the psychological advantage of high price tags, and a prior experience with their wines that was positive enough to make this a must stop location on our trip.  Yet "the proof is in the glass" rang true here and I unfortunately cannot recommend these wines, and certainly not at the prices they’re being offered (though I would even hesitate at prices more in line with their neighboring competitors).  

La Stella rounded out the part of the trip in which I had to spit (as I was driving, I didn’t think it safe to drink the wines at all of these wineries – to my surprise, spitting was not as unpleasant as I would have imagined.)  While it was a bit of a disappointment overall, it was not the end of our trip.  We had several great wineries to come on our fully guided wine tour that will be the focus of the final part of this series.  Hope you’re enjoying it!