Introducing The Similkameen Valley: 7% And Growing Strong

The Similkameen Valley (wiki) is not a new wine region in BC, but it seems like it has only recently been remembered, or maybe, more appropriately, rediscovered. Located in the very south of BC, just west of Osoyoos, it is surprising that the Similkameen has taken so long to get serious attention. Read more

On The World’s Bulk Wine Ascendancy

Something interesting has happened in the last few years in the wine world – something both good and worrying. Wine regions that were once written off as ‘bulk’ wine areas have shown that a changing attitude to grape growing and wine making can achieve recognition and respect, catapulting new varietal names and regions onto the world scene. Read more

Will The Truffle Soon Grow Here In BC?

Mother Nature routinely throws us something extraordinary to ponder, discuss, pontificate over and, in the best cases, to digest. There are flavours from her cupboard that science simply cannot reproduce, imitate or ever have a hope of surpassing. A few spring to mind – saffron, vanilla, cinnamon, certain herbs and of course, truffles…(there are certainly more so please comment on whatever else you can add). Read more

Laughing Stock Links Wine Price To TSX

David and Cynthia Enns like to say that they wake up every morning with the goal of not living up to their winery’s name “Laughing Stock”. Things must have been running too smoothly for too long because they have decided to put their reputations on the line once again.

Their latest brave/foolish adventure is linking the price of their soon to be released Portfolio 2007 to the much-maligned TSX. If you purchase Portfolio futures at $35 per bottle (the early bird special price versus the usual $39 on release) you enter the TSX lottery.

For every 500 points the TSX drops by the time the wine is released in September 2009, Laughing Stock will give you back $1 per bottle or donate it to charity (not the banking sector) – their own little vine-ancial stimulus package.

I happened to be at the winery a couple of days ago and tasted some barrel samples of the 2007 and it is showing the usual high quality that Portfolio has come to represent. The futures go on sale Feb 17th and with this deal, there is little to lose. If the markets do continue to decline, you may well need a drink.

Ed. note: That’s Rhys and Cynthia in the photo at the 2008 Naramata Unfiltered Sommelier Bootcamp. I think they might be trying to yell at the vines or something. I remember that being a particularly inebriating day…

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Rhys Pender is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Visit his company Wine Plus+ online at www.wineplus.ca.

Chef Michael Allemeier Leaving Mission Hill

Mission Hill Family Estate has announced that chef Michael Allemeier (interview) will be departing the winery this summer on August 1st. He will be replaced as Winery Chef by Matt Batey, who is promoted from the position of Terrace Chef to lead all of the winery’s culinary programs. Read more

‘09 Vancouver Wine Festival Gears Into Action

It is now less than a couple of months away from what is definitely the BC wine event of the year – the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. I have just gone through the barrage of media releases and I have to say that the lineup of events is pretty impressive. As always, many of these events will sell out quickly (last year 10 events sold out on the first day) so heed this warning to plan your week and get in early to buy tickets. Tickets for the public events went on sale Jan 27th and Trade event tickets were made available on Feb 3rd.

At first, I must admit, I thought that it was a bit pointless having BC as the ‘theme region’ for 2009 when the wines are so readily available for tasting, but on further thought I am liking the idea more and more. The seminars the wine fest team have come up with provide some very interesting insights into what is happening in our little industry. This is a chance to both study BC wine in more depth and to conduct serious analyses of BC versus The World. Both will help BC wine evolve.

Some of the BC focused seminars that have caught my attention include: A Vertical Tasting of Oculus (after having just conducted two 10 Year Old BC wine tastings, this will be an interesting look at the ageability across a decade of wine); Osoyoos Larose Component and Vertical Tasting (ditto); Nota Bene Vertical Tasting (ditto again); Pinot-Rama! (a look at Pinot Varieties from BC and the rest of the world), BC Reds Reach for the Top (Trade Only) and Icons of BC (those hard to get wines). A full list of event descriptions is available here.

Here are some of the impressive festival numbers – 183 wineries, 1700+ wines, 15 countries represented and 61 events. The dates are March 23rd to the 29th, and after many years of practice I can guarantee you that you need to attend for at least a few days to get a real taste of the action. It certainly is not advised to attempt to taste the 700 wines in the tasting room in one evening. I’ve seen people try and its messy. You either need a very focused plan of attack, which is completely dull and boring, or you need to invest in a few nights of tasting. It will be worth it. For $89 a night, you can taste hundreds of dollars worth of wine and brush shoulders with the wine cognoscenti. For those who work in the Trade, there are some great multi-day packages available.

For tickets you can phone 604-873-3311 or visit www.playhousewinefest.com for more details. If for nothing else, the wine fest is a great networking opportunity and you are bound to learn a lot just by hanging around. After all, half of the wine world will be there.

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Rhys Pender is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Visit his company Wine Plus+ online at www.wineplus.ca.

The New Siblings Of Mission Hill’s Oculus

Mission Hill winery has been busy lately lauching its new range of wines to wine lovers across the country and I just finished a mini-tasting of them. The Legacy Series sees two new labels joining Oculus on the MH’s most premium series. The new siblings are Perpetua and Quatrain, and they are both quite impressive.

The first of these wines, 2006 Perpetua, is a single-vineyard Chardonnay from Osoyoos. It is perhaps a bit of a surprise for Mission Hill to produce a single-vineyard wine. In the past they have been proponents of blending from a number of sites for the sake of consistency. A few years ago when I asked the winemaker, John Simes, if he would be making more single-vineyard wines I think his answer was “I hope not”.

Although the vineyard name isn’t featured on the label, it does appear in the marketing materials. I’m curious as to whether or not we’ll see the Perpetua coming only from this one site year after year. There is definitely a growing trend towards exploring terroir, and it will be interesting to see if Mission Hill, with their expanded Small Lots Program, starts to produce more of these wines – a Pinot Noir or Syrah perhaps? Or maybe something from their new organically farmed vineyard in the south of the valley?

So what does it taste like? It’s another luxury Chardonnay, given all the royal treatment from vineyard to bottle. In fact, the bottle itself is fantastic, with the front label a glued-on piece of tin with the wine name stamped into it. As for what’s in it, the wine is ripe and fruit forward with lots of (good quality) oak, stone fruit and custard. It shows good texture, intensity and length with some nice lemon and minerality. It finishes a touch hot, even though it’s only 13% alcohol. The oak is nicely done, well integrated and adds some interesting toasty-nutty flavours. Bottom line: this is a pretty serious Chardonnay, one comparable to many California big wigs around the same price of $35.

The 2005 Quatrain is not too different from the Oculus with the notable exception of a chunk of Syrah added to the blend. The goal is for it to be ready for consumption earlier than the Oculus, so as to give you something to drink while you wait for the big “O” to mature for 5 or 10 years (side note: we recently tried both the ‘97 and ‘98 vintages and both were still drinking very well).

The Quatrain seems to achieve this goal well with lots of soft, ripe plum, Christmas cake and spice, quite a full body and a nice kick of peppery Syrah flavour to give it some complexity. The blend is dominated by 57% Merlot and 28% Syrah, and these varietals dominate. Overall: good quality. The price is $48.

The 2005 Oculus has also recently hit the shelves and I think this could be the best vintage yet. It was from about this vintage that the quality initiatives Mission Hill was putting into place really started to show their impact. Low yields in the vineyards, sorting the fruit and oak fermentation vats have all amped up the quality of these red wines. The ‘05 combines the usual Cabernet and Merlot flavours with much more texture and weight than in past vintages. It still has the structure to age, but will probably taste pretty nice along the way if you can’t wait for 10 years in the cellar. Price is $70.

Regardless of whether or not this is a good time to be releasing a new high-end series, kudos to Mission Hill for the commitment to quality from vineyard to cellar. The big guys like Mission Hill and Vincor often get the short end of the stick when it comes to recognition for wine quality, but they are doing as much, if not more, than anyone else to do everything they can to make the best wines possible.

It is also great to see more single-vineyard wines from the big wineries (Vincor also has some excellent Jackson-Triggs and Inniskillin single-vineyard wines) hitting the market. As wine drinkers, we can now really start to explore the BC terroir.

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Rhys Pender is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Visit his company Wine Plus+ online at www.wineplus.ca.

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