***SPOILER ALERT*** This post started out being about this one wine, but before I got to post it last night, we enjoyed something that was EVER BETTER. I’ve left the original post intact, and added on to the bottom.
I first tasted this wine in 2013. That seems like a lifetime ago; so long ago that I was rating wine on a 10-point scale. It wasn’t until later that I moved to the more-traditionally 100-point rankings. At the time I gave this wine 9.5/10, which was more than likely a tie for the highest score I ever gave ANYTHING during my /10 days.
Last night on #BCWINECHAT, someone was asking about the best wineries in the Fraser Valley, and I mentioned that my favorite was Blackwood Lane, specifically for their high-end reds. This bottle was $99.99 when I bought it in 2013, and I believe the current vintage (which is 2013) sells for over $150 now. It’s a big ticket for a BC wine, and even more-so for a wine from the Fraser Valley.
And OMG it’s worth every penny.
Today, a prominent BC wine judge and writer who’s opinion I value mentioned to me that he had opened this very bottle about a month ago and although he thought it was still good, it wasn’t as good as it had been previously. He felt it had passed it’s peak a bit. So, it seemed like I’d been waiting for a good reason to open this beauty, and he had just given it to me!
Thankfully, my bottle had not (IMHO) passed it’s peak. It’s one of the best bottles of BC wine I have ever had. It’s going on my “best of the best” list (it was actually already there, based on the original 9.5/10 rating) officially now, and is tied with a handful of other top BC reds with the highest score I have ever awarded to a BC red wine. Ironically, the 2009 version of this wine, of which I have a bottle in my cellar, is also on the same list.
***UPDATE***
So, last night, we cracked open this incredible bottle of grape juice. At 22 years old, it could go to Vegas, bet all it’s money on Red 7, and then have to stay in a friend’s hotel room because it can’t afford it’s own room. Not that I would know anything about that particular confluence of events or anything.
This bottle came from a parcel I won at this year’s Vancouver International Wine Festival Bacchanalia auction. Due to the pandemic, the 2021 Festival was cancelled, and their annual Bacchanalia gala and auction went virtual. For $880 (including tax), I won 6 bottles of very well aged Chilean wine. This was the first one we have opened.
Wow. Just. Wow.
The only review I can find of this online was from Wine Enthusiast who scored it 90 points, way back in 2002. Let me tell you, the nineteen years since have made QUITE a difference. My wife and I were blown away. Not only is the fruit still singing, it was in a decanter for about four hours and it didn’t lose it’s edge. This bottle might not improve any further, but I believe it would still be drinking well in another decade.
Hoping that at least a couple of the other bottles from that parcel are as good as this one!
That’s a pretty good 1-2 punch of wine over the course of two days!!
Confessions of a Huge Wine-R 