A fun and irreverent wine blog focusing on wine from all over the world. WSET-2 w/Distinction. Also features vacation reports, thoughts about movies and anything else I want to talk about.
And if you missed my vlog where I reviewed most of the wines featured in this post, you can find that here.
Part 1 of the series featured exclusively BC rosés, this one also focuses on BC but there are a couple of French rosés thrown in for good measure. Let’s get to it, starting with the BC entries.
OK, now we’ll go across the pond for a couple of nice ones from Provence!
That ends part 2 of the series! Up next, I’ll start on the report from the wineries we visited on our Okanagan trip last week. First up, Vanessa Vineyards!
Full disclosure: I really enjoy this winery. The wines are good, the prices are reasonable, and the owners are outstandingly friendly. What’s not to like?
They are embarking on a new journey; moving from their previous home in the Similkameen Valley to Osoyoos. For this year, you can book tastings on their website using this link, which will be outdoors at the new location. They are hoping to have the new location open fully next year.
Just to clear up any confusion: Their new address is 14000 BC-97, Osoyoos. When I type that address, it comes up correctly, just up the road from Blue Sky winery and also very close to La Stella. If I type in 14000 Highway 97, Osoyoos, Mapquest gives me an address North of Penticton, which is clearly not correct.
In addition to the three wines I reviewed, they have an extensive portfolio of delicious wines, including a drop-dead gorgeous Chardonnay that sees some oak, and a big, fat, delicious Bordeaux-style blend called “Rebil”, available to Wine Club members.
Here are my full reviews of the three wines tasted in the latest video:
That’s it for today! We are hoping to visit the new locale during our upcoming trip to the Okanagan, and if we can make that happen, there will be quite a few more reviews from this winery, you can bet on it.
Up next: Part two of our Rosé series is still ongoing, shouldn’t be too much longer now. Stay tuned!!
Cheap and cheerful, or cheap and pretty crappy, depending on which wine from my latest YouTube video (link is here if you missed it) we are talking about. Here are my reviews.
And, man, did that Monastrell ever collapse into itself during the three hours it was decanting. It was drinking fine after a half hour (my score is based on that timeframe), but at the three hour mark, it was barely palatable. So, I would recommend the ol’ “pop and pour” if you happen to drink one of those.
That’s it for today! Up next: Part 2 of the Rosé reviews. It’s underway, but I still have another 7-8 to taste before wrapping it up. Stay tuned!
Admit it, you’ve got that song in your head now, dontcha?? You’re welcome.
So, this blog post is dedicated to that whole, huge world of wine far from our doors. OK not necessarily THAT far, but nothing from Canada in this report (I’ll do that separately).
This is the great stuff we’ve been drinking in the past few months that I have not yet reported on. We’ll take you down the coast to California, across the ocean to France, Germany and Italy, and finish up way down in Chile, with (spoiler alert), the best wine of the report.
Let’s get to it!
And….drumroll please……last, but certainly not least, the best of the bunch (and it’s a pretty good bunch):
That’s it for today! Not a bad bottle in the bunch, and some really special stuff.
Coming up! The BC stuff…yes, I still have lots of that to review! Stay tuned!
***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!!
As an accompaniment to my latest YouTube video which you can see here if you missed it, here are reviews of the three wines tasted in the video and a bunch of other BC rosés we’ve tasted so far this year.
Last year, I did three separate blog entries on BC rosé, there were so many to try. We’ll see if this year brings us as many, but this post certainly won’t be the only one. Let’s get to it!
That’s it for today! There will be lots more Rosé to come, including a couple that are perennial contenders for “Best-BC-Rosé-of-the-year” honors, like Quails’ Gate Lucy’s Block and Cedarcreek’s Platinum Home Block.
Further to the video I posted a couple days ago which you can watch here if you have not yet seen it, here are my reviews of the three wines from the video, as well as one bonus review of a wine we enjoyed a little while ago.
My favorite one was actually none of the three from the video; it was this one.
Now, the three from the video:
That’s it for today! Up next, part 1 of my series on Rosé, focusing on but not exclusively wine from BC. Lots of other good stuff upcoming too. Stay tuned!
For the ABC crowd out there……stop. Just stop. This isn’t 1995, and Chardonnay is generally not the big-huge butter bomb from California that started the ABC movement. You can still find those if you look, but it is so, so, so much more. There are beautiful expressions of this grape coming in all shapes and sizes, from all parts of the world. It’s inconceivable to me that there could be anyone who enjoys wine that cannot find a Chardonnay they love.
This past weekend, much good wine was enjoyed, but I am focusing this post on three Chardonnays in particular. OK, the first one isn’t a single-varietal Chardonnay, but it’s a Chard-heavy blend so that counts, dammit!
Next up, a reliable producer from South Africa, who never gets it wrong.
And, the pièce de résistance of this little blog entry, a spectacular Chardonnay from the Okanagan.
Next up: The rosé blog entry is underway (I will likely pair that with a video), and a video and blog entry regarding some very different styles of Albariño is also coming up. Stay tuned!
Last night I posted a new YouTube video that you can watch here if you have not already. Here are my full reviews of these wines.
Next up! Part 1 of my “BC Rosé” reviews, a video about Albariño, and lots of other random reviews of stuff we’ve been drinking over the past few weeks. Stay tuned!
Last week, I posted a video where I tasted all 5 vintages of Maria’s Block Riesling from Kitsch Wines in Kelowna. If you missed it, here is a link to that video.
Below are the full reviews of these wines. In the video I ranked them “2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2019” but that’s not right, the 2015 was better than the ’16 for me.
Here they are!
That’s it for today! Coming up soon, the first installment in my usually-three-part series on BC Rose, as well as a lot of other good stuff. Stay tuned!
Confessions of a Huge Wine-R 