Tantalus Old Vines Riesling 2005

I was away on a business trip in Kelowna last week. One of the things I wanted to accomplish during the very short trip was getting to a wine store. I wanted to see whether the BC wine selections in wine country are as picked over as the city stores have been this winter. Thank goodness wine stores are open late, or I never would have made it on my whirlwind trip.

I visited Waterfront Wines. Their selection of BC wines wasn't huge, but I picked up two bottled that were highly recommended. The first was Tantalus Old Vines Riesling 2005. Waterfront's website quotes these notes:

Planted in 1978, the low yielding vines of this Old Vines Riesling provide a richness and depth of character rarely seen in Canada, let alone BC. The nose is vibrant and fresh with aromas of peach, green apple skin, floral spice and hints of mineral, while the palate is quite dry and crisp, showing peach and granny smith apple flavours, a lime zest note, and hints of mineral and mint on the finish. Of all of BC’s Rieslings, this may have the best ageing potential, given the balance between fruit and alcohol, with high acidity. – Outstanding! This is a great comparison with some of the finest wines form the Clare Valley. This is a great accomplishment from a winery ranked by Jancis Robinson to have produced one of the top 5 wines of 2006.

My assessment: not impressed. For me, this wine was just a punch of sweetness followed by a lot of acid, and with no particular flavours discernible. Could be I'm not much of a Riesling girl, or maybe I just wasn't in good palate that day. Who knows? Probably I just got a bad bottle.

Later this week Annie and I are going to tuck into the second highly recommended bottle from Waterfront, and we'll see how that goes. I'm looking forward to it: the woman nearly drooled when she was talking about it.

And then next month -- actual Okanagan winery visits! I'm taking three days of vacation and will come back with news and photos.

BC wines, we're waiting for you

This winter we've seen so much BC wine bought up and out of stock. The shelves have been looking bare and boring. But ah, the end is in sight! I just got this email from the BC Wine Guys mailing list:

Well it has been a long winter of just about everything going out of stock and this past week we received the first 2006 white from Hester Creek. Apparently it is a ripe vintage and bumper crop but with such a void to fill in the market it will be interesting to see if product availability actually improves. (This is a Pinot Blanc from Hester Creek -- not one of my favourite varietals.)

The email also says that Mission Hill's Pinot Noir 2005 has just been released. This is good news -- their Pinot Noir is a great deal and is usually delicious.

I'm heading to wine country this afternoon on my business trip. Unfortunately my work has nothing to do with wine, and I won't get out to any wineries this time. I'll be trying to get to a store, though, and pick up a few goodies.

Oh, hey, that's not quite true. My work does have something to do with wine, in a peripheral way -- vines need water, and the meeting I'm attending is about water management in the Okanagan Valley. It's a dry ecosystem, and though they have lovely big lakes water is a huge issue there. The local economy is built on water -- tourism and agriculture -- so they're trying to find a way not to drink the lakes dry.

Blasted Church Winery

One of my favourite BC wineries is Blasted Church. Even if their wines weren't heaven, I'd love them just for their name. It comes from local history -- an old wooden church that was quickly demolished by dynamite, then relocated and rebuilt with the old boards blasted free of nails.

And then there's their labels:



Adorable. I have to admit I'm shallow enough to enjoy an appealing label.

Blasted Church makes one of my very favourite Gewurztraminers -- certainly the best new world offering I've ever tasted. Not too sweet, with a delicate balance of acidity, and a wonderful rich aroma. Spice and sweet fruits all the way down. Mmmm.

There hasn't been any Blasted Church in the stores for a while; they sold out early this year. But soon they'll be available again, maybe in about a month.