Okanagan Wines for Calgarians, Part 3: Tapas Whites

On the heels of light summer fare in the form of Roses (Part 1) and Patio Sippers (Part 2), I'm giving you the scoop on what the Okanagan Valley has to offer in terms of what I call "Tapas Whites". Casual slightly off-dry wines that are good any time year, and have just enough acidity that they'd benefit from savoury accompaniments.  Think of a cocktail party with wine instead of cocktails...you'd serve these.

The owner & winemaker at Howling Bluff is always an engaging fellow with whom to do a tasting. His wines must be largely snapped up by restauranteurs and in-the-know oenophiles, because it's easy to miss this tiny tasting room along Naramata Bench. We've previously picked up the Summa Quies ("Striving for Perfection") white blend, but his Sauvignon Blanc ($19) is probably his most well known. And this year he HATES it.  Due to a late night fermentation tank valve mishap, the yeast died early, leaving quite a bit of residual sugar in the wine.  He dislikes it so much he cancelled all the restaurant preorders, but I like it a lot!  If you like off-dry, this is an otherwise perfect affordable wine with a bit of a fruity mineral nose, a tropical palate and a slightly lingering finish.  Very versatile, it's easier to list what this wine would NOT go well with: olives, artichokes, asparagus.

From Part 2 of this series, you'll know that I've got a penchant for Gewurztraminers from the Okanagan. In this entry, the listed Gewurzs are still off-dry, but have more complexity. This can be tough to achieve. Only this year did I realize how much it depends not just on the estate's terroir, but also the winemaker. Down the South shore of Kelowna, St. Hubertus used to be a perennial favorite of ours for sippable whites. The 2012 and 2013 vintages remained off-dry, but did not appeal to us at all. My wife dogged them until we got a satisfactory answer: they had a different winemaker for those years. For 2014 they have switched to yet another winemaker, so I'll report back in 2015.

Just down the road from St. Hubertus is Cedar Creek, which did not disappoint. Their 2013 Gewurz ($18) has the trifecta of high alcohol, low acid, and residual sugar. I know because this is one of those places where they list the chemical specs for the wines on the tasting menu :-) They achieved the trifecta by picking the fruit quite late in the season. Complexity in this wine come from a slow twelve hour pressing of the grapes, allowing the skins to impart extra aromas. A nice floral nose, with lychee predominating on the palate, and a clean finish. A good wine to complement a cheese plate. Wild Goose's 2013 Gewurz ($19) has a similar profile, despite the label saying "dry style" on it. The Wild Goose has a distinct spiciness though, and tingles slightly on the tongue.  This would go nicely with some spicy Asian small plates.

Volcanic Hills in West Kelowna may not compete with the WK big boys like Mission Hill and Quail's Gate for estate esthetics, but they do have a very large tasting room and their prices are more reasonable. Their 2012 Gewurz ($16) is fairly light for an off-dry, with stone fruit on the palate and a citrusy finish. I'm thinking a light but creamy and salty companion for this one... who's ready to make some risotto balls?!

The final Gewurz in this post is from a small upstart winery in on the Naramata Bench, called Mocojo. I'm not sure they even have a road sign yet! The 2013 Gewurz ($18) is the winery's first vintage, though the grapes have been growing here for 20 years. The prototypical spice and lychee are blunted a bit compared to other picks on this list, but its 14% alcohol and residual sugar play off the acid minerality nicely. I can see this going well with salty and gamey bites such as goat cheese canopes.

Down the road in Naramata is a winery with a road sign, but it isn't on most wine maps. Ruby Blues always has a stellar line-up of wines, and the 2013 Pinot Gris ($20) is off-dry with peach and apricot on the palate, and enough acid for a nice clean finish. Ruby Blues eschews all of the formal winery organizations, and the owner set up shop right across the street from Red Rooster, where she used to be their winemaker. To honour this healthy disregard for convention, I'd pair this with some jamon iberico... in croquetas if you want to stretch your hammy dollar.

Finally, Oliver Twist's 2012 French Embrace ($19) is a blend that includes the unusual Kerner grape. It's the closest to a dry wine on this list, but bursts with tropical fruit and has a lingering dull mineral finish. I think this would go nicely with some gravlax and creme fraiche.

Well, that's it for now wine lovers! Stay tuned for more, including the last instalment of whites from the Okanagan: whites for sit down meals.

   

Okanagan Wines for Calgarians, Part 2: Patio Whites

A natural extension of the rose piece in Part 1 is to talk about the whites that you can sip all on their own, a.k.a. the patio whites. While I'm usually all about food, these wines can simply pair with a brutal day at the office. Also, as Calgary consumer, I think "hot tub white" is a just as or more suitable a moniker for these wines 9 months of the year.

Three things my wife and I look for in an Okanagan patio sipper are 1) a huge perfumey bouquet, 2) some residual sugar, and 3) low acidity (lest I get a rumbly tummy). Gewurztraminer is a prototypical grape for a patio sipper from the OK valley, as it characteristically has a floral nose, and is left a bit sweet by winemakers. From our picks though, you might be surprised to find out that almost any white grape can yield these patio sipper traits. Now without further ado, from most off-dry to least...

Dirty Laundry is famous for cranking out patio sipping Gewurztraminers year after year, and the Summerland winery's wares are widely available in Alberta. Of the three Gewurz wines they offer, my favorite is the 2013 Woo-Woo ($20).  It seems a bit thicker and more floral than the others, with a bit less acid.

Many people love to hate Chardonnay, even unoaked ones. If there's no lobster on the table, I'm usually one of them. Deep Roots 2013 Chardonnay ($22) though breaks every Chardonnay stereotype, with a bit of spice on the tongue, a fair bit of sweetness, and aromas of tropical fruit. Although it has a fair bit of sweetness, it still has a nice clean finish, unlike many Chardonnays that have lingering buttery texture due to full secondary malolactic fermentation.

Wild Goose's Autumn Gold ($19) is aptly named, consistently winning gold medals at various and assorted competitions over the last 25(!) years. We pick one up on every trip through Okanagan Falls. A blend of Riesling, Gewurz, and Pinot Blanc, it tastes tropical much like the Deep Roots Chardonnay, and tastes about as sweet, but is thicker and more cloyingly sweet on the finish.

Go to any other tasting room in the valley and say "we were at this place with a really, really big dog...", and you'll invariably get the response "oh, you mean Desert Hills". The dog in question is a Mastiff called Ali, definitely not the delicious 2013 Gewurz ($23) from this smaller winery in Oliver. While floral and sweet like the previous wines, on this one I get distinct aromas of stone fruits like apricots and peaches. There is a bit of a tingly acid punch on the finish with this one, for those really hot days when that constitutes "refreshing".

Last time we were at La Frenz on Naramata Bench, we were accosted by other patrons in the parking lot for buying the last bottle of 2013 Alexandria ($20) white blend. This year we were just lucky that they hadn't sold out by the August long weekend. Since they were down to the last couple of cases, they weren't tasting this year's, but like the Autumn Gold it's quite consistent year to year. Thick, with a big floral nose, honey and raisin on the palate. A nice patio wine, but I've also had this with a cheese fondue for apres ski. #nomnomnom

8th Generation in Summerland is a perennial favorite of ours, and the fact that this and some other wineries recognize us was a sign to take a 2013 BC wine hiatus (went to Walla Walla, WA & Alexander Valley, CA instead). Some years we get the Syrah (good for cellaring) or the Pinot Meunier rose, but this year we picked up the 2012 Riesling. Almost colourless (is there any in the glass to the right?), it's off-dry (1) with more acidity than the other wines mentioned here, and a clean finish. You could pair this with some scallops seared in a nice brown butter.

Straddling the patio sipper/pair with food divide even more is a trio of wines to round out this post.  First, Little Straw's 2012 Tapestry ($17) is a blend of five grapes with Gewurz predominating. It has the Gewurz nose, is fruity and off-dry, but has a hint of woody complexity on the palate that makes it go nice with savoury white meats like a spit roasted chicken, or a tomato based pasta sauce (acid vs. sweet). You can drink it after a year, but I've cellared it for up to four years and it just got better.

The second straddling sipper is Silk Scarf's 2013 Ensemble Blanc ($21).  It's hard to say enough nice things about this small Summerland winery. Last time we bought their unique saignee Viognier varietal, but this year that wine and another white were sold out already. It's also the only winery we went to that suggested tasting red wines before white wines (which I agree with wholeheartedly).  Like the Tapestry, the Ensemble has the patio sipper traits, but is edging towards dry, with more structure including a balance of minerality, stone fruit and a hint of green apple tartness. Fish's natural partner.

Finally, La Stella makes another appearance (see Part 1) with their Piedmont style 2013 Moscato d'Osoyoos ($20). This ever so slightly effervescent off-dry white comes in a 500mL format, so you don't have to feel guilty about polishing off a whole bottle so quickly :-) It's pretty sweet, but I've left until last because it really would stand up to food well. Huge orange blossom nose, with a bit of spice and only a slightly lingering finish, it would be a great accompaniment to a Pad Thai or a spicy curry.

Well, that's it for now...sweet dreams, oenophiles. Stay tuned for part 3 of Okanagan Wines for Calgarians: Tapas Whites.

Okanagan Wines for Calgarians, Part 1: Patio Rosés

Maybe my wife and I have a wine problem. On a 2012 visit to the Okanagan wine country, we made it to 70 different wineries. This time we are "only" able to make it to 60 (not including a few rejects that seemed too pretentious or unwarrantedly pricey). Quite a lot has changed in the last two years, and it would be a shame not to share our finds with you, dear readers!

Despite our our best collective efforts at meteorological amnesia, Calgary has only a few weeks hot enough demand a nice blush wine, so I'm making this first post timely and brief.

The good news is that there are tons of nice rosés in the Okanagan. Best of all, they are usually one of the cheapest wines in a tasting room. Every winemaker worth their salt is afraid of making an Arbour Mist. Therefore all of the rosés in the Okanagan taste pretty dry and crisp, but are still sippable, with strawberry and rhubarb predominating. Pick any small-to-medium sized Okanagan winery, and you can wager it has a nice rosé (e.g. Hillside, Tantalus, Hidden Chapel). I'll just highlight a quartet of rosés that are particularly noteworthy for their variation from the norm.

Deep Roots is a new winery on the Naramata Bench, a small, real family affair, where the owner's son is the winemaker. They've been growing top notch grapes for other wineries for twenty years, and it shows: we loved almost all of their wines. The rosé ($19) has lots of strawberry, a bit of rhubarb, and some pomegranate. There isn't much acid, but the sweetness is tempered by 14% alcohol, quite high for a rosé. A definite patio sipper, maybe with some nice salty charcuterie...you know, to maintain your electrolytes.

Nichols is an established winery at the very end of the Naramata Bench, and yes, it's worth the drive. The Nichols 2013 Pinot Gris ($22) was left on the skins for 36 hours to give it some color, making it a quasi-blush. It has your typical rhubarb, with a touch of lemon, but also a pleasant bit of yeasty bread flavour (due to the winemaker purposefully stirring the yeast up during fermentation). Believe it or not, some bars in BC have this wine on tap!  I could see it pairing nicely with pretzels and german pork sausages.

La Stella, with casual patio-tasting on a beautiful property on the outskirts of Osoyoos, is always a must visit for us. They pick the grapes in small bins, sort them by hand, and ferment in small batches...and it shows in every product. La Stellina (a steal at $23) is a serious wine, the kind you'd bring home to meet mother. Hints of berry fruit on the nose, just the right amount of sour rhubarb, and a smooth rose petal finish that would make it go nicely on a hot day on the patio with some refined Middle Eastern mezze.

C.C. Jentsch Cellars opened last year South of Oliver, though they've been growing grapes for at least ten years, and fruit for close to a century. The Dance ($18) is a "rosé for men". A bit of rhubarb, but LOTS of red stone fruit and tropical notes, with just the right tinge of sweetness that plays off the elevated 13.9% alcohol. If you're looking for a rare treat, they are also selling a 1998 estate cherry vinegar. Visions of gazpacho are running through my head right now.

Stay tuned for part 2: hot tub whites!