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!
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.
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.
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!
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