Black Sage, Viognier, 2017, Okanagan Valley, Canada
Can you get a bad bottle of Canadian wine? Probably but not this one because this is excellent. A little heavier in texture to most white wines this has plenty to taste, apple, melon, hints of citrus and honey. It’s dry and with balanced acidity works well with fish or chicken dishes. At £15 a bottle it’s reasonable value too.
Black Sage Vineyard, Viognier, 2017, Okanagan Valley, Canada
Canadian wine is generally excellent and a lot of the time exceptional, which this Viognier from Black Sage Vineyard in the Okanagan Valley, Canada is. This us a dry, crisp wine. The aromas are clean minerals, citrus and hints of peach these follow through into the taste with lime.
This is a clean wine that has subtle flavours that are delightful, playful and long enough for you to say ooohhh.
Mission Hill in the Okanagan Valley, Canada is a premium winery by any standard and this Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a classy wine. Its not a full on, ball breaking Cab Sauv though.
At 9 years old this has aged well, the aromas and flavours a restrained, more than subtle, like a rock climber scaling a cliff face and each hand or foot exactly where it should be. There’s pepper, herbal, blackcurrant and an underlying smokey note on the nose and additional sour cherry, plum and black olive with hints of an earthy undertone. Its a mid bodied wine, pretty smooth but with tannins in there and very dry. Its best drunk now as I can see the flavours and aromas weaken over time.
At £15 a bottle its good value
Mission Hill, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 2011, Okanagan Valley, Canada
Burrowing Owl in the Okanagan Valley have a reputation of excellent wines and this Cab Franc underlines this.
Like many Cab Francs is dry, fairly acidic with a decent hit of tannins and a little jammy in taste.
This is a bold wine with aromas and flavours of blackberry, black cherry, plums and chocolate undernotes. Spice, tobacco, oak and earthy flavours make this an interesting wine, very good on its own, possibly excellent with food, esp lamb kebabs and BBQ ribs.
As with most canadian wines its not cheap at approx £30 a bottle.
Burrowing Owl, Cabernet Franc, 2012, Okanagan Valley, Canada
Rich in colour and aroma. The texture is heavy, thick but works with the richness that is first apparent on the first smell. Aroma and flavours of ripe citrus and oak overtones make this quite heavy in comparison to most commercial Chardonnays out there. That said it’s perfect with a roast turkey and all the trimmings.
At £35 a bottle it’s not cheap, is it worth it? Maybe but I think it’s worth trying and making your own mind up.
Quails Gate, Chardonnay 2013, Okanagan valley, Canada