Time to Taste a Rioja where Phoenicians Made Wine

This time we try a delicious 2018 Era Costana Rioja Reserva from Spain made with Tempranillo and perfect with a variety of food.

 

Time to Taste a Wine that Soars Above the Rest!

 

This time we try a Chardonnay from Ardèche - just west of the Rhone Valley in France. Louis Latour made this 2020 Ardèche Chardonnay to compete with the Chardonnay from Burgundy - and it does a very nice job! After checking out the video, why not book a private wine  tour of the Okanagan where there are plenty of Chardonnay wines to taste!

Time to Try - a Southern Rhone that will Blow Your Mind!

This time we try a GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre) blend from Cairrane, in the Southern Rhone. This 2021 Camille Cayran Grande Reserve is a typical blend for the area but this particular wine is a bit of a standout! 

Time to Taste the King of Wines!

 

Barolo is a region in Piedmont, Italy where they grow the notorious Nebbiolo grape - a very unique grape that looks like Pinot Noir but has a much bolder and richer taste. This time we taste a delicious 2019 Batasiolo Barolo that is a premium quality red wine. 

Hidden Gem in East Kelowna - Hidden Vines Winery

Today we visited a new winery in East Kelowna that just opened a couple weeks ago. 

We were picking up some wine at one of our favourite wineries, Nagging Doubt, and Abby, half of the couple that run the winery, told us that we should visit the new winery that just opened down the road from them.

So, off we went to Hidden Vines!

The owners are Trevor and Ally. According to Alison, the lovely French-born woman who did our tasting, Trevor is from North Carolina and had a winery there as well. His wife, Ally, is originally from Kelowna and grew up not far from the location of the winery. 

We entered the winery where there are vines, machinery and a nice quonset hut that is both the production facility and the tasting room. As my wife said, this is how many of the wineries were in the Okanagan years ago. Too many of them now are very fancy, super busy places where you stand up at the bar and the person doing the wine tasting simultaneously serves two or three other groups at the same time in what ends up being a rather impersonal experience. 

Not Hidden Vines, though! Alison is a lovely person and is the sole wine tasting professional but there really is only room for one group (or maybe two). She gave us a brief history of the winery and the owners and then offered us a tasting of their wines. 

They only have three wines available at the time but this will change as more wines are ready to  be bottled. And all three wines were well worth going for a tasting. 

First up was the 2022 Riesling ($23). This was not bone dry but neither was it cloyingly sweet. It was the perfect balance between sweet and dry Riesling. There was some delicious green and citrus fruits and I could imagine sipping this one on a summer day on the terrace. And the price was so good for Okanagan Riesling! 

Next was the 2023 Farmhouse White ($22). This is a blend of a hybrid grape (Marquette) as well as some regular white grapes including Pinot Gris and Riesling. I am usually wary of hybrid grapes but this was a tasty, rather complex. patio pounder with none of the foxy flavour that hybrid grapes sometimes have. 

Finally we tried the 2022 Pinot Noir ($30). The grapes for this wine come from East Kelowna and Naramata. This was a nice, light Pinot that had some nice fruitiness but also had some earthiness in the background. Alicia said that you can age this wine for 10 years. Pretty nice considering this is a new winery!

We were definitely impressed with the winery. There was a lovely Welsh Spaniel, Willow, that greeted us and chewed on a bone while we sampled the wine. There are also books and toys for kids to play with making this a true family friendly winey. There is a small patio that they are going to expand and you are welcome to buy a bottle and enjoy it in the shade - you can also to bring your own food. Finally, they do have a couple other things that you can purchase including eggs and garlic that Alison and her husband, Thomas, grow. 

Hidden Vine is on Steward Road, just before the entrance to Myra Canyon Park. They are currently open every day from 11am to 4:30 - and I would strongly suggest that this is a winery worth checking out.

Badda Bing! Time to Taste an Italian Barbera!

Barbera is a grape, not a region, which is unusual for Italian wines. It is grown where Nebbiolo and Dolcetto is grown, in the north of Italy. It is a wonderful food wine that really isn’t all that expensive. Find out about this wine, a 2020 Batasiolo Barbera D’Alba for just $18 in the video!

Time to Taste a Dolcetto from Italy - but it sure isn’t sweet!

This time we taste a 2022 Chionetti Dogliani San Luigi Dolcetto from Piedmont, Italy. The name means "little sweet one" but Dolcetto is definitely not sweet! It is a wonderful, food friendly wine and the one we tried did not disappoint!