Time to Taste a Mencía from Galicia in Northwest Spain

This time we blind taste a 2019 Gaba Do Xil Tinto made with Mencía - a red grape that is tasty but not as powerful as a lot of Spanish reds. This food friendly, relaxed Spanish wine is not super bold but very nice to drink with a snack or meal!

Waldhof Family Estate: Old Vines, New Wines

There are plenty of wineries in the Okanagan, but every now and then you come across one that feels a little different. Waldhof Family Estate Winery is one of those.

The Waldhof story goes back much further than the winery itself. The vineyard property on Lakeshore Road in Kelowna was first planted to grapes almost 100 years ago making it one of the older vineyard sites in the Okanagan. Leo and Barb came to Kelowna from Switzerland in 1984 and eventually bought the property. For many years they concentrated on growing grapes and selling them to other wineries before deciding to make wine themselves.

St. Hubertus opened in 1992 (in fact, I bought a couple big buckets of grapes, twigs, and juice from there in the late 90s to make wine in my basement) and had a good run as a winery until Leo's brother sold the winery (but not the vines) to Anthony von Mandl's (owner of Mission Hill) wine portfolio in 2024

Leo and children, Reto and Michelle, established Waldhof Family Estate Winery in 2024, continuing a family connection to both farming and winemaking that has its roots in Switzerland.

That Swiss connection is more than just part of the family history. It shows up in the vineyard, too. Waldhof grows some varieties that are familiar in the Okanagan, including Pinot Noir, Riesling and Pinot Blanc, but there are also some less common names on the list: Chasselas, Gamay Noir, Pinot Meunier and Maréchal Foch. More recently, they've added varieties such as Räuschling, Heida and Lemberger.

It's an interesting collection of grapes, and one that makes Waldhof worth paying attention to. Rather than simply following the usual Okanagan formula, the family seems quite happy to experiment and see what works on their site.

The vineyard is certified organic, and the approach is very much about working with the land rather than trying to overpower it. A portion of the property has been left in its natural state, providing habitat for birds and other wildlife. And, of course, there is the view: the vineyard sits above Lakeshore Road with a pretty spectacular panorama across Okanagan Lake.

Waldhof is still a relatively small, family-run operation, and that is part of its appeal. The wines are made from grapes grown right there on the property, and there is a sense that this is a family continuing to figure out what their land can do rather than trying to fit it into a predetermined Okanagan mould.

I recently tasted several of the Waldhof wines, and I was particularly interested to see how these somewhat less-common varieties translate into the glass. Here are my impressions.

2025 Chasselas ($22) - This wine is almost bone dry at 0.6 g/L of sugar. It tastes delicious - but thank goodness it's only 10.7% alcohol as it goes down extremely easy! Slightly floral, there were tastes of green apple, a bit of citrus and some stone fruit as well as some minerality and acidity. This was enjoyable to drink on their lovely patio but would also pair with spicy or Asian food. 

2025 Riesling ($23) - This wine is technically off dry at 6 g/L of sugar but it really tastes like a dry Riesling. I detected a very faint hint of petrol on the nose and on the palate. There was definitely lemon, lime, and green apple in this wine as well as some flintiness and strong acidity. I think you could put this one away for a year and it would develop nicely.

2025 Gamay Noir Rosé ($23) - This was another dry wine that I loved. It has some delicate aromas of red fruit, grapefruit, and sour cherries. At 11.5%, you could enjoy this wine on the patio or have it with salmon, chicken or a charcuterie board. My wife felt that this could very well be next year's go-to rosé!

2024 Marêchal Foch ($25) - Foch is not my favourite grape - it is a hybrid between Goldriesling and an American grape. That said, this was one of the better Foch wines that I have tasted - flavours of dark fruits and bitter chocolate,  some acidity and tannins, and definitely some earthiness. 

2025 Pinot Noir - We were fortunate enough to try two wines that had just - and I mean in the last few days - been bottled. The first was the Pinot - there was some herbaceousness and earthiness, but I didn't find it overpowering and there was certainly some fruit on the wine. This one will have to wait until Christmas to fully appreciate. 

2025 Gamay Noir - I love Gamay Noir and I'm very excited about this one. It, too, has just been bottled but I could taste the fruit on it as well as the ... potential! There was some red fruit on the palate with good acidity, low tannins, and a bit of spice. This will also have to wait until Christmas - and I can't wait!

What I find particularly interesting about Waldhof is that it doesn't seem to be trying to be just another Okanagan winery. There is a lot of history here, but Reto and Michelle are clearly looking forward rather than simply preserving the past. The combination of old vines, organic farming and some decidedly less-common grape varieties makes this a winery worth watching. The Chasselas and Gamay Noir Rosé were my standouts from the wines that are currently available, while the newly bottled Pinot Noir and Gamay Noir have me particularly curious about what comes next. I may have to wait until Christmas to find out—but fortunately, I have three bottles of the Gamay tucked away for the occasion!

Time to Taste an Albariño from Catalonia, Spain!

 

Today we're drinking an Albariño — but there's an interesting twist. This 2024 Raimat Albariño doesn't come from the cool, Atlantic-influenced coastal vineyards of Galicia, in northwestern Spain, where we usually expect to find this grape. Instead, it comes from Costers del Segre, in Catalonia, in northeastern Spain.

That makes this wine an interesting experiment in what happens when the same grape is grown in a very different environment. Galicia's Albariño vineyards are strongly influenced by the Atlantic: the climate is relatively cool, humid and maritime, and the grape produces wines that are typically crisp, aromatic and marked by bright acidity, often with citrus, green apple, peach and sometimes a distinctive saline or mineral character.

Costers del Segre is almost the opposite. The vineyards around Raimat are hot, dry and distinctly continental, with hot summers, cold winters and relatively little rainfall. Raimat's vineyards sit on the Lleida plain, where the combination of sunshine, low humidity and large differences between daytime and nighttime temperatures can give the grapes plenty of time to ripen while helping preserve acidity.

And Raimat is no ordinary winery. The estate is one of the best-known names in Costers del Segre and has a long history of experimenting with varieties and sustainable viticulture. Its vineyards are located on a vast estate surrounded by the dry landscape of inland Catalonia — a far cry from the lush, green hills of Galicia.

So what happens when you take Albariño out of its traditional Atlantic home and put it somewhere considerably hotter and drier?

That's what we're tasting for today. Rather than assuming this will taste like a classic Galician Albariño, we're interested in seeing how the grape and the place interact. The 2024 vintage should give us plenty of the fresh, aromatic character we associate with Albariño, but the warmer continental climate can also bring riper fruit and a somewhat different texture and balance.

In other words, this isn't just a bottle of Albariño. It's a chance to taste how much of a wine's personality comes from the grape itself — and how much comes from where that grape is grown.

Let's see what Raimat's Catalan version has to say for itself. Watch the video!

Time to Taste a "Drink Now" Bordeaux Blend - At a Very Nice Price!

 

This time we blind taste a 2020 Chateau Nicot Bordeaux Blend from France. Six years after harvest, this wine is ready to go - but how does it taste? Check out the video!

Time to Taste - a blind tasting of an Australian Viognier

 

This time we blind taste an Australian Viognier - a 2023 Yalumba  Y Series VIognier - fruity, silky, creamy and inexpensive. Is it worth it? Watch the video!

Time to Taste an Unoaked Chilean Viognier .. at a very nice price!

 

This Cono Sur Bicicleta Viognier is a nice "drink now" wine at a fantastic price. But is it tasty? Check out the video! 

Time to Taste a Big Bottle of Value Priced Rosé - but is it worth it?

 

This time we taste a Coté Mas Aurore Rosé from Languedoc, Southern France. This wine comes in a big 1 litre bottle, has a beautiful dawn sky colour and is priced very competitively - but is it good? Watch and find out!