The new winery for me was Indigenous Winery - Canada's first winery owned and run by Indigenous people.
The tasting room was nicely appointed with a great range of different indigenous art displayed around the bar. We were offered a full tasting and proceeded to enjoy our wines. They were accompanied by a delicious sweet bannock bun drizzled with chocolate. Wonderful!
The 2018 Hee-Hee-Tel-Kin ($15.99 winery direct - also available at Save-On) was a tasty blend of Gewurtztraminer, Muscat Blanc, and Pinot Gris. It was a very aromatic wine with strong acidity and wonderful fruit flavours of apricot, apple, peach, and some citrus flavours of orange, grapefruit and lemon. This would be a wonderful patio sipper and would also go well with sushi, fish, and chicken. A taste of summer in a glass! I rated this Very Good.
Overall, it was a great way to spend a few hours in the afternoon. This event usually takes place the weekend before Valentine's Day in West Kelowna and involves 14 wineries and a cidery. Highly recommended if you are in the Okanagan next February!
The next wine we had was the 2018 Estate Muscat ($19.99). I am always a bit wary of Muscat as there are great ones and not so good ones. This was good - some nice citrus flavours like grapefruit and lemon along with pear and apple. It was fruity, rather than sweet, and would be great to enjoy, sitting on the patio or with lunch. Although it did not have a super long finish or a lot of complexity, it was still a Good wine.
Finally, we had the 2016 Single Vineyard Merlot ($26.99). This was not so plummy - which is a good sign when I drink Merlot. There were black fruits like blueberry, blackberry and black cherry with an earthiness as well as tobacco from oak contact. It had a fairly long finish, was complex and was balanced. A Very Good wine!
We did visit two other wineries - the first was Frind but I have already reviewed a visit there in the fall. The other was Kalala but for some reason, I didn't take any photos and my notes are a bit sketchy. Maybe because it was the last one we visited?
Our other winery is one I visited two years ago - Ciao Bella - and I thought it was worth another look! This is a small winery but super friendly. You feel like you are entering the rec room of their house and - voila! - you are in the tasting room! Did I mention that the people there were all very friendly?
Two years ago, a sweet girl was making hand drawn and coloured signs for the wines being tasted that day. Lovely! Now, according to her parents, the owners, she's a teenager, and probably wouldn't be caught dead around customers!
Their wines go fast - so there were only two available for tasting. They were accompanied by Lindt chocolates - which actually were a pretty good wine pairing!
The first wine was their 2018 Pinot Grigio ($22). Although I don't usually like the Pinot Grigio style, I actually enjoyed this wine. It wasn't overly sweet and had some nice acidity. There were flavours of lemon, pear, apple and honey. I was definitely surprised with this wine and would rate is as Good.
The other wine we tried was their 2017 Pinot Nera (Pinot Noir) ($29). This just released wine was full of red fruit flavours such as raspberry, strawberry and cherry as well as a delightful earthy flavour underlying the fruit. There was a hint of vanilla and some leather as well. Their 2016 Pinot Nero was quite the successful wine and I believe that this will win its share of awards as well. Balanced, fairly complex, intense and with medium length, I would rate this as Very Good to Outstanding. It's just been released and I am confident it will become even better with a bit of age.
The other wine we tried was their 2017 Pinot Nera (Pinot Noir) ($29). This just released wine was full of red fruit flavours such as raspberry, strawberry and cherry as well as a delightful earthy flavour underlying the fruit. There was a hint of vanilla and some leather as well. Their 2016 Pinot Nero was quite the successful wine and I believe that this will win its share of awards as well. Balanced, fairly complex, intense and with medium length, I would rate this as Very Good to Outstanding. It's just been released and I am confident it will become even better with a bit of age.
Overall, it was a great way to spend a few hours in the afternoon. This event usually takes place the weekend before Valentine's Day in West Kelowna and involves 14 wineries and a cidery. Highly recommended if you are in the Okanagan next February!
