A typical warm weather scene in the Okanagan
We are well into the heat of summer. Despite Covid19, there are people at the beach (mostly socially distancing), people at outdoor restaurants (especially those where the servers wear masks) and lots of people walking and enjoying the sunshine.
When it's really hot - and I mean 35 or 36 degrees - it is just too darned hot for red wine. Best to slap something on the barbecue and have a chilled rosé or a white.
This blog (and I know it's been a while - been busy!) I thought I'd look at two wines that my friend Keith and I tasted at this summer.
The first was a 2019 Poplar Grove Pinot Gris ($19.99). Now, I love Poplar Grove. It is in Penticton, just as you leave the Naramata Bench. They have an amazing restaurant there (the Vanilla Pod is now called the Restaurant at Poplar Grove), a killer good rosé, and a view that is wonderful. It was time to try something else from there.
Pinot Gris is a fairly popular grape in the Okanagan and it can have a different taste, depending on the terroir. Here are the tasting notes for this refreshing wine:
Appearance - clear, pale, lemon
Nose - medium plus intensity, clean, aromas of grapefruit, lemon, apple, pear, peach, honeysuckle, vanilla and, perhaps, butter
Palate - medium plus intensity, off dry, medium plus acidity, medium alcohol, medium body, medium plus finish, and flavours of peach, pear, apricot, vanilla, butter and tropical fruit
This wine was fairly balanced (a bit too much vanilla on the palate), had good length, and fairly good complexity. I would drink this now and this would be equally happy with some food or on its own on the patio. Overall, I rated this as Very Good.
My wife and I are watching an Italian detective series called Montalbano - there are something like 30 episodes filmed over 20 plus years. The reason I mention this is because it is filmed in Sicily. Sicily looks hot so you would think they would know something about making wine for hot weather so we tried one.
The Crudo Catarratto Zibibbio (made from Catarratto Bianco and Zibibbio grapes - right now on sale for $16.49 at the BCL) was an amazing looking bottle with a giant octopus on the label. Marks for creativity!
Appearance - clear, pale, lemon
Nose - clean, medium intensity, honeysuckle, apple, pear drop, lemon peach, vanilla, apricot
Palate - pronounced intensity, dry, medium plus acidity, medium alcohol, medium body, medium length, and citrus flavours like lemon, and grapefruit as well as pale, pear, and apricot
This wine had such a complex nose so it was a bit disappointing that it had a rather simple set of flavours on the palate. It was fairly balanced, had an OK length, had good complexity and amazing intensity of flavours, This is a drink now wine that is not suitable for ageing, This also really needs to have some food - it elevates it from a humdrum wine to one that is quite enjoyable.
I would rate this wine at a hair about Good - maybe Good plus. At the current sale price, I think I'll pick up a few bottles tomorrow!
Now, back to the deck!
Cheers!
