Vancouver Wine Festival 2019

Wine from the festival!

This year I went to my second Vancouver International Wine Festival. Last year was my first year and, armed with the knowledge I had gleaned from having taken my WSET Level 2, I thoroughly enjoyed the event. 

This year, with the news that I had passed my level 3 fresh in my mind, I had another wonderful experience.

One of the unexpected pleasures last year was bumping into some of my fraternity brothers from UBC (almost 40 years later) - including Phil, who I spent four months with travelling around the US back in 1982 (precise details elude me as the entire trip is shrouded in a haze of comradery, frat parties and alcohol). This year, we all met up at Al Porto in Gastown for a pasta dinner, and a chance to catch up, before wandering over to the festival. 

Once we arrived at the festival, we bumped into even more people I knew including first, yet another fraternity brother and his wife, a sorority sister from years ago, second, the son of our close neighbours as well as his friends and girlfriend (who, incidentally, also has her WSET Level 3), and, third, two of the people from my WSET 3 course that were in my tasting group (and who also successfully completed Level 3)!

The Wine Festival has a diverse and interesting crowd. Some of the people  sip, swirl and then spit each glass. Others just slurp back every wine they sample, a sure recipe for wobbly legs and sore heads. I take the middle path - swirl, sip, drink a bit, and then dump the rest. I do feel a little relaxed by the end of the night but am still able to identify and process the different tastes and aromas of the wines. 

The featured wine region this year was California. We spent some time in Napa almost eight years ago and enjoyed their bold, flavourful wines. Unfortunately, we did not end up purchasing a lot of California wine at this year’s festival as some of the wines we tasted (including the St. Supery 2014 Napa Valley Estate Elu) were not available in the wine shop while others were very pricey (such as the Stag’s Leap Artemis at $85). We did end up with two that we were very happy with.

 

The first was the Benziger 2015 Cab ($25.49). While having dinner and trading notes before the festival, Dave, another one of my fraternity brothers, showed me his notes on this wine and I am very glad that I visited their booth. This wine is a steal for the price. A fantastic, black fruit, aged and rich Cab that is going to be wonderful to drink. I would enjoy this one on its own, or with a rich meal.

We visited Hess a few years ago in Napa and I’ve always enjoyed their wines. The Hess 2015 Allomi Cab Sauv ($38.99)  was probably our favourite of the evening. I’m not sure why we didn’t buy more! It had rich black fruit including black currants and blackberry as well as a nice long finish, with a smoothness that is so California!

Just a little side note - you may wonder why we bought so many different wines. In all, we ended up with 17 bottles (some we bought two of) at a little over $500. This is not a common occurrence (believe me!). However, most of the wines that we bought are not usually available at the BC Liquor store. Even the ones from the Okanagan were only available for the festival or direct from the winery.  You might not find these at the BC Liquor Store but you may see them at Everything Wine or one of the many private liquor stores.

Moving up the coast, we ended up in the Willamette (rhymes with damn it) Valley in Oregon. We really enjoyed our visit there last year and loved the Domaine Serene Evenstad Pinot Noir we bought - although the $75 US price tag was a bit steep. Happily, we found the Elk Cove 2016  Pinot Noir ($43.99). The Willamette Valley style of Pinot Noir that we have grown to love is a fruity but minerally wine. Some of the Pinot Noir that we tried at the festival was almost too dry or too smoky or lacked fruit but this one had punchy fruit and was not overly austere. There were two other wines made by this producer that were specialty Pinot Noir but their price point was significantly higher.

Who says you can’t have reruns? Closer to home was the Wines of Substance K Vintners 2015 Motor City Kitty ($52.99) from Walla Walla, Washington). We had this one last year at the wine festival and ended up making an eight hour detour on the way back from Las Vegas a few weeks later so that we could buy this wine at the winery. Not only was this on sale this year but we found out that this will now be available at the BC Liquor store! Really enjoyed Motor City Kitty  (oh, that's what MCK stands for!) as it is a very tasty and bold Washington State Syrah.

We ended up with a few wines from right here in BC. That’s because a lot of the smaller wineries only sell their wines at the winery or only produce a small amount of wine each year. 

The first wine we tried was the Time 2017 White Meritage ($22.99) in Penticton. This one was a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon and was one of the recommendations that Gismondi wrote about in the newspaper. Interestingly, when we were having dinner before the festival, Dave was telling me how he had spent time in a wine course in the 80s that was taught by Anthony Gismondi before he became famous! This white Meritage was delicious with tastes of pear and apple and had a nice acidity.

The Wild Goose 2017 Gewürztraminer ($19.99) was also another Gismondi recommendation and it is a fresh, spicy and slightly off dry wine that cries out for some tasty white meat, or fish…. or just a nice sunny patio! Their winery is located in Okanagan Falls. 

Roussanne is a grape that I’ve always wanted to buy as I have only tasted it in my WSET course - until now! I was excited to have the Lake Breeze 2017 Roussanne ($22.49) as it did not disappoint. Although not that acidic it had very nice stone fruit and apple flavours. Looking forward to having this accompany some tasty dish at home like chicken, pork or even salmon. This winery is also located in Naramata. 

My wife absolutely loves 8th Generation Winery and is a big Riesling fan. Their 8th Generation 2018 Riesling ($19.99) was crisp and a touch off dry. It would be a wonderful accompaniment to spicy foods or barbecued white meats.

Going a little more international, we went over the Uraguay’s lone participant. The Garzon 2016 Tannat $24.49 was another suggestion from Gismondi. I love Tannat and its super strong, tannic nature. Looking forward to popping this one with something really rich or fatty or, hopefully, both!

Italy is home to more grapes than anywhere else in the world. How many? Over 350 "authorized" varieties and another 500 documented varieties. I was keenly aware of that when I tried the Savian Lison Pramaggiore Refosco ($18.49). This  organic wine was a very interesting one because it was made from the Refosco grape which I have never had before. It had a taste of mostly red fruits like red cherry and raspberry, but also had some hints of dark fruit as well. An easy drinking wine, this would be great for pizza or pasta. Nice price, too!

Who doesn’t like Prosecco? Mionetto had four different Proseccos and we got to try them all. The Mionetto Valdobbiadene Prosseco ($22.99) was my favourite because of its crispness and hint of fruitiness with an overall dryness to the bubbles. This wine is a great sparkler that would go with just about anything!

The Italian wine with the most amount of body that I bought was the Nerube 2016 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Riserva ($30.99). This wine, which is made from the Montepulciano grape, is very nice and would be a great one to bring to an Italian restaurant when you want to have a nice red wine to accompany your meal. Both red fruits and black fruits are evident along with some spice! It’s not one to age but it is one to enjoy!

I still think that France is one of my favourite - if not my very favourite - areas for wine in the world. There weren’t a ton of producers from France but I still managed to find some stunning wines.

The Haut Medoc is located on the Left Bank of the Gironde Estuary in Bordeaux - think Cab Sauv dominate with Merlot and Cab Franc. The Medoc is the general wine area with the Haut Medoc being the better part of that region. The 2015 Chateau Lachesnay ($31.99) was one of the four wines that we tasted from Ulysse Cazabonne (also a great year).  The company owns at least four châteaux and we had a chance to talk to the winemaker of this particular wine (notice the winemaker's signature on the bottle!). Although it was not a wine that is a cru , it was still very tasty and the price was quite good. The other wines that we tasted were also excellent but were a bit pricey. This one was a touch austere with lovely dark fruit flavours and aromas and a beautiful long finish. Probably a special occasion wine that could stand a few years ageing. 

Finally, the Chateau Pesquié 2016 Cote du Ventoux Artemia ($48.99) was a Syrah and Grenache blend. It was delicious with blackberry, black cherry, and other black fruits on the nose and on the palate. There was also some vanilla, tobacco, and even a hint of chocolate. Another excellent French wine that might deserve a special occasion or at least a special dinner. 

About to unbox our festival shipment!

Our wine ordered (the BC Liquor store will box and ship your order to your local liquor store for free - ours arrived less than a week later), my wife and I stumbled back to our hotel after having a late night snack along the way. We reflected, not only on the great wines that we had sampled, but also on the interesting mix of people, the friends that we had seen the we knew, and the conversations with the producers and winemakers. 

An extraordinary event. I already can’t wait until next year!

Cheers!

Final Thoughts Before the Big WSET3 Exam - Wines from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa - WSET 3.12, 13 and 14

Taking a Beaujolais Nouveau break between studying.

I've been so busy studying the last few weeks that I'm a bit behind. My exam is on Wednesday - two blind tastings, 50 multiple choice, and 4 essay questions.

And, no, I don't think I'm ready.

But we shall see, soon enough!

The last two weeks were a bit of a whirlwind of mock blind tastings, mock questions and looking at a variety of wines. Last week was Port, Sherry and Fortified Muscats while the week before was Sparkling. They were interesting and I did try some good wines but we tended to rush the actual tastings too much to allow for time to practice. I may cover some of those wines down the road but not right now.

This entry, I want to cover the last actual wine class - Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

But first... we tried a simple red for the blind tasting that night - a 2018 Georges Du Boeuf Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau ($20). I have to say that I really did enjoy this slurping wine made from Gamay. It was great to taste the bubble gum, cinnamon, and banana that is characteristic of carbonic fermentation - that's when the fermentation vessel is kept oxygen free and the grapes start to ferment from their insides. They split open and then the whole mess is pressed and continues to ferment until ready. Tannins? Nope! Structure? Nope! Super easy drinking? Yup!

South Africa has some very hot climates but thanks to cooling currents from the ocean and higher altitudes, they also have a lot of wine production. One of the biggest grapes is Chenin Blanc which can be sweet or dry. The one we tried was a 2017 Cape of Good Hope Van Lill and Visser Chenin Blanc ($36). This youthful wine (and that was tricky - I thought it might age) had notes of grass, lemon, vanilla, toast an green apple. It was a dry wine with a long finish and high acid (characteristic of Chenin Blancs) and was rated as Very Good.

The other South African wine we had was their signature grape, Pinotage. Someone, a bunch of years ago, decide that, since it was too hot for Pinot Noir in South Africa, they should cross it with a hardier grape - say, Cinsault (also called Hermitage in South Africa).  They came up with what some call a franken-wine, Pinotage. It's got a bad rap - as many don't have the best taste - however, I have tasted a wonderful one in the Okanagan made my Stoneboat - but that's another story. The one we tried was a 2016 The Grinder Pinotage ($16). I would rather have another bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau, thanks. This did have a lot of aromas - cranberry, cherry, chocolate, coffee, gamey - and on the palate the coffee and blueberry tastes were rather intense. With high alcohol, it had medium acid, intensity, and body with a pretty short finish. I didn't mind it so much during my WSET 2 but now, it was just Acceptable.

A wine down under from a land down under.

Actually, Australia produces scads of wine and most of it is from the South East part. It's a hot country but there are lots of cool breezes to moderate the areas that grow wines that need moderating. Our first wine from Australia was a 2014 Mitchell Clare Valley Riesling. On the nose, it was, "WOW PETROL!" There was also rubber, pear, green apple and wet stone but I had a hard time getting past that petrol smell. On the palate, it was dry like most Australian Rieslings and had apple and spice - probably from lees stirring - as well as high acid, high alcohol, a medium finish, and a pronounced intensity of flavours. That petrol smell is a great indication that this is a developing wine tat could age a long time. It was rated as Very Good.

We had a Very Good Hunter Valley Semillon - which is an interesting wine. It is a rather neutral wine in its youth but develops amazing flavours of toast, nuts and honey. The one we had was a 2011 Tyrrell's Vat 1 ($68). I struggled with the notes on this - but there were notes of grapefruit, peach and brioche as well as some toast and honey. It had medium alcohol and medium plus intensity on the palate as well as high alcohol and a fairly strong finish. This wine could age for 10, 20, even 30 more years!

I do like a tasty Cab Sauv, as you may or may not have noticed from my blog. I love Bordeaux wines and I love Meritage blends from the Okanagan and I love big California Cab Sauvs. Well, add to that ones from Coonawara in Australia which may be hot but, man, they make great wine. We had a 2014 Yalumba "The Menzies" Coonawara Cab Sauv ($99). It was wonderful! On the nose was black currant, black plum, smoke, barnyard, black pepper, menthol and eucalyptus. On the palate, there was also spice and tobacco. This dry wine had strong tannins, high acid, high alcohol, almost full body, a medium plus finish and a pronounced intensity. It could definitely age for awhile and it was rated Outstanding - maybe a good splurge?

Australia has been famous for it's big, bold Shiraz wines - and so we tried a 2015 Glaetzer "The Bishop" Shiraz from the warm Barossa Valley ($51). This had some good aromas including blueberry, vanilla, pepper and black plum as well as an overall jammy taste. I don't mind a little jam but it does take it away from the "Outstanding" category. On the palate there was blueberry and charred wood as well as medium plus tannins and acidity. This wine was fine to age with its long  finish and strong intensity of flavours and was rated as Very Good. 

There are also more restrained Shiraz wines form Australia but we didn't try one  in class. 

Finally, we went to New Zealand. It's not a huge place but they make a heckuva lot of wine. On the cooler South Island is where Marlborough is - and that means, Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand's most famous grape. We tried a 2017 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc ($36).  This wine had lots of green fruit, asparagus, grapefruit, and lemon on the nose with similar tastes on the palate. It had high acid, medium body, medium alcohol, and a pronounced intensity of flavour as well as a longish finish. This was a youthful wine and, like most Sauvignon Blancs, didn't have any ageing potential but was still a Very Good wine. 

Also from Marlborough, we tried a 2017 Villa Maria Pinot Gris ($22) which was OK. I also struggled with this one a bit but there were notes of peach, apricot, lemon, honey and floral aromas. This was an off dry wine and had high acidity, medium alcohol, as well as medium intensity and finish. Not suitable for ageing, this wine was rated as just Good. 

Finally, we had a wine, also from the South Island, but away from the effects of the ocean. From Central Otago we had a 2016 Matua Pinot Noir ($42 - pretty label award). This was a pretty standard Pinot Noir with red cherry, cranberry, and strawberry notes. It was mostly medium although it had a longish finish. Overall this was just a Good wine - and definitely not worth the price. 

Well, that's it for my WSET 3 classes. All that's left is the test. I have been studying hard and have these things to say on the three parts. 

The blind wine tasting: This all depends on my palate - some classes I have been bang on and some I have been right off. I need to focus on the aromas and tastes rather than trying to jump to conclusions and try to figure out the varietal. 

Multiple choice: I think this will be my strongest part. I have gone over the book many times as well as flashcards from me, my son-in-law Dan, and online cards. I have a very good general knowledge of wines of the world. 

Essay questions: This is my big worry. Even doing the few practice ones online, I find that I can't always think of everything that a question asks - and sometimes I draw a blank. I spent time today doing comparative analysis of the same grapes from different countries so I am hoping that will help me study for the last few days. 

I keep remembering what my classmate, Sarah, said during our tasting group and, again during last week's class - at the end of the day, we have learned so much about wine, tasted some fantastic wine, and met some wonderful people. 

But, damn it, I really want to pass!

Wish me luck...

Je t'aime, Bordeaux! WSET 3.4

I loved this week's class.

This week was all about Bordeaux - and I think Bordeaux is my very favourite wine.

Bordeaux is on the west coast of France and is split into two main regions, the left bank and the right bank.

The right bank is mostly clay soil so Merlot is the primary grape with some support from Cab Sauv and Cab Franc. There are places like Pomerol and St. Emillon that are very famous producers of this style of wine. It is excellent wine, undoubtedly, but my preference is for the other side of the Garonne River.

The left bank, ooh - la - la, is the home of the Cabernet Sauvignon focused blends which grow in more gravelly soils. There is still Cab Franc and Merlot (and, optionally, Malbec and Petit Verdot) but the driving force of these grippy, structured wines is Cabernet Sauvignon. The famous places include St. Estephe, Paulliac, St. Julien, and Margaux in the upper (Medoc) region and Pessac-Leognan, and Graves to the south. These might possibly be my favourite wines to drink in the world.

Courtesy the Wine Cellar Insider

Bordeaux wines can be pretty pricey - there are some that are thousands of dollars - but you can pick up a decent one for $40 to $60 - particularly something like a Cru Bourgeois, which chateaux have to apply for each year based on the quality of their wine. If you were to spend around $100 (definitely special occasion) you could find some exceptional wines. Only thing is, you probably would want to wait five to ten years to drink them!

The ranking system is interesting. In Medoc only, the top wines are called Grand Cru Classé. This category is divided into five 'growths' with first growth being the top wines. All of this ranking came from Napoleon III and the classification he directed in 1855. Little has changed since then. There's also Cru Bourgeois for those wineries that were too small or weren't around 150 years ago. In Graves, the better wines are just called Cru Classé - there are no growths. And in St. Emillon, they have another system with St. Emillon AOC at the bottom, then, St. Emillon Grand Cru Classé, and finally Premier Grand Cru Classé which is divided into A and B. All of these classifications had had their problems over the years.

Courtesy Wander and Wine

The other area we looked at was Alsace, a region of France bordering on Germany, which is home of mostly white wines including Riesling (dry style), Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Muscat and some other grapes (Auxerrois, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner). It is the only French region that I am aware of that has the varietal of wine on the label. They do have some sweet wines - Vendages Tardine which is basically Late Harvest wine where the grapes have undergone passerillage (drying of grapes on the vine) and Selection de Grains Nobles where wines have undergone Noble Rot.

When buying an Alsace wine, there is the Alsace AOC (must be 100% varietal) and then the Alsace Grand Cru AOC (which must be made from one of the four Noble Grape varieties (Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Muscat). Much simpler than Bordeaux!

And now, some tasting....

We started off with wines from Alsace. We were given three and told that each was a different Noble Grape. Our group was able to easily figure out which wine was which.

The 2015 Trimbach Riesling ($60) was a bone dry Riesling with high acid, high alcohol, medium body, medium plus flavour and a medium finish. Definite tastes of apple, lemon, honey, flint and even a bit of petrol. I couldn't decide between Good and Very Good but this one could probably age a bit.

The Pinot Gris was a 2016 Domaine Mersiol ($36) from Alsace, of course. It had some nice fruit flavours including peach, apricot, nectarine and honeysuckle as well as some floral notes. Lynn, our instructor,  felt it was a Very Good wine and had ageing potential although I really like my Pinot Gris wines to be as fruity and floral as possible. I feel that way about most white wines.

The final wine of the three was a 2017 Late Harvest Gewürztraminer from Kuhlmann-Platz ($25). Although youthful, this wine had a complex array of flavours including peach, apricot, pineapple, lychees, roses and ginger. I thought it was high alcohol but Lynn, our instructor, said that it was probably because of the ginger that I was tricked into thinking it was higher than it actually was. I thought it was Outstanding but I think the consensus was Very Good as not everyone felt it had a long enough finish. It was, however, balanced, intense, and complex. A steal for $25!

The next three were from Bordeaux - my faves! One was a white, one was left bank and one was right bank.

The white was a Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blend (about 80% SB) and was a 2011 Les Hauts de Smith from Pessac Leognan ($83). This wine had some great flavours but I missed a few of them so I will put what the class consensus was - grass, peach, lemon, pear, toast, mushroom, and vanilla. This was aged in barrels on the lees to give it a nice, buttery finish. This is another wine that had ageing potential and was rated Outstanding (although I had only rated it as Very Good).

The right bank wine was a 2012 Chateau Barde-Haut Grand Cru from St. Emillon ($96). There was both red and black fruit on this including cherries and plums as well as toast, leather, and wet leaves. It had less tannins than the next wine, surprising as it is two years younger, and also had a wonderful velvety mouth feel. If all Merlots tasted like this, I would drink it a LOT more often!

The left bank wine was a 2010 Chateau Capbern Gasqueton from St. Estephe ($126). I tasted black cherry, black plum, cedar, tobacco, and green pepper. It was an earthy wine that had some grippy tannins but still had great structure to it. Definitely could age and was rated Outstanding. My favourite wine of the course so far....

We had another Bordeaux and a wine from Cahors to round out the reds.

The Bordeaux wine was a 2010 Cru Bourgeois from Chateau Dasvin-Belair in Haut Medoc ($45). This was a great price and it had some interesting aromas and tastes including red cherry, green paper, pepper, black plum, toast, tobacco and cedar. Although its finish wasn't as long as the previous two, it was balanced, intense, and complex and definitely ready to drink - Very Good!

The wine from Cahors was a 2016 Gouleyant Malbec. It was OK - red berries, red currant, cranberry, and some smoke - but was a bit of a let down after the previous three. It was a Good wine and was ready to drink. 

Finally, we had a sweet wine from Sauternes. Unfortunately, this 2013 Chateau Armajan Des Ormes  ($39) at the end of the class and was a bit rushed. Suffice it to say that it was quite sweet due to noble rot and had oak and vanilla amongst its flavour profile as well as high acid.

A good wine but Bordeaux reds is where my heart is.

This weekend, our provincial liquor stores are having a release of the 2015 Bordeaux wines. I already bought a couple last week at Everything Wine but I have my eye on two or three in the special catalogue that they produced. Looking forward to some grippy, structured, wonderful wines!

I Would Walk 500 Miles - Naramata Wine Walk Part 1

Naramata Walk Pt. 1

We love to walk. My wife and I enjoy a nice stroll or hike. We also enjoy a nice wine tasting. So we decided to combine them in one, sun-drenched, route-marching, wine-slurping day.

Naramata Bench is an area of the Okanagan stretching north from Penticton along the Okanagan Lake. There are around 45 wineries along the bench which is about 15 kilometres by road from the village of Naramata to the city of Penticton. We decided to walk and visit some of them.

We drove from Kelowna and arrived at the Naramata  Courtyard Suites which is a little motel that has been revamped and was a cozy place to stay (I think we paid about $150). We parked our car, checked in with the motel, and headed off.

The first place we were going to visit was Bella Sparkling because, at 11 in the morning, nothing is better than some bubbles! About half way there, which was in the opposite direction than the rest of the wineries were, I noticed that there weren't a lot of signs to the winery and I was heavily dependent on my Map app. Checking their web site, I realized that the winery was only open on Saturday and Sunday - and this was a Monday! We turned around and headed back towards the motel.

Getting out of Naramata was arguably the hardest part of the walk. It was a pretty steep, sustained hill but thankfully it was still a bit cool. There were a couple wineries right in Naramata but we wanted to get a couple kilometres along before we stopped.

Posing by the ironwork at Serendipity Winery.

Our first winery for actual tasting was Serendipity. They were 'just off the road' - or at least, that's what I told my wife. "See, it's right there!' A good kilometre or so down a steep hill, we came to the gates of the winery, followed by another steep hill into the tasting room.

Being a little off the road, it was not terribly busy. The person behind the counter was quite friendly and we enjoyed tasting the wines they had on offer. One of my favourite was the 2016 Rosé ($22) which was crisp and fruity. It also had a rich red colour, unlike some other rosés on the market. It is made of all red grapes.

We also purchased the 2016 Viognier (also $22) which is a fuller bodied white and one that has a wonderful taste. We also considered getting the Pinot Noir but preferred to wait until a later date. 

I'm sure this happens all the time, especially considering the number of cyclists visiting the different wineries, but we thought we were quite clever n asking the winery to hold the purchased wine for us until we returned the next day with the car. 

After hiking up the hill to the gate and the next hill that led to the road, we continued on our journey. The main road at this point was quite pleasant to walk.

Outside Joie Farm Winery in their little jardin. 

We skipped a couple more wineries and then went down from the road to visit Joie Farm Winery. I love their Rosé - but it is easily available at the liquor store. I was excited to try some of their other wines and I was not disappointed! Their Rosé was, of course, wonderful but we enjoyed their other wines as well. Our service was excellent - the guy behind the counter was a teacher from Ontario whose brother lives in the Okanagan so he decided to work and holiday over the summer!

The 2016 "En Famille" Reserve Riesling ($24) was a fruity, delicious wine that is just a touch off dry (in the German 'spätlese' style). It was a juicy, delicious wine and we ended up with two bottles. Although great with a variety of food, this is also a wine to enjoy on its. own.

The 2017 Noble Blend ($22) is a blend of Gerwurz, Riesling, Pinot Auxerrois, Pinot Blanc and Muscat. This is another fruity white that would be good with certain foods but would also be wonderful sipping on the deck.

I made arrangements to pick up the wine the next day. However, the winery is closed on Tuesday and I had to make arrangements to meet one of the workers to pick up our wine. She was very nice about it, though, so everything worked out!

Next up was Lake Breeze. We didn't actually do a tasting here but stopped for lunch. On their gorgeous outdoor patio,  I drank an ocean of fizzy water and used their bottle to fill up my water bottle as it was almost empty. The service was excellent as well as our lunch.

I had the Bench Burger which included one of my favourite Italian cheeses, Pecorino, as well as mushrooms and truffle aioli. Yum! Accompanying it I had a glass of their Meritage which paired well with the rather lean meat. My wife had the Grilled Chicken Sandwich which included another one of my favourite Spanish cheeses, manchego, as well as avocado cream accompanied by a food friendly Pinot Blanc.

We thought about doing a tasting there as well but, considering that we had a fair ways to go, we decided, instead, to press on.  As I walked up the hill back to the road, I felt a strange chill on the back of one of my legs. I had just applied some more sunscreen so I thought that it must be an extra thick application. However, the cold spot kept occurring, seemingly randomly. Was this some sort of strange skin condition brought on by the intense sun? Or had this hill climbing caused some sort of ligament/vein/artery issue? Did strokes start this way? I asked my wife if she could see any hideous discolouration but she couldn't see any.

Finally, I decided to take drink out of my water bottle. My full water bottle. That was now half empty because the gas from the fizzy water was forcing some of the liquid through the top - and onto my strangely chilled leg!

After the water episode, we hit a fairly long stretch of road that was bereft of wineries. Up and down we went, with no wine and just fizzy water that kept escaping from my water bottle. We probably spent an hour or so going from Lake Breeze (about the 2600 block) to Bench 1775 (1700 block. In the city, those nine blocks would be fairly close but out on the bench, it seemed to take forever!

Finally, we arrived at Bench 1775. It was by far the busiest winery we tried. The guy doing the tasting was polite but not overly friendly. Maybe because we were all sweaty? The wines were nice, though, but we couldn't do the same deal that we did at every other winery on the bench. However, the guy did waive the tasting fee and we did go back the next day and purchased up our wine.

We purchased two wines at Bench 1775. The first was their Brut Rosé ($22). This Chardonnay and Pinot Noir blend was crisp and just a bit fruity but would be wonderful on it's own or with something that wasn't too heavy. This is a killer value as it is done in the traditional method (like real Chanpagne).

The other wine was a 2016 Semillon ($19). This is made of wine from two different vineyard, one in Naramata (cooler) and one in Oliver (hotter) so the wine ends up being tasty ad complex. A really good food wine (chicken, fish, pork, etc.).

Happily, after we had visited Bench 1775, the vineyards seemed to be closer together. Mind you, at this point, if the winery was up a steep hill or down by the water, we tended to skip it as we wanted to make it to Poplar Grove in time for dinner. Some of the ones that we missed out that I really wanted to see up to this point included Nichol, Kettle Valley, Foxtrot (although you need an appointment), and Terra Vista (Spanish varietals). If only they splashed out for an outdoor escalator.....