A New Batch at The Hatch for Wine Tasting!

 We've belonged to The Hatch wine club for at least six years - and have enjoyed their wines and the changes to the winery over that time. 

Only a couple years ago, The Hatch had a ginormous array of wines to choose from. Then they split off their Black Swift and Screaming Frenzy lines to the Black Swift winery. And, more recently, their Crowns and Thieves line has its own, very unusual and very enjoyable winery that just opened in January. 

We were worried that it would end up with The Hatch having rather ordinary wines which would have been a shame as the irreverence of The Hatch has always been tempered by their very good quality wines. 

Fear not!

We picked up our Spring Wine Club box today and were treated to an excellent tasting of a variety of wines. I didn't do formal notes on the wines but I did take my time tasting and my wife and I chatted about each wine that we tried.

First was the 2019 Gobsmacked I Am Bob, But I Am Pink bubbles ($24). This is a 'Sodastream' style wine where the wine is made and the CO2 is added at the end to make the bubbles. It is a blend of Pinot Noir,  Cab Sauv, and Malbec - and is a weightier Rosé that I have usually had. There were lots of nice red fruits amongst the bubbles with a slight overlay of gentle tannins which made this a bit unusual. Our Hatchling told us that they were making the wines in 2019 and realized that there was a vineyard of red grapes that they had forgotten about so decided to make a bubbly pink wine. Love those Hatch stories! Rated Good.

Next was the 2020 Auxerrois that Endserrois ($22 - a play on 'All's Well that Ends Well') which is made form the Auxerrois grape which is not made by that many wineries in the Okanagan. We both detected a sharp funkiness on the nose, sort of like Marsanne, but on the palate, the taste was not as big of a kick as Marsanne. Citrus flavours like lemon dominated on the palate. An interesting wine that would make a decent patio sipper. Rated Good. 

Third was the 2016 Prima Volta Charrdonay ($35) - the proprietors thought all of this wine was gone but discovered some in the back of the wine cellar! This was aged in oak puncheons which are twice the size of oak barrels so there was less oak flavour imparted to the wine. It was fine but I didn't like it enough for the price. Rated Good.

Our transition wine, a 2020 Flipping Da Bird Rosé ($22) was an enjoyable and somewhat unique rosé. We usually want a rosé that is very dry with more citrus/watermelon flavour where this was fruitier and possible a touch sweet.   I believe it was a blend of Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, and another red grape - maybe Malbec?  It would a fine wine to drink on the patio or enjoy with something with a bit of salt - say, roasted duck, chicken wings, or a strong cheese. Rated Very Good. 

The first red we tried was the 2018 Hobo Gamay ($27). It was a light bodied red with tastes of plums. It was an enjoyable light red but not as good as the next one. Rated Good.

The 2016 Gobsmacked PS I Love You ($25) is a blend of Pinot Noir and Syrah. I don't recall tasting a blend like this before and it was spectacular! It was a nice light wine that would be equally at home being sipped by the patio or accompanying grilled meats. A versatile wine that was very enjoyable. Rated Very Good. 

The final wine that we had (thank God we didn't decide to do some other wineries) was my favourite of the tasting - a 2016 Hobo Malbec ($38). This already has some good ageing on it and it could even use a couple more years. Nice, strong tannins, high alcohol, and dark fruits make this a powerful wine that could easily rival a Cab Sauv when having a steak dinner. Rated Outstanding.

We really did enjoy the tasting. We sat outside at a picnic table in the sun, our Hatchling did a wonderful job of telling us about the wine and then chatting with us about everything under the sun, and we ended up coming home with 10 bottles of wine! 

Luckily for people who aren't overly planned, The Hatch is open from 11 to 5 and no reservations are needed. If you haven't been to The Hatch for a couple of years, I would definitely check it out!

This summer, why not book a tour with me at Wine and Then Somm Wine Tours? I would be happy to meet you in Kelowna or Penticton and take you, in the comfort of your own vehicle, to the Hatch or some other wonderful Okanagan wineries! Book today!

Time to Taste Wine - Loire Wines Part 3 - Les Epinats from Saumur

Here's the final of three wine tasting videos on Loire Valley wines where I try a Cabernet Franc from Saumur. Tasty wine! Link in bio!

There are lots of wineries in the Okanagan that have great Cab Franc which are also mentioned in the video.

Time to Taste Wine - Loire Wines Part Two - Vouvray (Chenin Blanc)

Here's  my video on a nice Vouvray. from the Touraine region of the Loire Valley. Join me as I try one of these tasty white wines made from Chenin Blanc - and then think about booking a tour with me to taste some Chenin Blanc in the Okanagan!

The wine I tasted in this video is a 2017 Vincent and Julien Raímbault Bel Air Vouvray.  Hope you enjoy the video!

Time to Taste Wine! My first wine tasting video. The Loire Part 1.

 I'm trying a little something new - a Youtube video about wine tasting. This one is a Loire wine from the Touraine region and is a Sauvignon Blanc. Please check it out - and tell me what you think!

Two Tannat Blends - Spice it Up!

Tannat is a grape that is a bit under appreciated in the wine world. That’s too bad because it makes some great single varietals as well as some great blends - and that’s what I’m going to write about today.

Tannat comes from the Basque region on the border between France and Spain and is famous for making dark, bold, rustic wines. Tannat is especially well know in the Madiran area of France and in some other areas of South West France. It is often blended with either Cab Franc or Cab Sauv. 

In South America it is grown in several countries including Peru, Argentina, and Brazil but it is by far grown the most in Uruguay. The Tannat grow in South America tends to be a little less tannic than French Tannat. 

I have had a few Tannat wines on their own and I truly enjoy the power behind this grape, but for the two tastings I recently did, we focused on Tannat blends - one from the Madiran area of France and one from Uruguay. 

The first one we tried was a 2015 Chateau Peyros($28) from the Madiran area of France. This is a 60% Tannat/40% Cab Franc blend aged for 12 months in 25% oak barrels. Fun fact, the word Peyros means 'stony place' in the Gascony language. 

Appearance: Clear, medium ruby with some garnet on the rim.

Nose: Clean, medium plus intensity with aromas of eucalyptus (sort of like a mild Vicks Vaporub), blackberry, blueberry, plum, green pepper, black pepper, cedar, tobacco, charred wood, leather, forest floor.

Palate: Medium intensity of flavour, dry, medium plus acidity, medium plus tannins, medium alcohol, medium body and a medium minus finish. It was a little thin at first without too much fruit and had flavours of blueberry, plum, cedar, tobacco, charred wood, leather, earth (meaning dirt), tar, and coffee.

Evaluation: I found this wine a bit too acidic and too tannic on the palate without very much fruit to take it anywhere. The length was just Ok, but it did have strong flavour intensity. The complexity was OK but it was missing a lot of the aromas that initially had me a bit excited. However, when I had it with food - it was a different story! With a nice strong cheddar to cut through the acidity and tannins, this wine was actually quite nice! With that in mind, I gave it a rating of Good. 

The second Tannat blend was a 2018 Bodega Garzon Cab Franc Tannat from Uruguay. I'm not sure if it was quite fair to compare this wine to the last as this is an 80% Cab Franc/20% Tannat blend but, for $19.50 (on sale at BC Liquor right now), I was pretty happy with this one. By the way, Garzon also makes a straight Tannat which I have enjoyed before. 

Appearance: Clear, deep ruby with garnet on the edge.

Nose: Clean, medium plus intensity, with aromas of dark fruit and spice such as blueberry, blackberry, cedar, tobacco, pencil shavings, eucalyptus, pepper, cloves, charred wood, and leather. Overall, not a ton of fruit on the nose but an enjoyable aroma.

Palate: Medium plus flavour intensity, dry, medium acidity, medium tannins, high alcohol, medium plus body, medium finish with flavours of blueberry, blackberry, tobacco, cedar, pepper, charred wood, toast. 

Evaluation: This was a balanced wine with OK length, strong flavour intensity, and complex flavours. Interestingly, it was a bit delicate in flavour so it would pair well with duck, chicken, sausages and a host of other food. The crackers I had were a great match but the strong cheddar was a bit too much for this wine. With the right food, this wine just sings! I rated this wine Very Good. 

A quick note on ratings - rather than use some meaningless 100 point scale where crappy wines score in the low 80s, I use the scale that I learned when doing my WSET - Poor, Adequate, Good, Very Good, and Outstanding. 

So, you may be wondering, who does Tannat in the Okanagan? According the the BC Wine Centre (and my own investigations), Moon Curser has a Tannat  single varietal and a blend with Syrah called Dead of the Night ($47), which I’ve tried and is a very good wine. 

This summer, why not book a tour with me at Wine and Then Somm Wine Tours? I would be happy to meet you in Kelowna or Penticton and take you, in the comfort of your own vehicle, down to the Southern Okanagan to try Tannat - and some other wonderful Okanagan wines! Book today!

'Four Tenors' - Four wines from Italy

 Ah, Italy!

I've visited Italy a few times - when I was backpacking (in the 1980s), with our kids during a teacher exchange in 2000, and with my wife in 2014 (where this photo of Pompeii is from). 

Italy has so much going for it - culture, history, food, and, of course, wine!

Italy is the world's largest producer of wine and it has the most varietals of grapes at more than 500, of which 350 are approved for making wine. Italy is also one of the few countries where 'reserve' (or 'riserva') actually means something - aged for a specific amount of time, depending on the type of wine and method of fermenting. Unfortunately, at the BC Liquor store, they just can't carry all of those varietals - but I did manage to taste a few different ones over the past month and I thought I would share what I thought of the four Italian 'tenors' that I tasted. 

The first was a 2016 Custom Superiore Bianco Monte Del Fra  Cà Del Magro (on sale at BC Liquor for $20). This white wine is a blend of Garganega (used to make wines from Soave), Trebbiano Toscano, Cortese (used in wines from Gavi), and Incrocio Manzoni (a crossing between Riesling and Pinot Blanc). These grapes are grown in the Verona region which is in the north of Italy and are more than 30 years old. Happily, it features a monk character on the bottle (he's also on another wine by Monte Del Far but, in that one, he is holding an umbrella)!

Here are the tasting notes for this wine:

Appearance - Clear, medium, lemon.

Nose - Medium plus intensity, clean, aromas of pineapple, banana, peach, apricot, pear, caramel, vanilla, butter, cheese, honey, toast, hay, and passionfruit. 

Palate - Dry, medium acidity, medium alcohol, medium body, medium plus flavour intensity, medium finish with tastes of pineapple, lemon, peach, better, honey, apricot, cheese, and pear. 

Evaluation - There was a lot going on with this wine. The flavours and aromas were very complex but did not impact the overall freshness and fruitiness of this wine. It was balanced, intense, complex and had good length. I could see this going very well with seafood, chicken, pasta, a nice charcuterie board, and a Sunday afternoon spent with friends. Overall, this wine was Very Good. 

The next wine - well - I guess you could say I put it on a pedestal....

Nebbiolo (which also happens to be my daughter's dog's name) is a powerful grape from the Piedmont region of Italy. Famous for its 'tar and roses' characteristic, it can be so tannic and powerful that it needs literally decades to be drinkable. Luckily, producers have found ways (like extended maceration)  to make this grape drinkable in a shorter timeframe. 

This one was a 2017 Langhe Nebbiolo (considered by some to be 'Baby Nebbiolo') from Giovanni Rosso ($30 from BC Liquor)

Appearance: Clear, medium, ruby - leaning towards garnet. Nebbiolo is always lighter in colour than you'd expect from a powerful wine. 

Nose: Clean with medium intensity with aromas of tar, a hint of roses, red cherry, red plum, blueberry, black pepper, cedar, cooked fruit, smoke, and leather. 

Palate: Dry with medium plus to high tannins, medium acidity, high alcohol, medium plus body, medium plus intensity of flavours, and a great, big, wonderful long finish. There were some interesting tastes but was not overly fruity - tar, black cherry, leather, smoke, tobacco and cedar. 

Evaluation: This wine was amazing, especially for the price. It had good balance, incredible length, and strong intensity with fairly complex tastes. You almost need to have food with this wine, as it was fairly strong. I would rate this one as a Very Good Plus - not quite Outstanding due to the still strong tannins and the complexity but if it  could sit for a few more years, who knows?

Courtesy decanter.com

Passimento is a word the comes from the Italian Appassimento which means drying harvested wine grapes on bamboo racks or straw mats for weeks to months. This process concentrates the sugars and the flavours of the grape. The most famous is probably Amarone which costs $50 and up so when I had a chance to try this version - at around $15 - I leapt at the opportunity. 

The wine was a 2017 Famiglia Pasqua Romeo and Juliet Passimento from Veneto (currently on sale at BC Liquor for $14). The grapes used are Merlot, Corvina (used to make Valpolicella)  and Croatina. The grapes are dried and aged separately so the blend is put together after vinification. I was excited about trying this (despite the hideous label) but was a bit disappointed in the final product - although it was a great deal for the price. 

Appearance: Clear, deep, ruby.

Nose: Clean, medium intensity, flavours of cooked fruit, fig, prune, raisins, jamminess, black currant, perfume, black cherry, black pepper, toast, vanilla, and cedar. 

Palate: dry with medium plus acidity, medium minus tannins, high alcohol, full body, medium intensity of flavours and medium plus length. Flavours of black cherry, vanilla, fig, plum, black pepper, and tobacco. 

Evaluation: I was a little bit disappointed because after so many wonderful aromas, the diversity of flavours tasted was considerably less.  It had OK balance, great length, good intensity of flavour, and was fairly complex. This was a wine that would pair well with food and I would rate it between Good and Very Good. 

The final 'tenor' of the group was a Fontana Fredda 2018 Briccotondo from Piedmont (on sale right now at BC Liquor for $17). This wine was made with the Barbera grape which, surprisingly, is the third most planted grape in Italy! It was actually the number 2 grape, but in 1985, Barbera producers added Methanol to their wine to boost alcohol levels which killed over 30 people and caused many to go blind. Fortunately, the scandal is long behind us and Barbera is a great varietal that should be tried. 

Appearance: Clear, medium, ruby

Nose: Medium plus intensity, clean, aromas of violets, jam, baked fruit, stewed cherry, raisin, fig, blackberry, blueberry, black plum, pepper, vanilla, coffee, and smoke. 

Palate: Dry with medium plus acidity, medium tannins, high alcohol, medium body, medium plus intensity, medium finish. Tastes of blackberry, blueberry, plum, pepper, jamminess, fig, vanilla, smoke, cedar, charred wood, and spice. 

Evaluation: This was definitely a food wine which has many diverse aromas which are reflected in the flavours as well. It was a balanced wine that was complex and intense with fairly good length. I would rate this wine as Very Good. 

Well, there they are - four Italian 'tenor' wines and all are well worth the price. And, after having a few glasses, maybe you'll be singing like Luciano! 

This summer, why not book a tour with me at Wine and Then Somm Wine Tours? I would be happy to meet you in Kelowna or Penticton and take you, in the comfort of your own vehicle, anywhere in the Okanagan to try some local, wonderful wines! Book today!

Black Hills Revisited - A Quartet of Fabulous Reds

Black Hills Estate Winery in Oliver is famous in BC wine history. It was started in 1995 by two couples in Vancouver who wanted to grow grapes in the Okanagan. After selling their grapes for a few years, in 1999 they decided to make their own wine. Nota Bene is their flagship Bordeaux blend and began their amazing journey in the wine industry. For a time, they were famous for their quonset hut tasting room but now they have a beautiful tasting room with wonderful mountain views. state 

The last time I was at Black Hills was in 2015 when I was in Osoyoos on a family holiday. My daughter came along with my wife and I (meanwhile, my son was enduring a nasty case of mono in the hotel room) and we had the premium tasting which was a sit down tasting where a 'wine-evangelist' would talk to us, at length, about each wine we were going to taste. It was $25 per person but I remember that they had no problem with us splitting a glass three ways! It was a wonderful afternoon and we loved the tasting.

That experience really stands out for two reasons - one, they were actually charging for a premium tasting, something that few wineries did 6 years ago - certainly not $25 - and two, you got to sit down and really chat with the person doing the tasting. That was also unheard of 6 years ago but has become much more prevalent during Covid. However, I think that people really enjoy the sit down tastings and they are here to stay. Despite seeing fewer people for tastings because of the sit down style (which takes longer and takes up more room), wineries are selling more bottles of wine and making more money than in previous years. And consumers definitely win. 

We signed up for a Valentine special pack of 3 wines and, because we wanted to avoid paying shipping (and also wanted and excuse to go for a nice drive) we drove the 90 minutes down to the winery. Also, when the person from the winery took our order over the phone, she encouraged us to come down for a complementary tasting. 'Nuff said!

By the way, their 'Portfolio Flight' (reds and whites) is normally $15 and their 'Red Flight' (surprisingly just red wines) is $20. Each wine glass has 2 ounces of wine - a rather generous serving!

We started off with their 2018 Carnemere - usually only available to their wine club. I do love a nice Carmenere and it is a wine that is not that prevalent in BC (only 4 wineries make it, all around Black Hills). Carmenere is a grape with a bit of a funny story. It was one of the original six grapes of Bordeaux but has since fallen out of favour. Actually, it was first destroyed in much of Europe (in fact, it was thought to be extinct) by the nasty phylloxera bug but wasn't terribly missed in Bordeaux. Meanwhile, it had been taken to Chile and was growing in the vineyards with Merlot and Cab Sauv. The only thing is, people just thought it was Cab or Merlot. It wasn't until 1991 that a winemaker questioned this and, after genetic tasting, it was discovered that Carmenere, the grape that was thought to be extinct, was actually thriving in Chile. 

And they also grow it in BC!

The 2018 Carmenere ($60) that we tried had medium plus acidity, lots of red fruit, and tastes of pepper and green olive. It was enjoyable but tight. I think I will lay this one down for 4 or 5 years so that it rounds out. Good to Very Good. 

Next was the 2017 Syrah ($40). We have a bottle on 2016 Syrah in our cellar and our wine guide said that the 2016 is much fruitier thane the 2017. The 2017 had tastes of leather, earthiness, barnyard, and mushroom as well as some baked fruits. It is quite the different taste and a great reflection on how vintages are (and should be) different. I've always enjoyed Syrah and this was a great one - and ready to drink now! Very Good. 

I hadn't tried their 2018 Addendum ($50) before. This wine is a right bank style Bordeaux blend with 86% Merlot and 14% Cab Franc. When Merlot is crappy, it's a terrible wine, but when it is balanced, ripe, and not sweetened, it can make a great wine. This wine was that kind of Merlot with the addition of Cab Franc to give some structure to the wine. This wine was so soft and round that I was amazed. It had some perfume on the nose and was a fruity wine with some bell pepper that was really smooth on the palate. I guess you could hang onto this wine for a few years but we bought two bottles, fully expecting to drink them this year.  Outstanding.

Finally, the big guy - the 2018 Nota Bene ($60). This rich, tannic, bold Bordeaux style blend is a nod to the left bank of Bordeaux. It is a mix of Cab Sauv (49%), Merlot (41%), Cab Franc (3%) and Petit Verdot (1%). This is a complex wine with lots of different black fruits riding atop some pretty strong tannins. This one should wait a few years so it can loosen up - but I am not certain I can wait that long! I also have a 2015 Nota Bene so I am tempted to do a vertical - can anyone send me the missing years? Outstanding. 

I have to say that we really enjoyed our tasting at Black Hills (once again). The wine guide was knowledgable and told us interesting stories about the wines, not just the wine flavours. The setting is beautiful and the building itself is very nice inside. I am guessing that a lot less time will pass before I go to Black Hills again!

This summer, why not book a tour with me at Wine and Then Somm Wine Tours? I would be happy to meet you in Kelowna or Penticton and take you, in the comfort of your own vehicle, to Black Hills o anywhere else in the Okanagan to try some local, wonderful wines! Book today!