Virtual Visits to Okanagan Wineries

A view from the balcony of Quals' Gate

As we all wait for wineries to open up in this new normal, there is a page that has collected Virtual Tours of a number of Okanagan wineries.

If you need your fix of vineyards and wine shops before they are open or if you are still a bit uncomfortable leaving the cocoon of quarantine, then these tours will give you a taste of the real thing.

But only a taste.

The majority are just Google Maps locations - the VR image is at the address of the winery but you don't actually go into the property. It's OK to look at the vineyards from the road but it's pretty far from immersive.

Inside the winery at Nk'Mip

A few have made a VR point somewhere in the winery. Mission Hill, Painted Rock, and Bench 1775 are examples of this. You can see a 360° view from where you are but you can't actually move around the winery. Better but not ideal.

The best ones have navigable VR images connected together so you can actually take a tour of the winery.

Enter the tasting room at Summerhill

The best Virtual Tours that I saw were Quails' Gate, Summerhill, Nk'Mip, House of Rose, Mt. Boucherie, Inniskillin, Jackson Triggs, See Ya Later Ranch, Sumac Ridge, and Therapy Vineyards.

The link is available here - some are well worth checking out.

Thanks to the Vancouver International Wine Festival for pointing me in this direction.

Cheers!

A Second Look at Frind Winery

The Wine Mother (?) outside Frind Winery

The great news is that wineries in the Okanagan are beginning to open up for tastings once again. Yay! WIth that in mind, we made a reservation yesterday for Frind Winery.

Frind is one of the newest wineries in the Okanagan and is situated in West Kelowna on former premier Bill Bennett's property. And it is a lovely place to visit.

I first went there shortly after it opened and was impressed by their wines but not so much with their (albeit) temporary tasting room. I saw the new tasting room being built - but had no idea that it was the former premier's house and office that they had chosen to renovate - just to keep that bit of history intact.

This time when I drove up the long driveway leading to the winery with tall trees bordering the road and the sun shining, I thought of wineries in Napa or Bordeaux rather than the Okanagan. And it just got better.

We parked and walked to the beautifully renovated building.

There are some very nice touches such as the front doors that have iron grape vines decorating the frame.

Once inside, we looked around the tasting room. There were attractive white granite counters, plenty of room for tastings (important during these Covid times), and an enomatic wine serving system which is a temperature controlled automatic serving dispenser for wine.

We experienced this system when we were in Bordeaux last year at a wine bar called Aux 4 Coins du Vin where we bought a €50 card and could try a small, medium, or large pour of over 40 different types of wine from around France and around the world. Each pour for each wine was priced differently so you could have a larger pour of a medium priced wine and then a small pour of a wine that, ordinarily, would break the bank. Great to see this system at Frind as the wine is fresh and the pours are consistent.

Our tasting room associate was a lovely woman who was very knowledgeable about the winery and the property. She described the process of how the wines were made but did not spend a ton of time telling us what to expect - which I am so grateful for! We did not feel rushed so my son-in-law, Dan, and I really enjoyed swirling, sipping and discussing the wines as we tasted.

I didn't make formal tasting notes but here's the quick commentary on the wines that we tried.

The 2018 Chardonnay ($26) was an unoaked Chardonnay that had some wonderful pineapple and stone fruit flavours. It was not austere like some Chablis wines can be and had a smoothness - buttery and creamy - that indicated malolactic fermentation. It was a refreshing wine with medium plus acidity and was a great one to start things off. I could imagine sipping this on the deck or enjoying with some barbecued chicken or salmon. I would rate it between Good and Very Good.

The second wine was the 2018 Rosé ($20). This was a very pale, south of France style wine but one which had a pretty powerful nose. This was a bone dry wine which would make a nice sipper. The intense flavours included cherry and raspberry. It had good acidity, reasonable alcohol (12%) and a pleasant finish. I am interested to see what the 2019 Rosé will be like. I would rate this as Good.

Our next wine was the 2018 Big White ($21) which was an amazingly balanced blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Viognier. It seemed to taste a bit different with each sip - sometimes like a Chardonnay, sometimes like a Riesling and sometimes like a Viognier. Like the first wine, this had some very enjoyable buttery characteristics as well as a whole host of flavours including pineapple, peach, apricot, and lime. I could sip away on this wine all afternoon and, at just under 12%, not feel too badly for it! A very balanced wine with complexity as well as medium plus intensity, I would rate this between Very Good and Outstanding - we bought two bottles but should have probably bought a case!

The 2018 Pinot Noir Cuvée ($30) is sourced from several different Pinot Noir vineyards (as opposed to their $25 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir). It had a fresh an d fruity taste but also had an underlying earthiness full of mushrooms and leather. I thought this would be a good food wine and I rated this one as Good.

Our final wine was the 2018 Big Red ($23) which is a medium bodied blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. This summer red had flavours of plum, blueberry, vanilla and black cherry and was medium in body, medium in acidity, and dry, yet fruity. Sometimes, I just want to sip a nice red by itself on the patio and this one would fit the bill. A very enjoyable wine to drink now, it could also age for 2 or 3 more years. Due to its medium weight, it would accompany a big variety of dishes  - more than a traditional Bordeaux blend. I would rate this wine as Very Good. I bought two bottles of this tasty wine.

After our tasting, we checked out the rest of the property. First was their café (Annie's Lounge and Bakery) which will open soon. They will have baked goods, fresh bread, espresso coffee and other tasty treats that would make a visit to Frind an even more enjoyable experience.

Behind the tasting room is one of the best parts of Frind. They have a beautiful patio area where you can take your baked goods or a bottle of wine and enjoy it in the sunshine.

But even better, in my mind, are the Adirondack chairs sitting right on the beach. What a unique place! I can imagine coming back here with a group - or with my wife - on a hot day and just chilling by the water.

This winery is definitely worth a visit.

Cheers!

Virtual Tasting at Cedar Creek

3 wines for tasting - courtesy Cedar Creek

Virtual wine tastings are becoming the new 'thing' during these Covid19 times. Black Hills winery has a deal where you buy three bottles of different wine and then get to have a private wine tasting online. Many other wineries are featuring Instagram or Facebook Live streams where they talk about the different wines that they are making. My friend, Keith, and I have started doing weekly tastings like we did before I moved to Kelowna - but now we are doing Zoom tastings.

Cedar Creek recently did a virtual tasting with three of their new releases. On the day of the tasting, I picked up a bottle of each (as well as some cassoulet from their Home Block restaurant) and headed home to chill the white and the bubbles.

The two people doing the tasting were Amy, the Assistant Winemaker (who I have seen before, usually roaming around the vineyards in boots and looking ready for adventure) and Dan (who is, to my great fortune, my son-in-law - although that fact has no bearing on my reviews of the wines), the assistant manager of Guest Experiences.

The first wine we tried was the bubbles. It was the Cedar Creek Home Block Sparkling Brut ($25).  This wine is made with 100% Muscat Ottonel and is fermented in a charmat tank (which means that the secondary fermentation takes place in a tank, rather than in a bottle). There were some very complex aromas including citrus such as lemon and tangerine and tree fruits like apple, peach and nectarine. There was a hint of yeast, toast, and a bit of honey as well. On the palate, there were the same fruits and flavours. The flavours were intense and the bubbles were quite lively. This was a dry, fruity sparkler that had a light body and a pleasant, medium finish. It was a delight to sip away during the tasting and I would enjoy having this with shellfish or a creamy cheese. This could easily age for five years. I would rate this wine as Very Good.

Throughout the tasting of the Sparkling, Amy and Dan had an easy-going nature to their discussion about the wine and did a great job of talking about the grapes, the production and the flavours of this wine. They encouraged questions and comments from the online participants and were happy to connect with us.

The second wine was a Chardonnay. Now, I have tried lots of Chardonnays, and some I like but most I find rather bland or overly sweet, or just not that interesting. The Cedar Creek 2018 Estate Chardonnay ($19) was neither bland nor excessively sweet. It is an oaked Chardonnay but was not overly sugary tasting. It had the aromas and flavours of stone fruits like peach, nectarine, pear and apricot but I also definitely tasted and smelled tropical flavours such as pineapple and even a touch of coconut. The oak ageing was evidenced by the flavours of oak, vanilla, butter and almond and there was also an underlying mineral taste of wet stone and minerals. There was enough acidity to offset the oak flavours and this medium bodied wine was still mostly dry. The Chardonnay had an intense flavour, was complex and fairly balanced with a medium finish. I would have this with chicken, Asian food, hard cheeses or by itself to slurp on the patio. I surprised myself by giving it a Very Good rating. - something I rarely do for Chardonnay!

Amy and Dan continued to show their enjoyable personalities as well as their senses of humour. As I said, this wine really surprised me and you could tell they were proud of the final product.

The final wine was the Cedar Creek 2018 Estate Pinot Noir ($27). They grow a lot of Pinot Noir up at Cedar Creek and this Pinot has grapes from four different blocks. Amy and the main winemaker do a great job of blending the different Pinot Noir grapes into a very tasty wine. This wine was all about the red fruit - cherry, raspberry, strawberry, and cranberry - as well as some mineral flavours such as earth, stone, and leather. This wine had medium tannins, medium body, a medium finish and was dry. It had a nice balance between the fruitiness of the red fruits and the mineral flavours. I would enjoy this medium intensity wine with a wide variety of foods including the aforementioned cassoulet, chicken, lamb, and a charcuterie plate. This wine could stand a little age (maybe a couple of years) but is definitely good to drink right now. I would rate this wine as Good.

By this wine, Amy and Dan were in great form (or was it just the effects of wine consumption?). They even stated that this was a casual tasting so they were drinking rather than spitting - so we, of course, did the same. I think it was about an hour long tasting - far longer than you would have if you went to a winery - much more engaging - and much more informative.

The great news is that Amy and Dan plan to do this again soon. I will happily grab whatever bottles are needed for next time and join in again.

A silver lining of Covid19? Or, possibly, could this be a portent of things to come?

Cheers!

Two Excellent Wines Worth the Wait!

As mentioned in a couple of previous posts, I have been a bit disappointed in the past by some of the wines that I have cellared. Maybe I waited too long, or there was a problem with my cellar, or the wine was past its prime when I bought it.

Sometimes, however, the wine is just perfect!

Thanks to Covid 19, we are dining in every night but we try to get something nice - either from the grocery store or a restaurant - a couple of times a week. And if we're going to have a nice meal, why not have a nice bottle of wine!

A week ago, we thought we'd try the charcuterie board from Friends of Dorothy Lounge.

If you know the lingo, I'm actually a friend of a friend of Dorothy - but who cares....

The charcuterie board was $30 and I picked up this big pizza box with the food inside. I didn't look inside until I got home and then I opened the box.

There were four types of meat, three different cheeses, various different condiments, enough crackers for everything, pickles, olives, nuts, dried fruit, and the most amazing pickled mushrooms. Fantastic!

What to have with such a wonderful treat?

For this charcuterie (which became dinner), we had a 2015 Black Swift Vineyards Hans Estate Cabernet Syrah ($62 Vivino - not available on their web site but their 2014 Long Road Syrah is there for $49). I think it had been in the cellar for a couple of years but I am not positive on that.  The Hans Estate is south of Osoyoos so you know that this is from a nice, hot vineyard - but not too hot! Black Swift is owned by the Hatch but they are opening a new tasting room just for Black Swift next year.

After an hour decant, we sampled this wine. On the nose was black fruit including blackberry, blueberry, and black cherry. There was some smoke and some earthiness as well. On the palate were similar flavours along with leather and tobacco.   It still had fairly strong acidity and the fruit was definitely there but with an overlay of ageing flavours. It was fairly balanced, was intense, complex and had a nice long finish. It would probably age for another 2 or 3 years. I would rate this wine as Very Good. 

Back in 2017 we went to Road 13 to pick up a case of wine for my brother-in-law because we were in the neighbourhood. The kind folks there bumped us up to their premium tasting (complimentary) in the 'castle' which is a beautiful tasting venue. You can refresh your memory here, if you'd like. 

Three years later, and I had brought home a nice, thick rib eye steak from Mission Meats - my first time trying this butcher. The steaks looked wonderful and were even better after some grilling.

To accompany a meaty steak, I chose this 2012 Road 13 Fifth Element ($47 Vivino - 2017 available on web site for $47). I remember when we did the tasting, the person behind the bar was telling us how Road 13 was moving away from Bordeaux style blends, like the 5th Element, and moving to Rhone style blends as there are a lot of Bordeaux blends in the Okanagan. After a quick peek at their web site, it appears that there are a number of Rhone style wines but that 5th Element is still part of the portfolio. Thanks goodness! This wine is a blend of Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot.

I remember how good this tasted in 2017. After a good 90 minute decant, I found that age had even improved its taste. On the nose were several black fruits including blackberry, blueberry, and black currant and definite smells of leather, tobacco and vanilla. On the palate, these flavours were all present but integrated with amazing smoothness. There was also a vegetal and earthy flavour that was delicious. This wine still had fruit flavours, still had acidity, still had some tannins and was completely balanced. A super full bodied wine, it paired very well with the steak I had cooked. It also paired very well with the act of barbecuing the steak before we ate! This wine was balanced, intense, very complex and had a long finish. An exceptional wine. 

Luckily I have another bottle in the cellar! I think I will drink it in the nest year.

Stay safe and drink at home - cheers!

Coronavirus Update #13 - I said, "Social Distancing!!!"

A place where I can be socially distant. Bertram Park, Kelowna.

Here in BC, things were looking so great but the last 24 hours - not so much.

There were 3 deaths and 71 new cases - the biggest jump in cases in a month!

Maybe it's because of the chicken processing plant where there are 28 cases due to workers not wanting to miss work.

Maybe it's because too many people were ignoring advice over the Easter weekend and the cases are cropping up now.

Whatever the reason, I just hope that this is an anomaly and the numbers will be down tomorrow.

In the meantime, I had a rather disconcerting experience with social distancing this afternoon.

I stopped at Home Depot in Kelowna to make a small purchase. The management had done a great job to ensure people were being socially distant - or so I thought. There was a lineup that snaked in front of the store. The lines were separated with piles of palettes that were at least 2 metres away from each other. Within the line were painted orange lines that marked 2 metres between each person.

The idea was, of course, that you were supposed to stay behind the orange line and that would ensure the proper distance.

I lined up behind an Asian couple and we did a great job of distancing ourselves from each other. Behind me, however, were two women and a young girl.

Right from the get go, the young girl (maybe 9 or 10?) was playing, as kids do, pretending to limbo underneath the rope that helped divide the rows (along with the palettes). I know - kids are kids. so I don't expect them to be vigilante about social distancing. I do, however, expect their parents to provide a reminder when a kid needs it.

The women, one who I figured was the mother, said nothing.

I levelled my best teacher stare at the group and things seemed to be OK.

My trademark glare was not overly effective.

Five minutes later, the whole group was about half a meter behind me. Time to glare at them again.

It went on like this until I was second from the front of the line. They weren't behind me - now they managed to be right beside me! I had a tape measure in my pocket and I toyed with the idea of showing them what 2 metres looks like but I feared that I would end of raging at them and, let's me frank,  I didn't want to upset the young girl.

I leapt to the front of the line when it was my turn. After a half minute, the worker letting people in asked me, "Is it just one or all four of you?" The two woman and the young girl were right behind me! 

I said, "Just one," shrugged - so hard that I almost dislocated my shoulders - and looked back and gave one last glare before entering the store.

Should I have spoken up?

Probably, but after teaching kids for so long, I really don't want to give the parents crap about their stupid behaviour in front of the girl and traumatize the kid. Also, I was facing away from them so the chances of actually getting something is pretty low.

Still, if this happens again, I am more likely to say something. This is the first time that I have felt uncomfortable with the distancing of another person.

I hope it's the last.

Stay healthy.

Two hits and two misses!

Over the last couple of weeks, I have tried a variety of different wines from my cellar. 

Two of the wines I had were amazing and two were, well, not so great.

Let's start with the worst story.

I had the opportunity to buy a couple of bottles of a 1996 Chateau Vieux Rivallon from an importer a few weeks ago. That's right, 1996! Each bottle was $63 so this was definitely pricey for me but I thought it was a pretty incredible deal. I had a 2007 from Bordeaux on my birthday and it was a super bottle, despite being a challenging growing season. This wine was from the right bank, from St. Emilion, and I was very excited about trying such an old wine - because I have rarely had that opportunity. 

I carefully popped the cork - well, at least the first two thirds of the cork! I managed to get the rest of the cork out and then poured the wine through a strainer into the decanter. As I decanted, I thought - hmmm - maybe I should just try a bit to make sure it's ok. 

Ugh! It was very blah! There were lots of mild ageing flavours like leather and tobacco as well as some tannins but not much else. 

This was our Saturday night date night (a new, Coronavirus inspired event) and we had dinner taken out from one of our favourite restaurants, Bouchons (cassoulet). I panicked! I thought that it must be off. 

So I opened my other bottle. 

I had better luck with the cork and then decanted this wine. I had a quick taste and....

it tasted the same!

After panicking again, I left both wines, in their respective decanters, for about two hours. 

After breathing for two hours, the taste certainly had improved but was still kind of watery. Or is my palate not delicate enough?

We had our dinner and drank the wine but the amazing meal was not supported by an amazing wine. 

We did have the other bottle the next night and it was OK - more or less the same even after all that time being opened. 

So was it me or the wine?

I think it was a case of the wine reaching its peak and starting a downward decline. It wasn't tasteless, like the 2011 Tinhorn Creek Pinot Noir that I tried a couple years ago. But it did not have the flavour that I usually associate with Bordeaux wines. 

Maybe I should stay away from really old wines?

The other wine that was a miss was an orange wine. I'm not a big fan of orange wines so I'm not sure how we ended up with it. 

Orange wines are made when white wine grapes are treated like red wine. Instead of just pressing the juice out of them, what happens is the juices is pressed out of them AND the skins are left in the juice for a period of time. That skin contact gives the wine an orange-ish colour. 

The wine we had was a 2018 Stag's Hollow Vidal Orange wine ($22). It was a watery, harsh, sour wine that neither my wife or I could drink. A rare thing happened - I poured it down the drain. 

 I really tried to have an open mind to this wine but it was not good to drink. Maybe orange wines are all like this for me - I haven't found one that I like - but this was particularly undrinkable. 

Funny thing is, Stag's Hollow is a fantastic winery. Every other wine I've had there (especially their Syrah) has been excellent and I would recommend their wine without reservation - except for the orange wine. Once the Coronavirus has settled down, I would definitely recommend going for a tasting. Just skip the orange....

Two wines to buy - right now!

The first might be hard to find. It is made by Synchromesh, a boutique winery in Okanagan Falls. They are famous for their Riesling and I absolutely love it. This year, we finally became members of their wine club so we received 10 bottles of their various Rieslings and 2 of their Cabernet Franc.

The bottle we had last week was their 2019 Drier Riesling ($23). I'm not sure if this wine is actually bone dry because there is a wonderful fruitiness to the wine as well as breath taking acidity. There were flavours of lemon, honey, apple, and even oranges. On the palate, there is a wonderful fruitiness that grows into amazing acidity.  This wine was nicely balanced, had a great long length, was intense in flavour, and was really quite complex. I really enjoyed this wine and would rate it as Outstanding. And there are a few other Synchromesh Rieslings to try!

The final hit is a great pasta wine. I find that a lot of Chianti wines that I try are not that great. These wines are good enough with a coating of tomato sauce in my mouth but not that great to sip while I'm cooking up a batch of sauce. 

Chianti Classico wines are wines from the Chianti region that are in the better parts - usually the hillier areas. These can get quite expensive but I recently found one that tastes good before and during the meal - and doesn't break the bank. 

The 2017 Rocca Della Macìe Chianti Classico ($20) is a perfect accompaniment to a Tuesday night spaghetti or a Thursday night pizza. On the nose and palate are red fruit flavours such as cherry, cranberry,  and strawberry and oak flavours such as tobacco, coffee, and vanilla. There are also earthy and leather flavours. There is also enough acidity to cut through the tomato sauce of Italian food. I really enjoyed some of this while I cooked but it really showed its ability to pair with some pasta with tomato sauce. A Very Good wine.

So there it is - two hits, two misses, and a lot more learned about the amazing world of wine!

Cheers! And stay healthy!

Coronavirus Update #12 - Refunds during the Pandemic

On Sunday, my wife and I were supposed to go on the trip of our dreams.

We had planned to walk the Camino, visit Spain and Portugal, fly to Hungary, take a river cruise on the Danube, and finish off with visits of Berlin and Prague.

That all changed thanks to Coronavirus.

Two things have made us all right with everything.  First, it will all be there next year (and who would want to visit anywhere now?). Second, companies have been pretty good with refunds.

We do have travel cancellation insurance with our Mastercard but I've never actually made a claim and am uncertain how that would go.

Here's how it all panned out.

We made a lot of bookings on Booking.com - way more than any other way. This turned out to be, for the most part, a very wise decision. Almost all of the places we booked had free cancellation up until a week or two before our stay. A couple of places waived any charges that we did incur. Only one place won't give us a refund but we can rebook with them next year.

A few bookings were made directly or with another company. No problems cancelling there, either.

AirBnB was a bit of a different story. All but one gave us a refund of their accommodation but not the service charge. The service charge (charged by AirBnB, not by the hosts) varied from $32 to $64 per stay so it added up over 5 different places. And one place wouldn't give us a refund, even after I complained. Happily, after a bit of back and forth with the AirBnB support - and after 'proving' that we were not allowed to travel to other countries due to the Coronavirus (thank you, internet) we were able to get full refunds for everything. Yay!

Our flights were with Air Transat and Vueling Airways. Both of these gave us a credit rather than a refund. That's OK, I guess, but not optimal.  If we book for next year and it costs more, we are on the hook. Of course, if it costs less, maybe we will have to check out a trip to Cuba...

We had two train trips booked. We received a voucher from Portugal - which I think we have to refund at a train station in Portugal. Not very effective, but we will try to apply our refund when we book next year. Our train trip in Germany is still not refundable but we will watch that one closely over the next month.

Finally, our Danube river cruise on Emerald Waterways. I am not a cruiser (so to speak) but this is a once in a life trip with friends - and it certainly costs muchos dineros. We were able to all rebook for a year from now - and we are all on the same boat still! The only thing that irks me is that there is an additional £130 per couple because the cost of their cruises are increasing in 2021. I don't think that's very fair.

Overall, I am pretty satisfied with how the different companies have been handling things. The places that have given us refunds are top companies, in my estimation. A credit, on the other hand, is still a good thing, just not as good as a refund. And the German train system will hopefully get on board with the other companies and give us a refund or credit. Schnell!