Yesterday was Vancouver, today was Victoria. I love both cities and we had cooperative weather as well. If in Vancouver and one is truly interested in Food, a trip to Granville Market is a must. The produce from the Okenagan Valley is really beautiful. We also saw some extremely great produce at the Victoria Farmer's Market as well.
But what really was interesting were the wines of the Okenagan Valley. Last night after dinner and the show, Jessica and I took a taxi to the UVA Wine Bar on Seymour Street in Downtown Vancouver. It's downtown, but at least a 20 minute walk from the pier. Add into the navigation of the rabbit warren that makes up Canada Place and you need to figure in at least 40 minutes to get back to the ship. Take a taxi, it's easier.
But I digress, back to UVA. In 2005, we could not find any local wines anywhere we looked. Not the case this time through. At UVA, the manager (I did not get his name) gave us a brief guided tour through several of the wines. Generally speaking, the whites were far superior to the reds. The first wine I tasted was a Laughing Stock 2010 Pinot Gris. The nose had citrus, honey and pear. As the wine warmed I found some surprising notes of toast and vanilla, this wine had some new oak! On the pallat there was refreshing acidity, notes of grapefruit pith, a rich mid pallet and a creamy long finish. I really liked this wine.
Next was a Rollingdale Pinot Noir. Very up front cherry nose, with a slight touch of smoke. However that smoke was not present on the pallet at all. There was nice acidity, but a hollow mid pallet. Some tannins and a mid minus finish. OK wine, but I would not purchase it.
The 2010 Desert Hills Gamay had a really funky nose. As this wine did not go through the traditional carbonic fermentation, it did not have the trademark gamay grapiness. I would pass on this one as well.
We finished our tour of the Okenagan wines with the Desert Hills Cactus Red, a Bordeaux blend. It had a dusty nose with hints of olives, green peppers and cassis. There was dark fruit on the pallet, but hardly any tannins. It was obvious that this wine did not see any new oak. It would have been much better if it did.
The final wine of the night was not from Canada, but from Sardinia, and it was a knock out. Montessu Winery is owned by the same parent company that makes the legendary Sassicaia from Tuscany. This Sardinia Sassicaia (that's what is on the bottle) has the same blend and winemaker only from Sardinia, not Tuscany. The nose had pine smoke, dark fruit, black cherry, some jolly ranchers snacks. The pallet had some surprising acidity with a richness and full body that had smooth tannins and a very long finish. It was spectacular!
Today, in Victoria, we visited the Mission Hills Winery Tasting Room. Most of the wines were totally dismissible. However, the Riesling Ice Wine was definitely world class. Uncious and rich with essence of melons and honey and a bright acidity under the tongue, I'd put this wine against almost any sweet wine from anywhere. It was that good.
My final feeling is that while the Okenagan wines are nice and interesting, they are really in their infancy. My gut tells me that they have not yet figured out what grows where, kind of like where California was 35 years ago. However, as the Mission Hills Ice Wine shows, they are capable of producing a world class wine. Let's see where they are in 5 years, about the time for me to go back to Alaska again.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment.
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