tattersall
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2003
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We brought along two interesting bottles for dinner with my in-laws tonight.
First up was an '08 Nichol Vineyard Syrah - this is a BC red from the Okanagan Valley and the Naramata bench in particular. Rare for this country, the vines are all over 20 years old and sit on a high and steep hillside below a granite cliff. The soil is poor and very rocky and the aim was a northern Rhone style red - while not 100% successful, I'd say the effort was very good: deep red colour in the glass, black cherries and pepper on the nose and a good balance of fruit, tannin and acid in the mouth. A bit hot but it is a recent bottle so it may soften with age. Not much is known about how this will age, though. When Jancis Robinson tasted her way through the Okanagan a couple of years ago, this was her top rated pick and she scored it a 17.5/20 - certainly not a 'world-class' wine, but a very good effort for this young area. Here is a picture:
Someone posted a Sea Smoke Southing a while ago and I was curious how it was tasting so we uncorked a poured an '05. Beautiful light red colour, terrific aromas of bright red fruit, mostly raspberries which were present on the palate too. We all agreed it was very refreshing and clean. It did have that sort of new-world sweet taste on the finish - not twizzlers as Gomestar has referenced but still a distinguishing characteristic from what we normally taste in a burgundian wine. This was absolutely ready for drinking, I can't imagine it getting much better and would say a great all-around wine.
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First up was an '08 Nichol Vineyard Syrah - this is a BC red from the Okanagan Valley and the Naramata bench in particular. Rare for this country, the vines are all over 20 years old and sit on a high and steep hillside below a granite cliff. The soil is poor and very rocky and the aim was a northern Rhone style red - while not 100% successful, I'd say the effort was very good: deep red colour in the glass, black cherries and pepper on the nose and a good balance of fruit, tannin and acid in the mouth. A bit hot but it is a recent bottle so it may soften with age. Not much is known about how this will age, though. When Jancis Robinson tasted her way through the Okanagan a couple of years ago, this was her top rated pick and she scored it a 17.5/20 - certainly not a 'world-class' wine, but a very good effort for this young area. Here is a picture:
Someone posted a Sea Smoke Southing a while ago and I was curious how it was tasting so we uncorked a poured an '05. Beautiful light red colour, terrific aromas of bright red fruit, mostly raspberries which were present on the palate too. We all agreed it was very refreshing and clean. It did have that sort of new-world sweet taste on the finish - not twizzlers as Gomestar has referenced but still a distinguishing characteristic from what we normally taste in a burgundian wine. This was absolutely ready for drinking, I can't imagine it getting much better and would say a great all-around wine.
