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Your scribe is a big fan and supporter of the British Columbia Wine Institute (winebc.com) and admire the outstanding job they do to market BC wines. Every year the trade and media in Vancouver really look forward to their annual Bloom/Chef Meets BC Grape event in April and Colour in the Fall. These are usually held at the Convention Centre and are a must attend function with nearly 100 wineries in attendance showing their current wine releases. BCWI had to be more creative this year because of the continuing Covid-19 pandemic but that didn’t stop them from putting together a well organized tasting well spaced in a smaller ballroom of the Wall Centre on November 5. It was so innovative how days ahead they gave you an extensive list of wines from which you could choose up to a maximum of 42 different ones to taste over 3 hours. When you arrived on the scheduled date and time on November 5 everything was superbly organized including your own mask and table number. Your 5 flights of 42 wines were personally delivered to you for study at your own pace. Perfect!

My flights were specifically chosen by me to get a better handle on the newer Riesling (6 in Flight A & 2 in Flight B), Chardonnay (7 in Flight B), Pinot Noir (6 in Flight C & 3 in Flight D), and blended reds. This also made for an instructive comparison of the same varieties produced in different styles by the wineries. Overall it was a wonderful educational experience and the new wines generally showed very well indeed. Excellent!

Some highlights included these brief impressions:

2017 Phantom Creek Pinot Gris – Well made Alsace influenced singing variety.

Rieslings showed well but so differently from fresh most acidic 19 Monte Creek; vibrant stylish 19 The View; powerful Aussie like 19 Tantalus; to sweeter 19 Wild Goose. 17 Little Farm was a very mature bottle while 19 Moraine was dry but subdued. The two with the most assertive interesting petrol notes were the balanced complex 18 Kitsch Esther’s Block & the more aged terrific value 16 Intersection.

Chardonnay showed mostly juicy apples with attractive fruit led by elegant delicate 18 Meyer McLean Creek and intense buttery textured 18 Joie Farm. 17 Little Farm showed pure smooth fruit, 18 Kitsch lively leafy leaner, 18 Culmina more developed softer almost sweeter style, and more oak on both 18 Quails’ Gate Stewart Family & youngest concentrated 19 Laughing Stock.

Pinot Noir is always a fav of mine showing here young and promising. Lightest were acidic 18 Harper’s Trail  & herbal 18 The View compared with the darkest most backward 18 Tantalus and raw 19 Quails’ Gate Estate. 18 Meyer has that attractive earthy sous-bois character and 18 Baillie-Grohman in the Kootenays impresses with improvement shown every year. Fresh 19 Ex-Nihilo displayed lovely seductive cherries. Pleased to see open best varietal aromas from classy Foxtrot 18 The Waltz joined by 16 Foxly Reserve new label exciting softer richer more forwardly delicious fruit.

Red Blends continue to improve with more aged vines and better vineyard and cellar management. Both 2017 Painted Rock Syrah & Red Icon have tremendous depth & concentration for aging. Liked the buckets of fruit in best ever 16 Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin and smooth intense 17 Hester Creek The Judge. More Bordeaux-like styling to cooler fruit 17 Clos Du Soleil Signature & aged 14 Culmina Hypothesis. Black Hills on a roll with juicy Merlot 18 Addendum & more big Cabernet Sauvignon 18 Nota Bene.

Final words for some excellent whites that need exploring by the wine consumer:

18 Clos du Soleil Capella – classy sauvignon blanc-semillon blend

19 Terravista Figaro – fresh vibrant 44% Roussanne, 30 Marsanne both barrel fermented & sur lie plus all stainless 26 Viognier

19 Bartier Bros. Semillon – impressive again so creamy & pure – Ageable

19 Hester Creek Trebbiano Blanc – best one yet with useful food pairing drier vibrant old vines speaking clearly

19 Summerhill Gruner Veltliner – very floral almost Gewurz like – Compare with Culmina

Congrats to WineBC with leadership from the Board & President/CEO Miles Prodan together with everyone else involved for their valuable contributions. Special kudos and thanks from me to Kim Barnes Marketing Director & Laura Kittmer Communications Director for all you and your fantastic team do to keep us so well informed. Great job.

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Question: What is the name of the Greek Goddess that is being used for the certification of biodynamic wine?

Answer: DEMETER. Yes she was the goddess of agriculture, grains, and the harvest in old Greek mythology. Now appropriately it is the name used for a certification system around the world to verify that a food or product (including wine) has been produced by biodynamic methods.

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Even during this most disturbing Covid-19 pandemic year your scribe has been fortunate to try many Bordeaux at 20 years of age from that historic year 2000. The turn of the century and those three zeros brought a lot of expectation at harvest time for this millennium vintage with high prices for the wines. It started with some devastating winter storms followed by bad mildew during a warmer Spring, but uneven flowering then mixed weather May, June, & July, and finishing with a very dry August & September. The result was not the highest of sugars but good phenolic ripeness of grapes and thick skins for rich concentrated powerful quite tannic style of wines needing time in the bottle. Pundits early on were sometimes reluctant to give it the full credit it now deserves. Lots of consistently well structured wines with balanced acidity (more difficult to find in current vintages due to climate change) plus lovely dense maturing fruit. Another opportunity to check out some more of these 2000s presented itself at a dinner in Vancouver on November 5, 2020 at Blue Water Cafe. Here are a few brief impressions: 

1. L’ARROSEE St.-Emilion: A property favourite (especially that memorable 1961) with some cab sauv in the mix bought in 2013 by Domaine Clarence Dillon (Haut-Brion). Here more paling of the rim with herbal leafy simpler showing. Good but site is capable of better. Improved with a pairing of hot cheese souffle.

2. BRANE CANTENAC Margaux: Improved effort from this Second Growth shows with deep styling of classic Margaux charming aromatics plus elegance and finesse. Well done. Drinking beautifully on a plateau of enjoyment.

3. GISCOURS Margaux: Full somewhat atypical for the AC Third Growth in good management hands. Here dark rich concentration of fruit impresses. Value!

4. CLERC MILON Pauillac: Lighter look and more cab sauv seems not ripe enough though tannic and some greener merlot. Not singing and somewhat disappointing. Needed the truffle pasta for more flavour interest.

5. LAGRANGE St. Julien: Enjoyed many previous bottles of this rich cassis intense beauty Third Growth. This one more sullen dull young and pouting this evening. Still potential there to open up.

6. GRUAUD LAROSE St. Julien: More open Second Growth with textbook St. Julien cedar graphite notes in a powerful statement. No rush. Wonderful structure with loads of fruit to get even better. Most everyone liked this one.

7. LEOVILLE POYFERRE St. Julien: Classy Second Growth is well balanced. Rather more subtle and elegant than expected. Likeable but not at best showing. Depth of fruit is there but slumbering. Maybe just needed more decanting time to open up.

8. PICHON BARON Pauillac: This Second Growth is one of my favs of the vintage but not this bottle. Touch of TCA/Brett detracts. Not perfectly clean. Disappointing. Not the stellar sweet black currant concentrated treasure it usually is. Drinkable with long braised beef brisket course.

9. RAUZAN-SEGLA Margaux: Served blind as a mystery. Darkest of all the wines. Fragrant powerful complex forwardly bouquet. Got us thinking First Growth but not enough Chateau Margaux cabernet sauvignon. Wondered about Palmer. Guessed perhaps Cheval Blanc because of the merlot element. Group fav tonight. Showing beautifully at present. 

In summary another encouraging show for Bordeaux 2000. If you have any of this vintage you are lucky indeed.

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Question: What is the buzz on Vendange 2020 for Champagne?

Answer: Despite climate change resulting in a very early harvest it is quite bullish. Vendange was extended but generally started some 2 weeks earlier than average. Pinot noir & meunier seemed to develop unusually quickly – more so than chardonnay. The buzz is that even though the maximum yields were limited it could be three years in a row of really top quality. Doubt it will challenge the wonderful trio of 1988, 1989, and 1990 or the Dom Perignon 5 year consecutive run of 2002-2006 inclusive. Fan of aging 2008 & 2012 vintage. Will be interesting to follow the development of 2018, 2019, and 2020.

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Hope other Branches are making the effort to get together virtually during these difficult Covid-19 pandemic times. The Robertsons and Larry Burr are doing a stellar job with continuing activities for the Vancouver Branch. They organized another virtual wine tasting on October 26, 2020 with a theme of “bubbles around the world”.  Each member had the opportunity to speak about the background and impressions of their own sparkling wine with some running commentary contributed by your scribe. The result was a good social interaction of members with some informative wine education.

As we all should know the first sparkling wine is credited back in 1531 to the monks in Limoux (an appellation since 2003 in the Aude department of Languedoc-Roussillon, France) using an Ancestral Method for Blanquette de Limoux. It was over 100 years later that we have the first Champagne (and Dom Perignon at the Abbey of Hautvilliers) with the classic Traditional Method or methode champenoise. Later on and currently popular as metodo Italiano with a quicker turn around time with lower prices is the Charmat Method in tank. These days there is a plethora of sparkling wines produced from local grapes around the world. It was interesting to hear at this event about 13 Sparkling wines from 9 different regions with 3 each from the Okanagan Valley in BC and 3 from Champagne all in different styles.  The wines and the IWFS memebers attending:

1. Jim and Karen Esplen	NV Nino Franco Valdobbianne Prosecco Superiore DOCG
2. Lois Gilbert	NV Hungaria Grand Cuvee Brut
3. Ray and Sharon Markham	NV Casina Bric Nebbiolo Rose
4. Alvin and Kim Nirenberg	Bernard-Massard Cuvee de L’Ecusson Brut Rose from Luxembourg
5. Dorothy Jansen	NV Piper Heidseick Champagne
6. Heb and Shirley Hebenton	NV Pol Roger Champagne
7. Dick and Val Bradshaw	NV Krug Champagne – but older – price only $38
8. Jim & Milena Robertson	2014 Gusbourne Brut Reserve UK
9. Ruth Greirson	NV Sakagura No Awayuki Sparkling Sake from Yoshi No Gawa, Japan
10. Larry and Maggie Burr	NV Bird in Hand (Australia) Nest Egg “Joy”
11. Nick and Lesley Wright	NV Maverick Estate “Ella” Rose Okanagan
12. Vincent and Zelie Tan	2009 Blue Mountain Reserve Brut RD Okanagan
13. Sid and Joan Cross	2001 Sumac Ridge Pinnacle Methode Classique Okanagan.

Not their usual blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay & Pinot Blanc but 100% Pinot Noir. Small production of 556 cases released for $35 after being aged more than 4 years “en tirage”. Impressive showing as was suggested by the late great pioneer Harry McWatters as “a luscious blend of richness and elegance with extreme fruitiness and vibrant freshness” – even now. Confirms the potential for quality aged bubbles in British Columbia – as well as so many other emerging areas!

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