British Columbia Tops Awards

In fact, for the second year in a row, British Columbia vintners ran away with the competition, grabbing 168 out of the 285 medals awarded and winning almost all the significant awards for best varietals wines, best red, best white and winery of the year.

Okanagan growers dominated the pinot blanc, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, gewürztraminer, other whites, pinot noir, merlot, Meritage and syrah categories. Ontario's success was relegated to icewine and fruit wine and, even then, the top-rated icewines and late-harvest dessert wines came out of B.C.

In the categories of riesling, chardonnay, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon the results were more evenly matched. The complete results are in the October edition of Wine Access.
Today we stick with the home-grown theme with six picks from the Okanagan: two each from Mission Hill, Jackson-Triggs and Burrowing Owl. All three wineries were finalists for the CWA winery of the year award, won by Jackson-Triggs Okanagan, and each is making a significant contribution to B.C.'s growing reputation as the place in Canada to be making wine. Here are my notes.

We begin in Westbank, where Mission Hill Family Estate has set a standard for hospitality and style few, if any, wineries in North America can match. New Zealand-born and trained winemaker John Simes continues to fine-tune his young vineyards while maintaining a high level of quality wines. Although not reviewed today, the Mission Hill Cabernet Sauvignon won the CWA award for best cabernet.

The Mission Hill Merlot Reserve 2001 opens with a minty/bell pepper nose streaked with black cherry and red currant fruit aromas. The entry is supple, round and warm with more peppery, black fruit flavours. Young and tight, it will need another 18 to 24 months in bottle to round out and shed some tannin.

Like most young shiraz, the Mission Hill Shiraz Reserve 2001 has an exuberant nose of floral, spicy black fruit mixed with toasted oak. On the palate, the wine is more syrah-like than shiraz with its dry, earthy, meaty flavours and elevated Euro-acidity. The winery recommends grilled sausages or Provencal cheese.

At Burrowing Owl, California-born-and-trained consulting winemaker Bill Dyer continues his mastery of south Okanagan fruit. Dyer's whites have been stunning but the reds are coming on. His latest won't be easy to find outside of restaurants but each is worth looking for.

The Burrowing Owl Merlot 2001 has a smoky tomato leaf nose with herbal, dill, tobacco aromas and spicy cherry jam. It's warm (alcoholic) rich and round with soft smoky chocolate flavours, impressive weight and styling. There's a touch more acidity than required but for a B.C. merlot this is about as good as it gets.
Spicy, smoky, cigar aromas with lots of black cherry and cranberry mark the nose of the
Burrowing Owl Cabernet Franc 2001. There is a round, elegant structure here with fine concentration and spicy, black cherry, smoky cigar cranberry flavours. Both rich and ripe, it still has tannin to disperse over the next three to five years. Impressive effort given the somewhat average quality of the harvest.

At Jackson-Triggs Okanagan, winemaker Bruce Nicholson should be basking in the glow of his CWA accolades. Nicholson's handiwork scored winery of the year, best Meritage and best red wine of the year ('01 Meritage Proprietor's Grand Reserve), best merlot ('00 Proprietor's Reserve), best shiraz ('01 Proprietor's Grand Reserve), best other red (Cabernet Shiraz) and best Vinifera icewine ('01 Riesling Proprietor's Grand Reserve).

The Jackson-Triggs Cabernet Sauvignon Proprietors' Reserve 2001 didn't win gold but it is still one of B.C.'s better '01 cabernets. It has a wonderful dark colour and an inviting mocha chocolate and black pepper nose. The structure is dense and the chocolate berry fruit that persists throughout. It's a touch dry but it is so young you can expect the dryness in the finish to fade with time.

The red wine of the year, Jackson-Triggs Meritage Proprietors' Grand Reserve 2001, is expected to be released this month. Look for a peppery, light barnyard, smoky, black cherry, licorice, aromas with some orange spice and olive. It is still a bit dry and tannic but with smoky oak, vanilla, coffee and peppery earth flavours. The finish is all coffee/toffee/vanilla that, while appealing on first sip, can be tiresome by bottle's end. Well made.

WEEKEND WINE TASTING: OKANAGAN VALLEY WINES

Wine: Mission Hill Merlot Reserve 2001
Price: $19.95 (Available Nov. 1)
UPC: 776545983138
Score: 14.5/20
Comments: Supple, round and warm with peppery, black fruit flavours.

Wine: Mission Hill Shiraz Reserve 2001
Price: $19.95
UPC: 776545991126
Score: 15/20
Comments: Spicy clove, black fruit scent with earthy, meaty flavours.

Wine: Burrowing Owl Merlot 2001
Price: $24.90 (sold out; restaurants only)
UPC: 626990004462
Score: 16.5/20
Comments: Rich, round, soft, smoky, chocolate flavours.

Wine: Burrowing Owl Cabernet Franc 2001
Price: $26.90 (sold out; restaurants only)
UPC: 626990004479
Score: 16/20
Comments: Black cherry, smoky cigar, cranberry flavours.

Wine: Jackson-Triggs Cabernet Sauvignon Proprietors' Reserve 2001
Price: $28.99
UPC: 063657005620
Score: 15/20
Comments: Mocha, black pepper nose with chocolate berry fruit.

Wine: Jackson-Triggs Meritage Proprietors' Grand Reserve 2001
Price: $24.95 (mid-October, specialty and VQA wine stores)
UPC: 063657007785
Score: 15/20
Comments: Coffee, toffee, vanilla all the way through.