Top Ten 2016 Canada Day Wines

It’s the unofficial kick off of summer holidays, a pretty-much-promised stretch of warm sunshine, and for Anthony and me, the signal that we’ve emerged intact from another National Wine Awards of Canada. For me, the Nationals (NWAC16) is easy – a chance to taste blind through some of the best wines our country produces and catch up with my close WineAlign family. For Anthony, founder and head judge, the task is much more challenging. Read more about his thoughts on NWAC here in The Pique Newsmagazine.

July also has us thinking summer holidays. If you’re headed to the Okanagan Valley for a road trip, check out Anthony’s Top 10 Winery Stops in The Vancouver Sun’s Salut section. If you’re Vancouver Island bound, I share how to drink up the Wine Islands (with some distilleries to visit as well).  

Much has happened in the liquor industry in BC this past year, (my report for Meininger’s Wine Business documents many of the changes) and (Anthony’s take on the BC Wine Appellation Task Group recommendations). Many, including us, are hopeful that more change is soon to come.

Today we publish our Top Ten Canadian wines tasted so far this year, but there were so many high ranking ties that we have made it a Top 25 list instead – a happy surprise. Take it as a Canada Day treat and a fitting way to toast to our nation’s 149^th birthday.

93. Norman Hardie County Chardonnay Unfiltered 2013, Prince Edward County, Ontario. $40.00
Norm Hardie has rightfully earned his international acclaim, helping put Canadian wines - especially chardonnay - on the map. The County Chardonnay, was grown on five separate sites, and is a blend of two clones. Wild yeast fermentation was started in horizontal stainless tanks, and finished mostly in 500L French barrels, 30 percent of which were new. No sulphur was added for a year, after which the wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Alluringly (not overpoweringly) reductive, with broken stones, light smoke and burnished lemon peel / pith. Mouthwatering savoury notes through the textured, mineral-driven and lees-lined palate. Fresh green apple, citrus core and precise lemon pith acidity streams through the lengthy finish. Drinking beautifully now, but the best is yet to come. (TR) 

92. Clos du Soleil Signature 2013, British Columbia. $44.90      
Signature is the Clos du Soleil flagship red blend, they say Bordeaux, I say Similkameen-style. The 2013 maybe better than the very fine 2012. The blend is 51/34/11/2/2 merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec. Reduced cabernet sauvignon and reduced oak ageing (now seventeen months) are setting this wine free. The fruit is pure and raw at this point with rich blackberry/black raspberry scents and flavour but all with restraint and refinement. Savoury cedar threads are spun throughout the wine setting off the black fruits, tobacco and oak. Again balance is the key here. Cellar this five years or grilled a steak if you must open the bottle. (AG)

92. Tantalus Old Vines Riesling 2013, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $30.00
This remains one of BC's cult rieslings year in and out, with heady local and international acclaim (including Jancis Robinson). The Old Vines Riesling is from 1978 estate heritage blocks, farmed sustainably and cropped low, able to take the challenges of the 2013 vintage in stride. Lime pith, green apple and subtle eraser aromas concentrate on the focused palate, one driven by taut acidity and layered with potent lemongrass, wild herbs, citrus pith and river stone minerality. A chalky grip gives savoury structure, while ringing and juicy high acidity brings joy. White grapefruit lingers on the lengthy, dry finish. This is a wine built for age. (TR) 

92. Synchromesh Wines Thorny Vines Riesling 2015, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $23.00
Synchromesh has earned their street cred as THE riesling producers in BC, and on par with the best in Canada. This is one of four single vineyard rieslings released this year. Alan Dickinson works with many different ferments within each vineyard, isolating the ones which best signify the site. From the southern end of Naramata Bench, Thorny Vines Vineyard is German clones on fertile heavy clay; facing north affords the vineyard some cooler temperatures, as does the moderating effects of Okanagan Lake. Chalky, lemon acidity and a green apple cut works across the lemon balm, lime pulp and fleshy pear juiciness. Kabinett-styled, this linear, medium bodied and intense white gobbles up 36 g/l RS, leaving a pithy white grapefruit and lime-y-ness in its wake, finishing dry. Fantastic value. (TR) 

92. Synchromesh Wines Four Shadows Vineyard Riesling 2015, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $23.00
Synchromesh has earned their street cred as THE riesling producers in BC, and on par with the best in Canada. This is one of four single vineyard rieslings released this year. Alan Dickinson works with many different ferments within each vineyard, isolating the ones which best signify the site. Four Shadows Vineyard is an exciting, higher altitude steep sloping gravelled site on Naramata Bench, facing east towards Penticton. Fragrant apricot blossoms, apricot flesh, honeysuckle are drawn across an Auslese-styled, Pfalz-like palate, with concentrated viscosity matched by surging limey acidity. Lemoned caramel lingers on the lengthy finish. An astounding 52 g/l RS, absorbed handily. 10.6 percent alcohol; fantastic value. (TR)

91. Bella Reserve Brut Nature Oliver Eastside Chardonnay 2012, Oliver, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $55.00
This style has been vintner Jay Drysdale's goal from the beginning of Bella Wines: a serious fizz of the calibre of top grower champagne, but bursting with what it means to be Canadian. Singularly sourced from Oliver's calcium carbonate-laced Cerqueira Vineyard, this chardonnay spent forty months on the lees and is bottled with no dosage and sulfured only after first ferment. It is a true reflection of the site, and when tasted in conjunction with twin sibling Brut Nature Westside Chardonnay, the differences are striking. Lovely, crisp fruit with seamless and fluid lees integration. A shear of green apple acidity, tight citrus notes and faint stony smoke and fine salts on the lengthy finish. Riveting structure, exciting stuff. Very promising future for this project, and this wine. Only 25 cases were released, with the remainder to be held 6-8 years. Looking forward to tasting again then. (TR)

91. Stag's Hollow Cachet 04 Limited Edition 2013, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $60.00  
Cachet is made with the best fruit each year regardless of variety, in this case it is a 57/37/6 petit verdot, merlot and cabernet sauvignon blend. Look for black cherry, earthy, mushroom, tobacco, cranberry, smoky, peppery aromas with a light floral, plum note. Full, round, juicy, somewhat chunky palate with some young tannins but with fine concentration. Peppery, smoky, wet tobacco, savoury, cranberry, black cherry, vanilla, coffee flavours with a hint of tar, licorice and sage with some tea and herb on the finish. Should improve over the next 2-5 years. Excellent effort here. (AG)

91. Osoyoos Larose 2012, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada. $42.95
One of the best young Osoyoos Larose we have tasted. The blend is 50/24/13/9/4 merlot, cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot, cabernet franc and malbec. Look for a peppery, cassis, vanilla, smoky, black cherry, light cedar, licorice and tobacco aromas with a meaty note. The attack is full and round with a fresh, elegant, well balanced palate with some youthful fine-grained tannins. Coffee, peppery, smoky, savoury, black olive, cassis, vanilla, cedar and cranberry flavours dominate the palate. A bigger, richer effort here with balanced tannins for aging over the next 5-7 years. Impressive. (AG) 

91. Painted Rock Merlot 2013, Skaha Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $34.69
Really enjoyed this merlot tasted in a line-up against several other local merlot and I was pleasantly surprised by the drop in aggressive resin and balsamic notes. We noticed the new oak involved dropped from 50 percent to 30 percent since the last vintage no doubt related to the juicier fruit and its more inviting texture and mouth-feel. No green helps, but the texture is what makes this wine so inviting along with some delicious black fruit with brown spices and a savoury undercurrent. More Skaha and less French oak is a recipe to drinkability and fun. You can enjoy with a rare steak and a chimichurri sauce now or wait five years for this to improve further in bottle. (AG)

91. Tantalus Chardonnay 2013, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada. $30.00
Though Tantalus is known for their riesling, this chardonnay continues to impress year after year - and the 2013 is the best yet. With vines from 1985 and 2007, this was fermented in French oak barrels with wild yeast and remained in barrels on lees for 11 months. Structured and savoury, with medicinal lemon, stones, dried herbs and white grapefruit in a concentrated, crisp form. There's a textural grip to the palate which draws you in, and a refreshing brisk acidity which makes you go back for glass after glass. Drinking beautifully now, but will reward with time in cellar. (TR) 

91. Synchromesh Wines Bob Hancock Riesling 2015, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $23.00
Synchromesh has earned their street cred as THE riesling producers in BC, and on par with the best in Canada. This is one of four single vineyard rieslings released this year. Alan Dickinson works with many different ferments within each vineyard, isolating the ones which best signify the site. Bob Hancock Vineyard is one of the last vineyards on the far Northern tip of the Naramata Bench, facing south on sloping gravelly clay and calcium carbonate, and is self-rooted 21B Riesling clone. Amply off-dry, with concentrated orange and tangerine, lush peach, pulpy lime, yellow apple, cold cream and scented honeysuckle. Juicy and youthful, this rides a wave of 32 g/l RS capably, finishing with an orange marmalade twist. Fantastic value. (TR)

91. Blue Mountain Reserve Chardonnay 2013, Okanagan Falls, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $31.00
Four French clones and twenty-four year old vines make up this elegant and concentrated Reserve Chardonnay. Half was fermented and aged in three year old French oak with the remainder in stainless steel before blending and resting on the lees in barrel for an additional 6 weeks or so. Lightly toasted popcorn, cream, perfumed white flowers, lemon and green apple are carried on a creamy, lees-led palate. Biscuit, almond and nutmeg spice carries the back palate, closing out with lemon curd and fantastic length. A serious chardonnay and it knows it; pour now with lobster or butter drawn crab, or cellar for three or more years. (TR)

91. Nichol Vineyard Pinot Gris 2015, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $22.00
Loving this singular BC pinot gris. Eleven to twenty-six year old vines, planted on granite, shard, loess and glacial till and sustainably managed are expressed in a low-intervention way. Orange salmon in hue, this Naramata Village pinot gris rested on the skins for 36 hours before fermentation in neutral French oak and stainless steel. Savoury throughout, with subtle marmalade, ample smoked stone and gentle earthy lees driven by a riffing grapefruit pith acidity and supported by a gentle tug of tannins. A stand alone wine every vintage, this year is no exception. (TR)

91. Tantalus Old Vines Riesling Natural Brut 2013, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $34.70
From their 1978 block of riesling vines, this traditional method brut sells out every year, prized for its originality and rarity as much for its vibrant, mouth-watering acidity and drive. Bright and juicy, with lively and pure lime, white grapefruit and green apple and racy, textured and pithy acidity. A potent stony riesling base buttresses the whole, while piercing limey acidity carries though the very lengthy finish. Well done. (TR)

*We have tasted more than two dozen Canadian wines that have scored 90/100 points since January 1, 2016. What follows is just a sampling. 

90. CedarCreek Riesling 2014, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada. $18.00
One of the highlights of the CedarCreek portfolio, and especially this year, as the tight 2014 stands apart from the bloated 2015 whites. A 55-day ferment was time well spent. Vibrant and mouthwatering lime and sherbet is perfumed with tight pear blossoms and braced by green apple structure. The gentle rise of sugar is ably balanced out by an easy shear of acidity, leaving a shimmer on the tongue in its wake (and an impressive 10.5 percent alcohol). Incredible value; buy by the case, and if you don't drink it all now, it will absolutely cellar easily over the short term. (TR)

90. Little Farm Winery Rosé 2014, Cawston, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia. $25.00
This rosé continues to impress year after year, even with a little age under its belt (now tasting two years after harvest). From Similkameen's stony Blind Creek Vineyard, merely a kilometre from Little Farm, this dry cabernet franc rosé opens with ripe wild raspberry and strawberry, mandarin pith, wild sage and desert herbs, and savoury stoniness. Half this wine was whole cluster pressed and the remainder foot trodden and left to macerate six-eight hours on the skins before gentle pressing and a rest in neutral barrel for four months. A lovely cushion of ripe cherry, plum and strawberry, smooth lees, dried sage and dusty, stony spice to linger on the finish.  Juicy acidity easily caries the sun-ripened fruit (noticeably fuller, deeper hued than the previous vintage). Grilled wild salmon is a must, though charcuterie, flavourful farm cheeses and crusty bread al fresco is a close second. (TR)

90. Kitten Swish Target Practice 2014, Osoyoos, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $40.00
The first “vineyard up” project for Kitten Swish involves David and Cynthia Enns of Laughing Stock, Alberta nano-négociant Kitten Swish AKA Brad Royale and a vineyard in west Osoyoos. The vines are young and fermented in stainless using 70 percent whole cluster, roughly 20 percent whole berry and the remaining juice. The wine was aged in one single, four-year-old puncheon. Look for exuberant perfumed red florals and lush raspberry on a bed of thorny wild blackberry, sweet tobacco and brambles. The soft, sandy soils are expressed in the gentle expansiveness of the palate; a core of bramble berry, plum and wild thyme stretches out and relaxes in the glass with time, finishing with a finely rasped, pink peppercorn. A fruity, full-bodied, generous red with long tannins, spun silk textures and bright acidity. Fifty cases made. (AG-TR)

90. Haywire The Bub Bottle Fermented and Aged 2014, Oliver, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $29.90
Impressive as ever, the 2014 vintage of The Bub once again unites pinot noir and chardonnay from cooler sites in Summerland and Oliver for this crisp, lean and racy fizz. Lightly salted nuts and lemon pith leads. The palate races with green apple, salted lemon, dry toast and ample tight stoniness. Lively acidity through to the crisp, vibrating finish, this is a lean bub that you should stock up on and pour liberally, especially with oysters. In youth and tight as a fist, but will continue to develop and relax with bottle age. (TR)

90. Bartier Bros. Merlot 2012, Oliver, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.$21.99
Re-tasted now a few times and we still love the purity of Okanagan fruit in this 87/13 mix of merlot and cabernet franc that comes off the warm, west sloping Cerqueira Vineyard on the lower Black Sage Bench. Winemaker Michael Bartier wild ferments his wines and they are unfined and unfiltered. In 2012 everything conspired to makes this a delicious bottle of serious merlot, one of the best I have had in some time from BC. The attack is both silky and stony with a dried herb nose and a lovely reserved cherry fruit and oak character that melt together. The finish is long with some fine-grained tannin to shed. A superb wine for T-bone steak. Good to see a BC wine of this calibre in listed in BC Liquor Stores. A perfect wine for local wine lists. (AG)

90. Bartier Bros. Semillon 2014, Oliver, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $20.00
The Cerqueira Vineyard is a special site of gently western sloping vineyard land on the lower side of Black Sage Road, nestled between Oliver and Osoyoos. The soils are laced with granite cobbles coated with calcium carbonate, and all the wines of the site have a special character, easily tasted through the lens of Michael Bartier. Here wild yeast and partial concrete fermentation ups the complexity of the oily grape. This semillon shows intense and striking medicinal herb-laced yellow fruit (cherries, quince), green fig, apricot fuzz, subtle elderflower, thorny desert bush, mineral salts. Though lean and narrow, with lively, almost prickly acidity, the concentrated, oily semillon lends a textured generosity to the palate which is highly alluring. Drinking lovely now in youth, but will last 10+ years. Looking forward to tasting with some age. (TR)

90. Blue Mountain Reserve Pinot Noir 2013, Okanagan Falls, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $39.90
From seven to 29-year-old vines, this is a blend of five French clones from the Mavety family's Okanagan Falls estate. A small proportion of whole cluster, and a full proportion of wild yeast was used in the ferment, before the wine was pressed into French oak barrels for ten months. Perfumed black cherry, dark raspberry and ripe damson plum are framed by firm, finely boned and fine grained tannins. Resin kissed, sweet pipe tobacco carries out the lengthy finish. Drinking well now but this will reward with time in the cellar. (TR)

90. Le Vieux Pin Syrah Cuvée Violette 2014, Oliver, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $26.99
We just love what winemaker Severine Pinte is doing at Le Vieux Pin with syrah. The entry level Violette is a perfect introduction to quality, BC syrah. Like the 2013, the 2014 was co-fermented with one percent of roussanne because the viognier wasn’t available when the syrah was picked. The style is floral and peppery. The entry juicy and silky with bright, spicy black cherry floral fruit flavours with no meaty notes. This will improve in the bottle for three to five years or you can drink it now with grilled pheasant or lamb. Excellent value. (AG)

90. Tinhorn Creek Gewürztraminer 2015, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. $15.99
Consistently one of Canada's best gews, and one of the best values in the province. This year the heated 2015 vintage has upped the weightiness of this heady grape, further expanding its waistline. Fortunately, twenty-one year old vines know how to handle Mother Nature, and this, though bigger than 2014, holds a fine line of limey acidity well. Ample gingersnap spicing brings some heat to the concentrated gooseberry, lychee, freesia and peach on the round, silken palate. Perfumed rosewater lingers on the lengthy finish. (TR)

90. Sea Star Estate Farm & Vineyards Ortega 2015, Pender Island, British Columbia. $17.30
Ortega is a signature grape of the Wine Islands; the bright, lean, aromatic white grape is well suited to our marine-fresh coastal climes. A cross between müller-thurgau and siegerrebe, this opens with tight pear, white peach, melon, crystalline lemon and pink grapefruit. Sea Star has this grape dialled in yet again. Pour with Thai or green curries. (TR)

90. Orofino Red Bridge 2012, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia. $25.00
Red Bridge Red is 100 percent merlot grown in Kaleden on the west side of Skaha Lake. It is essentially a single vineyard wine from Chris Scott’s sloping standy, stony, rocky, Oak Knoll Vineyard that sits some 20 minutes away from the winery and, Red Bridge, a local landmark that crosses the Similkameen River. Orofino has been buying the grapes since 2005 and by picking the site in blocks they have obviously found their touch with this fruit. This is the juicy merlot we have been craving and the dense soft textures that further enhance its mouthfeel. This wine showed well at the 2015 National Wine Awards and its even better now with almost another year in bottle. The fermenters were hand-punched 3 times daily before the wine spends 20 months in American and French barrels not that you notice the wood. Stock up if you love merlot and vote for style that makes a lot of sense. Great price too. (AG)