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89POINTS
16¼/20
Hester Creek Garland 2016
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, CanadaEven if you didn't know anything about Garland, the small lot cabernet-led Bx from Hester Creek, you could tell it was an 'icon wine' from the weight and girth of the bottle. I can barely lift it with one hand! Intended to typify the Golden Mile Bench, this is an intense, no-holds-barred blend of 70 cabernet sauvignon with merlot, petit verdot, malbec, cabernet franc filling in the cracks. Grapes come from their old vines vineyard, and were left on the skins to ferment for three weeks. The petit verdot and malbec were co-fermented, all lots pressed, blended, and then barrel-aged in medium+ toasted French barriques for 18+ months. As you can expect, all this treatment exemplifies the already giant southern Okanagan red fruit. Dense medicinal cherry, baked raspberry pie, sweet currants, mint, cinnamon bark and cedar is shellacked with new toasty wood, weighing the palate to a warming finish, one that belies its 13.9 degrees declared. Tannins are soft, cocoa powdered, and striated with wood, and acidity is moderate, as it was meant to be. It is all about the power of the fruit and the pedigree of the oak. At this young age, it's too much, but with time in the cellar to settle, this should be more approachable. Bigger isn't better. Garland was named after Hester Creek owner Curt Garland and first appeared in 2018 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original planting of vinifera vines in 1968.Tasted: 24 September 2019Tasted by: Prices:| BC | $55.99 | 750ml | winery direct, wine club |
Blend: Cabernet Franc - Merlot - Cabernet Sauvignon - Petit Verdot - MalbecCSPC: 145362UPC: 626990222118
