Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, CanadaAmulet is a fascinating wine project featuring winemaker Dwight Sick (Moraine) with Penelope and Dylan Roche (Roche Winery), inspired by the major grapes and wines of the Rhône Valley. There is not much of it, 110 cases, but you can look for the wines via Roche Wines on the Naramata Bench and a few select restaurants. The first vintage released was in 2018, and there have been incremental gains in style and quality since the start. The 2019 Amulet White is an 87/13 mix of viognier/marsanne grown on the Naramata Bench, and the Penticton West Bench. I’m a big fan of this blend when it's fresh, and this wine certainly is. Apricots, tangerines, peaches have a dusting of honey and lees that intensifies throughout the length of the wine. The oak is seamless, the acidity perfect. If this was from the Rhone, you could easily double the price and the hype, but that is what I love about BC wine. The question is, how much longer will wines like this fly under the radar? The fruit was whole cluster pressed and fermented in French oak barrels, of which 20 percent were new. Impressive.Tasted: 17 August 2021Tasted by: Prices:
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, CanadaThis year's Amulet White is a blend of 87% Viognier and 13% Marsanne, from at Kiln House and Kozier Vineyards in Penticton and Naramata Bench. Whole cluster fruit was French oak barrel fermented (20% new) and aged on lees for 6 months with periodic bâtonnage. After a quick dose of sulphur, it was bottled unfined and unfiltered in summer 2020. Ripe and round, this stretches wide and long across the palate, leaving a coating of honeycomb, baked pear, ripe peach, spiced with ample wood, before moving into a marmalade trail through the ginger-warmed finish. A powerful white, almost chewy, and surprisingly only 13.6%. If you're a fan of Rhone whites, please look here. The Diam10 cork asserts this should last for a while.Tasted: 23 August 2021Tasted by: Prices:
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, CanadaAmulet is the passion project of winemaker Dwight Sick, with a singular focus on Rhône-inspired wines. Quantities are minuscule and almost exclusively available through Roche Wines, where the brand makes its home. (You may luck out and find the wines at select restaurants, too.) Nevertheless, it’s clear no detail has been overlooked, and this may be one of the most serious wine brands to emerge in the Okanagan in recent years (the first vintage was in 2018). The Amulet White is a blend of viognier (88%) and marsanne (12%), sourced from the Naramata Bench and Penticton’s West Bench. There’s an incredible freshness and purity to the fruit, which is generous, concentrated, and bright. It evolves in the glass, slowly unveiling apricot, tangerine, and lemon alongside beeswax, flint, and well-integrated oak. This was fermented and aged in French barriques, with the 20% new wood barely perceptible against the density of the fruit. Medium-full bodied, it’s broad and richly textured, with beautifully balancing acidity. It's a wow wine – and if it were from the Rhône, it would be at least double the price. So trust me when I say you want to get on Amulet’s mailing list. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.Tasted: 23 August 2021Tasted by: Prices:
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