Meyer Family Vineyards Chardonnay Tribute Series - Terry Threlfall Old Main Road Vineyard 2020
Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, CanadaBoth Treve and I agree on this special wine that is almost as special as the guy it's named after, Terry Threlfall. I first encountered Terry at Hawksworth Restaurant and then behind the scenes at the Vancouver International Wine Festival. He led a sommelier team that took a great festival to a new level of wine competence. His unexpected death from a heart attack was a cruel ending for someone so young and so full of life. He was all you could want in a wine guy and more, which makes his choice as this year's Tribute Series nominee all the more important. The standard doesn't get any higher. As for the wine, it is a wow wine from a wow vintage. Bourgogne in B.C. is all you need to know about this bottle that is alive with green apple, mineral, a stony undercurrent riding a leesy, sea salt finish. Terry, you are widely missed.Tasted: 03 January 2022Tasted by: Prices:
Meyer Family Vineyards Chardonnay Tribute Series - Terry Threlfall Old Main Road Vineyard 2020
Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, CanadaThe Meyer Family Tribute Series Chardonnay honours one exemplary Canadian each vintage. For the 2020 vintage, they've honoured Terry Threllfall, a respected, renowned local wine director who passed suddenly, far too early, in 2020. From their northerly facing 1996 planted Old Man Bench vineyard, on the Naramata Bench, and it's silty loams over clay, this was whole bunch pressed and cool fermented in stainless before heading to French oak (22% new) for 11 months on lees, without bâtonnage, and with MLF. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered. Alluring reduction darts through this wine, livening green apple, stone, lemon cream, flake salts that stream along the medium, lees-decked palate. The finish lingers with salinity, welcoming another glass. Certainly a somm's wine, but also graciously welcoming to all drinkers, much like the gentleman Terry himself.Tasted: 22 November 2021Tasted by: Prices: