Living here on the West Coast, there are many day-to-day things that I hardly give a second thought to, but then I remember that theres often a certain wackiness to us as perceived by those on the other side of the Rockies. Yup, whether its Nardwuar the Human Serviette traipsing around interviewing celebrities, our bike-riding, former organic-farmer mayor, folks practising yoga on paddleboards in January and so on weve never been afraid to march to our own drummer.
Its with that in mind that I share these three local wines with you this week, a small handful of bottles that arent afraid to stray from the norm.
Over 5,000 miles away from the grapes Spanish home in Rioja, the few small Tempranillo plantings in the Okanagan have seen some success; certainly more than many would have anticipated. While the grape thrives at higher altitudes (Rioja has a good 1,000 feet on us), it does like the diurnal temperature variation offered by the Okanagans hot days and cool nights. The result in this case offers an abundance of cinnamon-spiked red fruit and a few cracks of fresh clove. Though it spent 15 months in American oak, the wine welcomes that wood without it being too showy. All in all, its bright and quite charming. Im looking forward to see how future bottlings show as their vines mature.
Unless youre spending a fair amount of time in the Madiran region of France or down in Uruguay, youre probably not seeing much of the Tannat grape. The hearty, aromatic red grape differs in character dependent on where its grown, but you can usually count on a light smokiness and some dark, plummy flavours. Down in Osoyoos, Moon Curser blends the grape with Syrah which rushes in with dark cocoa, black fruit and spice. The result has a good dose of juicy, smoked meat with the smallest fleck of fresh Italian herbs on the finish. If you like local wineries being adventurous variety-wise, Moon Curser should definitely be your go-to. With releases such as Touriga Nacional and an upcoming Arneis, I love their fearless approach.
While a smidge of Malbec can be folded into the red blends of Bordeaux and Syrah has an assortment of natural partners from Viognier to Grenache, its not too often you see Syrah and Malbec in tandem. This edition by Perseus will have you wondering why. The Syrah absolutely leaps out of the glass; pink peppercorn, allspice, anise and cardamom a-plenty, while the Malbec carries the back end with buckets of blackberries, blueberries, dates and a splash of Welchs grape juice. I like where this new winerys going.
If youre having trouble tracking something down, feel free to reach me down via KurtisKolt.com or Tweet me @KurtisKolt.
