Far too many years have past since my last trip to British Columbia to check out the Okanagan Valley and drink their wines ... as I sit here reminiscing with a glass in my hand of this award winner (Best Red, All Canadian Wine Championships) ... I am remembering the day spent with the folks of Vincor and the tour of their properties, the lunch and dinner, the driving up and down (and back up) the Valley ... what a day. They say you can never bring back those memories by opening the bottle, you have to create new ones, but with this wine in my hand it's hard not to thing back of those 10 days of summer - especially on this miserable April day. Here we have a blend of 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc ... and it is drinking absolutely fabulously ... in fact the longer it sits in glass the better it becomes. Aromas of pepper, smoke, dried cassis, coffee and anise seem to lull the olfactories ... Palate starts off slow with plenty of wood on both the front, mid and back, but once air has done its magic (after an hour) it reveals itself to be a super pleasing combination full of mocha, blackberry, spiced-strawberry, anise, and cassis. Everything has mellowed and has becomes silky smooth all the way to the finish. This wine still has great life left in the bottle and after an hour smoothed our for the next 2, by then we had drank the whole thing. So glad I held on to it, but now I have a typical wine buyer's lament: wish I had gotten more.
