A surprising Canadian Merlot

[AlexR]

When Nic came to visit last year, he was kind enough to bring a wine from Okanagan Valley, British Columbia: 2009 Burrowing Owl Merlot.

I've been rather remiss in posting my tasting notes. I recently put on a wine dinner for my son's godfather, a winemaker in Valais, Switzerland, who came to stay with us.

We started out with a 1997 Yquem, which is lovely, but still has not hit its full stride. We then went on to a Brio, the dry white wine of Cantenac Brown from the 2012 vintage. This was in good form and fine to drink now. The next wine was a 2010 Montlouis from Chidaine, one of the best-known producers there. This showed very well. We had three red wines. The first one escapes me for the moment, but the 2nd was Nic's wine, which showed beatifully. It was balanced and understated, none of your New World overbearingness. Furthermore, a sommelière from Québec City was at the meal. She tasted the wine blind and immediately said: "Merlot", which was pretty good! However she, and everyone else thought it was a Bordeaux! When I told her it was from her own country, she nearly fell off her chair!

We went on to a 1998 Palmer, which is in a good place now.

Best regards,
Alex R.

[AlexR]

PS - Sorry about the photos - I don't know how to size them properly....

[dstgolf]

Thanks for the review Alex. Like everywhere the quality of wines being produced have improved greatly. There are pockets of very good red production from Canada but I wouldn't sat great. They are getting better but the problem like many areas in the USA and elsewhere the QPR just isn't there. Pricing is out of whack for the better reds being produced and they are usually in limited quantities with many not having a distribution outside of the winery because only 3-500 cases being produced. I'm not saying that I don't keep trying Canadaian reds to keep abreast of whats going on in the market but the value and availabilty isn't there.

White wines on the other hand you can find reasonable value excellant Reislings in Ontario of all stages of dryness along with Pinot Gris/Blanc doing very well in BC. Ice wines are what people seem to know about but I find most lacking the acidity to really get the juices flowing and I become bored with them very quickly.

[Nicklasss]

I'm happy you enjoyed and liked that wine. Young, I agree it could feel a bit like Bordeaux, but with age, the roasted red pepper character come up, making clearly New World. But this is seriously an excellent red from Canada, and showing at the same time there is some way to go to compete with the greatest red of the World.

Can you tell me which sommelière from Québec was there, from which restaurant? If I ever go there, I'll discussion with her about that dinner!

Nic

[stefan]

Alex, while you are looking at new world wines, try some Oregon Pinot Noir. Even in France it should be a bargain when compared to comparable Burgundy. Tonight I revisited the St. Innocent Shea 2008. It has emerged from a dormant phase and is running on all cylinders. I am glad that Lucie cannot drink tonight (she had a sedative during a routine but nasty procedure) as I can drink the whole bottle. I thought about saving some for her, but what the heck, we have another 13 bottles of this beauty and stefanJr probably has more (his daughter Shea was born in 2008). I do have some worry that our collective ensemble will not last until Shea is 21. That will piss her off as she loves SI PN, especially from the Shea Vineyard.