I appreciate a good wine tasting, the ability to sample from a whole collection, before committing to a bottle, and finding your favourite. And today we were at one specifically dedicated to British Columbia’s ever-growing wine scene.
This year Swirl BC has revamped their offerings and have transformed into a Wine Expo. “A day-long celebration of BC wine, including the latest releases and in-depth discussions with the diverse and talented producers who crafted them from grape to glass”. (As taken from the press release).
New was the Wine School with 4 seminars that complimented the walk around trade tastings. Sadly, I missed the former, but was able to attend the latter. This featured more than 45 BC wineries participating from 4 different BC wine regions.
Held at the Pan Pacific Hotel and conventions, in one of their ball rooms. A luxurious setting, with an exorbitant number of crystals dangling in rows overhead. It certainly dressed up the scene as you walked into the room and smelled the heavy scent of wet dog coupled with the rich acidity of the wines.
I made the mistake of coming on an empty stomach, and was left struggling. In years past, I recalled there being small bites and charcuterie to nibble on, so was anticipating that. Sadly I was left stuffing my mouth with dry and bland crackers in between sips of wine to balance out all the spitting I refused to do. (Outside of not wanting to waste wine, I also don’t like the act of spitting, due to my aversion to salvia).
After checking in and claiming an empty wine glass, guests were invited to free roam the space. Speaking to the producers, growers, and owners. My goal was to learn more about what makes their wine and varietals different from all the others. Arranged alphabetically from A-Z, it was easy to pick out and seek out a brand that you were most interested in.
The following are a few of the wines we did try with a couple of notes that I picked up, but they were much more I had to leave untasted. In truth I find such tastings challenging. I am overwhelmed by the options and really cannot give any one wine the proper time. From a reporting stand point I prefer a seated seminar or a focused tasting with a smaller number of producers.
The following is a list of all the participating wine vendors, and you can see why I might be overwhelmed. Between wanting to visit my favourite wineries and see what they are up to, to tasting from one that I have never heard of.
1 Mill Road Winery, Arrowleaf Cellars, Backyard Vineyards, Bartier Bros Vineyard & Winery, Bench 1775 Winery, Blasted Church Vineyards, Blue Grouse Estate Winery, Clos du Soleil Winery, Corcelettes Estate Winery,
Da Silva Vineyards & Winery, Dirty Laundry Vineyard, Fort Berens Estate Winery, Garnet Valley Ranch, Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery, Gold Hill Winery, Gray Monk Estate Winery, Haywire Winery, Hester Creek Estate Winery, Hillside Winery, JoieFarm Winery, Kalala Organic Estate Winery, Lakeboat Vineyard & Winery, Little Farm Winery, Little Straw Vineyards Estate Winery, Lunessence Winery & Vineyard, Maverick Estate Winery, Moon Curser Vineyards, Moraine Winery, Mythology Vineyard, Noble Ridge Vineyard and Winery, Nostalgia Wines Osoyoos Larose, Painted Rock Estate Winery, Phantom Creek Estate, Poplar Grove Winery, Quails’ Gate Estate Winery, River Stone Estate Winery, Sandhill Wines, SpearHead Winery, Stag’s Hollow Winery, Stoneboat Vineyards, Tantalus Vineyards, Terralux Estate Winery, Terravista Vineyards, Therapy Vineyards; Tightrope Wineryf Tinhorn Creek Winery, Unsworth Vineyards, Upper Bench Estate Winery, Vanessa Vineyard, Vasanti Estate Winery, and Wild Goose Winery.
We started randomly at Little Straw Vineyards and tasted their new riesling with its apple notes.
Haywire has new labels and has rebranded there winery and tasting room to match this new motif.
Joie‘s A Noble Blend was a European style wine that was predominately Gewurztraminer, so sweet with fresh fruit and lychee on the nose.
Moon Curser’s second year release rosé had a dark colour, but was so light and dry that it surprised me. Their name comes from them smuggling gold and cursing at the moon, which gave light and made it harder to hide.
Moraine had a Provence style wine that was fruity, salty, and different.
Lunessence has a lovely to drink sparkling that was well balance and beautifully done.
Therapy got its name to pay homage to its members who were associated with the medical field. We thought their wines well priced for its caliber.
Spearhead Winery featured a new Chardonnay that was bottled three weeks ago. The wine was steamed, instead of toasted for a less smokey flavour, and instead one that is more honeyed and crisp. They also have a Pinot Noir from a single vineyard for a smooth and clean finish.
Blasted Church had eye catching labels the likes of nuns spraying painting graffiti on a brick wall, announcing that “Jesus saves”. The label incapsulates the wine within with its unexpected smokey finish. This would go great with sharp cheeses and cured meats.
Garnet Valley Ranch was excited to announced that they have re-worked their location and tasting room. We tried their traditional method sparkling, which had a salty saline quality to it.
The Gehringer Private Reserve Pinot Noir had a perceived sweetness due to its neon pink hue. It reminded me of cream soda with hints of red fruit and pomegranate.
Lakeboat had a canned white that does not taste like it. We thought it a great ready to drink travel option.
Unsworth’s Prosecco is made using the Charmat method, where it is mixed in a stainless steel pressure tank together with sugar and yeast.
Painted Rock’s iconic flagship red featured all four Boudreaux grapes. I got a salty glazed ham flavour from this.
Tantalus had some of the best Rieslings in Western Canada, and today they were only featuring it because they want people to recognize that.
The Bartier Bros had a piquette rose that surprised and delighted, given how lychee-forward it was.
And our last taster was from Backyard Vinyard, we took what we could as the ugly lights came on, and they flickered to alert us of the end.
In truth, I like the idea of such tastings, but do find it challenging to write and review. Too much to try and you only get 10% from each table. Going forward I will be opting out of these or at minimum reviewing the experience as something I engaged in for fun, and not necessarily to learn from. In writing this review now I realize my notes are sparser, and that I have not retained much due to all the bouncing around done.
