2007 Vintage
Tasted: July 2010
This is without a doubt the most expensive chardonnay in the Okanagan Valley and I had to know what it was like. At $65 for the 2007 vintage it is far far from cheap, and to top it off, the new 2008 vintage is only available as a magnum 1.5L bottle, making it roughly $130 — for an Okanagan white wine that’s expensive.
Knowing the price I saw it fitting to pair this up with something decent, so I cooked up an amateur foodie feast consisting of a pan cooked halibut with roasted yellow pepper puree and Okanagan apricot salsa.
I was on the mark with the pairing, but how was the wine?
Without any prejudice I will say that this chard is fantastic. It’s got nice acid, a bit of malolactic fermentation butteriness without it being too much, and a wild cacophony of other flavours. All in all this might be one of my favourite chardonnays from the Okanagan, and it is certainly a nice blend of sweet and tart.
On the winery end they give it a cellar life of 3-5 years, and in terms of process this chardonnay is blended from the best 6 barrels in the batch that all came from the same cooper with the wooden staves all coming from The Troncais Forest.
The wine itself is nicely structured with butter and honey on the nose while the palate brings a mix of granny smith caramel apple and kettle corn. The finish brings a nice lingering toasted oak with some citrus notes and acidity. All in all this is a great chard, but the real question is whether or not it’s worth it for the price.
At the end of the day I think this is a wine for chardonnay aficionados. At $65 it is at least $30 more than the La Frenz Reserve or Blue Mountain Reserve Chardonnays which are both excellent. While this one could arguably be worth the money I feel that the extra money spent brings slightly diminishing returns. In short, at almost twice the price you are not getting twice the quality of wine; however, if you are a die-hard “chardie” then you will definitely want to try this one.
At the end of the day this is a great wine for chard fans with some extra digits in the pocket book, but if you’re not big on chardonnay or are experimenting it may be best to buy two bottles of something else.
Don’t get me wrong, I love this wine, but know what you’re getting yourself into!
