2006 Jackson Triggs Proprietor’s Reserve Meritage

I was in Osoyoos a few weeks ago visiting some family, and wanted to visit at least one of the wineries while I was there.  Given that it is February, most were closed.  So, I picked one of the very few wineries in the Oliver-Osoyoos area that I had not already been to: Jackson Triggs.  When you first drive up, the winery looks like a warehouse (the facility houses the Vincor offices and distribution center for western Canada).  However, once you get up the driveway, it is actually quite a nice facility.  The lady who served us was incredibly friendly and quite knowledgeable.

In the past, I have avoided the big wineries for the reason that I can always find their wines back in the lower mainland.  In other words, I usually focus on the small wineries and the wines that I won’t be able to find anywhere else.  But this trip was worth the effort.  I enjoyed every wine I tasted and bought two bottles, including the 2006 Jackson Triggs Proprietor’s Reserve Meritage.

I opened the bottle this past Saturday and shared it with some friends.  As expected, I greatly enjoyed the wine.  It was not as strong as I expected, but a very smooth wine.  Overall, excellent.

2006 Fork in the Road Oliver Block 249 Red

My wife found this wine a couple of months ago.  We were heading to a house party, and thought we shouldn’t arrive empty handed.  I admit, I had never heard of Fork in the Road Vineyards before.  However, we ended up not opening the bottle that night, and so it sat in our wine rack until last night.

I have been looking for more information on Fork in the Road Vineyards; however, as they don’t seem to have a website, it’s been difficult to find on the internet.  I did find a posting on the Appelation America website that says that Fork in the Road is operated as a virtual winery by Mission Hills Family Estates (click HERE to read more).

In any case, I would definitely recommend this wine.  It was a great wine.  A real surprise for a wine I knew so little about.  I would definitely recommend this wine and will try it again.

2007 Twisted Tree Six Vines

This past weekend, a few friends and I shared a bottle of Twisted Tree’s Six Vines from their 2007 vintage.  I have previously tasted and shared my experience with the 2006 vintage, and was incredibly impressed (see my post here).  That being said, I had high expectations for this bottle.

To recap from my earlier post,  the Six Vines is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, carmenere, petit verdot, and malbec and each of the wines was fermented in oak barrels.  In this vintage, I noticed much more of the oak than I did in the 2006.

The additional oaky flavour was a bit of a surprise to some of us.  But for those of us who enjoy oaky wines, it was a pleasant surprise.  For those of us who prefer sweeter wines (ie. the ladies), it was not as nice.

I have also found lately that a few 2007 wines have not been as great as their 2006 counterparts.  Not sure if this is a fair assessment, but it appears that 2007 may not have been as great of a year in the Okanagan Valley, while 2006 was possibly one of the best.

By holding this wine to its 2006 counterpart, it was not quite a good.  But overall, still a great bottle of wine.  Perhaps this one just need a little bit more time.

2007 Road 13 Syrah

I bought this wine at Road 13 during our wine tour this past May. I am a big fan of Road 13 wines (previously Golden Mile Cellars), so I have been anxiously awaiting a reason to taste this one. With the recent engagement of my best friend, I figured the time had come to twist the cap off.

I have to start off by saying that I was extremely disappointed. But I also must admit that we questioned whether the wine had turned or not. Additionally, I am not consistently a fan of Syrah wines. This wine was sitting in a wine rack in my dining room for the last couple of months, while I waiting for the time to drink it, so I’m not sure if the light maybe had an effect. If you have a different experience, please let me know how your experience was.

Perhaps I anticipated too much, but I still think it should have had more to it.  I intend to try this wine again in the future to be sure.