Currently Drinking
Six VQA and four "Crafted in BC" Wines Reviewed
Welcome to the latest installment in the series called Currently Drinking that reviews and profiles more recent vintages of pinot noirs and other select wines from British Columbia.
B.C. VQA Wines
VQA stands for Vintners Quality Alliance a regulatory wine appellation system in British Columbia (and Ontario) that guarantees a wine’s authenticity (100% locally grown), grape variety, vintage and has met specified quality requirements.
Tantalus Pinot Noir Reimer Vineyard 2022
The Reimer vineyard in East Kelowna and the pinot noir wines created from that portion of its grapes have had an interesting and varied history. In 2006, Doug and Dawn Reimer of the long established Canada-wide Reimer transportation company, moved to the Okanagan to establish a vineyard and winery. The 6 acre pinot noir part of that vineyard is planted to Dijon clones: 115, 667, 777 and Pommard.
In order to see if the vineyard and its terroir was capable of producing quality wines, the fruit was first sold to other wineries, notably Foxtrot and Meyer Family Vineyards, up until 2016. The resulting wines were well received, won medals and were favourably scored by wine critics. So, in 2016, the Reimers launched their own winery called Mirabel Vineyards. The first vintage was made by Matt Dumayne at Okanagan Crush Pad. By 2018, Mirabel had its own production facility and David Paterson, the winemaker from Tantalus Vineyards began to make the Mirabel wines and direct work in the vineyard. These first Mirabel pinot noirs also won awards at B.C and Canadian wine competitions.
Over this time, from 2010 to 2018 B.C. pinot noir lovers were given the rare opportunity to collect, taste and compare pinot noir wines from the same vineyard interpreted by four very notable British Columbia winemakers: Matt Dumayne from Okanagan Crush Pad (now Haywire), David Paterson from Tantalus Vineyards, Gustav Allander from Foxtrot Vineyards and Chris Carson from Meyer Family Vineyards. Other variables such as vintage, vine age and vineyard management come into play of course but it’s interesting to taste and speculate whether the physical terroir of the vineyard comes through in some or all of the final wines. Do decisions and preferences in the winery and vineyard supplant the Reimer vineyard’s resident terroir?
In my own experience, having tasted Reimer vineyard pinot noirs a few times over the years from Foxtrot and Meyer as well as from Mirabel, my impression has been that the vineyard tends to product lighter, airy, very elegant pinot noirs with persuasive fruit flavours and aromas, reminiscent to me anyway, of Volnay in Burgundy. in that time, it seemed to me that there was a signature elegance of Reimer vineyard that came through somewhere in the wines though they were shepherded by different winemakers.
More recently due to changes at the winery, Mirabel has suspended releasing pinot noirs under its own label. Once again, the grapes are going elsewhere. So, I was delighted to find this Reimer vineyard wine from Tantalus in order to have another opportunity to make comparisons to various other wines sourced from Reimer vineyard fruit.
In an upcoming post I will be doing a vertical tasting of four of the Reimer single vineyard pinot noirs from Meyer Family Vineyards, so stay tuned for that one.
Initially, this 2022 Tantalus Reimer wine shows berry fruit including mulberry, some pomegranate and a light shroud of vanilla and baking spice tinged oak. Overall it seems to land more in the Tantalus style i.e. it leads at this point in its life, with soft tannins and barrel notes. The fruit is currently mostly upstaged by the bigger savoury notes but it’s early days and it seems built to last and develop. The Reimer vineyard does make an appearance in the delicately textured, floating finish showing raspberry and mulberry. Hold for 3-5 years to develop. B- ~ 90 Points Current Vintage & Availability Trade Sample
Joie Seacrest Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022
Part of Joie Farm Winery's Single Vineyard Collection, this is an especially interesting BC pinot noir from the Secrest vineyard in the South Okanagan near Oliver.
There are generally, very few pinot noirs of interest, south of McIntyre Bluff in the Oliver and Osoyoos area. The climate is markedly warmer than Okanagan Falls and other points North in the Okanagan and is less sympathetic to pinot noir's preference for cooler quarters. But pinot noir is a marginal type of character and here again, seems to have found a home perched just outside the mainstream.
The warmer climate in this part of the Okanagan generally produces higher ripeness and alcohol levels along with related lower acidity that better suits varieties like syrah, cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc, all of which thrive there. This is not usually an area where pinot noir shows its best, preferring as it does, restrained alcohol levels and a fresher acidity. But elevation can change everything.
Planted in 1999, the Secrest Vineyard is one of the higher vineyards in the valley, sitting at 487 meters (about a 100m higher than the town of Oliver itself. )with a south-west aspect. Elevation as it affects temperature, is an important factor as growing degree days decrease at a rate of approximately 100 per year for every 100m rise in elevation. Additionally, the combination of vineyard orientation and higher slope position can produce a longer period of shade during the day, so the growing environment at Secrest tends to be cooler than those vineyards closer to the valley floor.
Scented with lightly herbal notes mingled with cherry and red plum, the flavours show both baked and fresh fruit flavours, a touch of garrigue and a seam of minerality. There's a clear presence of warmer, southern climate fruit flavours, almost grenache-like in mid palate with light Mediterranean herbs but then the supple, balanced finish kicks in with elegant light touches of pomegranate, snapped green twigs and minerality. It's an interesting, balanced fusion of southern warmth and pinot noir elegance, complexity and length, all built on a restrained 13.1% alcohol. This wine was included in the 2024 British Columbia Wine Awards Top 50 and won double gold at the 2025 Great Northwest Wine Awards. B- to B ~ 91 Points Current Vintage & Availability
Trade Sample
Joie En Famille 2022 Smethurst Vineyard Pinot Noir
Sourced from Joie Farm’s estate vineyard on the Naramata Bench, Smethurst is the oldest of their estate vineyards. Joie has long had the “En Famille” tier in it’s lineup but they are now starting to release single vineyard wines both individually and as an extension of “En Famille”.
The nose shows forward notes of raspberry, blackberry and darker fruits with some good intensity. The flavours follow though with dark, juicy authoritative fruit including mulberry. The structure is compact and retains some tannic grip but the rich berry fruit notes really linger. Should show even better in two to four years when the fruit emerges further. B- ~ 90 Points Current Vintage & Availability
Trade Sample
Grey Monk Odyssey Pinot Noir 2021
Part of Gray Monk’s premium Odyssey series, which the winery says typically involve usng grapes with extended hang time for deeper flavor and are aged in barrels for up to 12-24 months.
Begins with savoury notes of pomegranate, dried cherry, cloves, warm earth and some floral. An herbal earthiness leads the flavours along with pencil shavings and raspberry. The finish is subdued but has some length, with well-knit, balanced drifts of walnut shell, dried cherry and cranberry. The grapes used for this wine were sourced from a variety of Okanagan Valley vineyards. C+ ~ 88 Points Current Vintage & Availability
Solvero Estate Chardonnay 2022
It was in the Garnet Valley that the Sartor family, Andrea and Bob Sartor and their son Matt, dreamed that vineyards could flourish. In 2014, they acquired thirty acres of land 20 minutes North of Summerland that was a steep, forested mountainside. It took two years to clear the land and prepare it for planting. Their experienced and talented winemaker, Alison Moyes has over a decade of Okanagan Valley winemaking experience that includes five vintages at Stoneboat Vineyards and six vintages at Liquidity Wines.
The nose is shy but reveals clean, bright lemon, with a touch of oak and lees. The flavours are similar, showing caramel, pear, golden apple and apricot with a distinct touch of wood that is well married to the fruit. The finish is long, slightly lush, touched with hazelnut and marked with pinpoint balance. This wine won double gold and white wine of the year at the All Canadian Wine Championships B- to B ~ 91 Points Current Vintage & Availability
Trade Sample
Solvero Rosé 2023
Shows a pale pink rose petal colour in the glass, with faint but lingering cherry, ripe strawberry and apple on the nose. Here is a rosé that transmits the constituent varietal throughout not just in the tail of the finish. It's as though the red pinot noir intensity dial had simple been turned down to rosé level. The flavours say red fruit as well as being airy and citrusy. It's crisp and well balanced with a touch of pine/ underbrush in the finish. Unusual and delightful.
B- ~ 90 Points Current Vintage & Availability
Trade Sample
Crafted in B.C. Wines
“Crafted in B.C.” wines are a temporary category created to help support the B.C. wine industry whose vineyards suffered from disastrous cold snaps that hit the Okanagan and Similkameen vineyards in 2023 and 2024. These weather events severely damaged most of the planted vines. This meant that for many wineries, there would be very little wine to sell from 2024.
To help BC wineries, the government relaxed regulations stipulating that VQA wines could only be made using B.C grapes. So for the 2024 vintage B.C. VQA wineries were allowed to bring in grapes or juice from outside the province with the final wines made by the winery.
Quails’ Gate Field & Flight Pinot Noir 2024
Pale with a ruby rim the nose shows some simple cherry, burlap, raspberry and wood notes. The palate shows slightly herbal cherry and wood again with a slightly relaxed acidity. It’s correct for pinot noir expression and it all ties together simply but well. It does show some trailing pleasant pomegranate fruit in the finish. Sourced from Oregon grapes. C+ ~ 88 Points Current Vintage & Availability
Code Wines Grower Series Rosé Cuvée 2024
A Provence style, pale rose petal colour in the glass, it first shows notes of light grapefruit, citrus peel, rose petal and lime. Similar on the taste, it’s floral, drifting, airy and balanced with very clean flavours. The grapes utilized here are grenache, cinsault and syrah, sourced from Washington state. These mirror the varieties found in Provence rosés and the flavours are reminiscent of wines from that region. The finish shows an agreeable brisk acidity, along with long, descending citrusy notes of rose petal and ripe pink grapefruit. B- ~ 90 Points Current Vintage & Availability
Trade Sample
Code Wines Grower Series Syrah 2024
This 2024 Syrah was crafted from grapes grown in the Rattlesnake Hills AVA in Washington State. There’s a pleasant, moderated intensity here with rich syrah notes of licorice, light garrigue and restrained alcohol. The flavours lean more Rhone style than Australia. It shows very approachable licorice, dark plum, cassis and prune fruit flavours with a touch of pepper in the core. Along with the rich, dark, syrah fruit there’s also a sense of openness and unsculptured, balanced, immediacy in the flavours that some would call “real wine”. B- ~ 90 Points Current Vintage & Availability
Trade Sample
Code Wines Grower Series Pinot Noir Cuvée 2024
Very pale with a ruby rim, there’s a light drift of floral lilac and cherry blossom with black earth on the nose. The flavours are delicate but persistent notes of mulberry, light marionberry and brandied cherries. The airy texture is the most striking thing here, a floating wave of flavour like spider silk, with delicate lacy fruit. The fruit for this wine was sourced from Washington State’s Lake Chelan AVA. From clones 115, 777, 113, and UCD13. B- to B ~ 91 Points Current Vintage & Availability
Trade Sample