Currently Drinking

Three Pinot Noirs + Red Blends: Nota Bene, The Judge, Paradis, Reserve 7, Athene

This is the latest in a series called Currently Drinking that reviews and profiles more recent vintages of pinot noir and other select wines from British Columbia. This installment reviews three pinot noirs and five red blends tasted recently. You can now click-to-listen to an audio version by me, of the review.

Roche Wines Vig Clone 777 Pinot Noir 2022

This pinot noir is part of the Roche VIG (vigneron) series that features collaborations with Canadian artists to create the ‘Artist’ Series for wines from the Naramata bench sub-GI.

The colour here is a pale garnet throughout. The nose discloses vanilla, baking spices, mushroom and forest floor. This wine is near the end of its drinking window as it was designed to be enjoyed even when first released (other pinot noirs from Roche are meant to be aged longer) but this actually provides a good opportunity to taste pinot noir tertiary flavours. In the glass, the flavours are similar to the nose showing mushroom, rotting wood, barnyard, dried strawberries, cloves and cedar. It’s particularly fine textured with gliding, soft tannins It’s a sign of the winemaker’s skill that the acidity, fruit and tannins have matured and settled in tandem, preserving the wine’s balance while showing the interesting flavour changes that aging can bring. 88 Points ~ C+ Current Vintage & Availability

Synchromesh Stormhaven Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023

The Synchromesh motto is “powered by riesling” and wines from that varietal have been so successful for them that the quality of their pinot noirs, sourced mainly over the years from several growers, often get overlooked. Storm Haven is Synchromesh’s 107 acre home vineyard that is farmed using a holistic approach. A general mingle of savoury edged fruit notes including cherry, mulberry, blackberry skin and marionberry with nicely tucked acidity shifts into a light bodied, subtle finish, that lingers effortlessly. Worth holding for a few years to see how it assembles further. 89 Points ~ C+ to B- Current Vintage & Availability Trade Sample

Carson Pinot Noir 2022

Pale and garnet throughout, this is a savoury pinot noir showing distinct, silky, transparent notes of pomegranate, beetroot, mulberry, autumn leaves, dried earth, barnyard and rose hip on the aromas and flavours. There's poise in the long, focused, evolving finish. Sourced from a 2 acre vineyard block on the Naramata Bench from clones 115 and 667. It spent 11 months in French oak barrels 33% of which were new. 90 Points ~ B- Trade Sample

Black Hills Hiatus Collection Nota Bene 2024

In 2023 and 2024 BC vineyards were mauled by killer frosts that decimated grape production in virtually every wine region in the province. Wineries releasing what are termed “replacement wines” (AKA Crafted In BC wines), for the 2024 vintage have naturally striven to maintain the quality and house style of their wines despite having to use stand-in grapes from outside the province. Given Nota Bene's star reputation, the winemakers must have felt great responsibility to deliver consistency and interest in the 2024 vintage and they seem to have succeeded. The fruit for this vintage was sourced from the Rocks District AVA on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley.

The progression of initial fruit flavours tracks with the grape blend of 43% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon and 23% Cabernet Franc. It starts with rounded black cherry fruit, black plum, cedar and adds dustier, more herbal fruit notes of elderberry and pine cone. The alliance between merlot and the cabernets has contrasts but doesn't disturb the overall unity. It's a little grippy when first opened but did unwind further to add blue fruits and loganberry to the black fruits (minus blackcurrant) as well as fine grained, charcoal tannins, all in precise balance. The finish extended out showing a well structured fuse of fruit and the contributing tannins.

Nota Bene has always reminded me of the more savoury, compact, linear, Spanish, Italian or Coonawara cabernets versus those from California, Bordeaux or elsewhere in British Columbia. The 2024 Nota Bene is very much in line with that impression and is of a piece with the 2023 Nota Bene tasted recently, despite that wine having a varietal mix lead by cabernet sauvignon instead of merlot. It's early days for the 2024 and should repay keeping over the next decade. 91 Points ~ B- to B Current Vintage & Availability Trade Sample

Azhadi Paradis Red Blend Okanagan Valley 2022

Azhadi Vineyards is a relative newcomer to the Okanagan Valley. The winery officially opened on February 26 of this year but began in 2018, when Mike and Janet Azhadi took over the Ex Nihilo Winery property located between Kelowna and Lake Country.

Long time Okanagan winemaker Jim Faulkner oversees winemaking at Azhadi, having previously been involved with winemaking at Mt. Boucherie, Church & State, Summerhill Pyramid, and Cedar Creek.

Pale as a pinot noir with a slightly garnet rim, the aromas here show integrated cherry confit, mulberry, plum, strawberry, charcoal, a tease of ripe berries as well as an unusual impression of precision and balance. Though structurally very much on the lighter side, the flavours include clear, pure notes of cherry, bramble, red plum, vanilla, mulberry and chestnut. The finish is refined, supple and drifting. Fine grained tannins idle with the savoury fruits. It was aged for twenty-two months in French, American and Hungarian oak, thirty-seven percent of which was new. Sourced from vineyards in the Okanagan Valley, the varietal blend has deliberately not been disclosed by the winery but, overall it brings to mind a lighter, balanced St. Julien from the Medoc. 92 Points ~ B Current Vintage & Availability Trade Sample

Hester Creek The Judge 2022

The Judge is crafted from old vines dating back to 1968. This blend is 47% merlot, 34% cabernet franc, 17% cabernet sauvignon, 1% petit verdot, and 1% malbec. Starting with warm autumn leaves, this moves into rounded, savoury edged baked cherry, plum, and baking spice. The flavours are fairly developed, showing resolved velvety tannins, graphite, savoury black cherry, cedar, and vanilla. Harmonious and balanced, there’s a very agreeable partnership here between the roundness of the merlot and the dustier fruit of cabernet franc. 91 Points ~ B- to B Current Vintage & Availability Trade Sample

Township 7 Benchmark Series Reserve 7 2022

The blend in this Reserve 7 is 56% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 9% Cabernet Franc, coming from two warm South Okanagan vineyards: Blue Terrace in Oliver; and Raju in Osoyoos. The wine spent 12 months in barrel, was blended, and then returned to barrel for 12 more months, in a mix of French and American oak barriques (10% new). Fresh, rounded Bing cherry opens with good tension and graphite tannins. Bright cherry and red plum partner gracefully with more austere darker cabernet sauvignon notes. There’s a long, precise, linear finish with fine textured, shale-like tannins that should elaborate further over the next few years. 90 Points ~ B- Current Vintage & Availability Trade Sample

Burrowing Owl Athene 2022

This opens initially ripe, with cushioned plum, boysenberry, florals and a touch of pepper. After a short decant it smooths out, lengthens, the tannins fade, and it unfolds to show the winemaker’s design. The varieties involved here are syrah and cabernet sauvignon, a combination seen most often out of Australia. Both play a part in the flavours. Syrah leads with a dollop of lilac, pepper, and dark plum, with cabernet sauvignon providing black fruit and contributing graphitic tannins with some minerality. The result makes for a linear, balanced, integrated, and supple sip that drinks fine now but should develop further. 89 Points ~ C+ to B- Current Vintage & Availability Trade Sample

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