Honestly, how good are BC wines these days?

 

All we would say is that BC wines have come a long way!  What we would like to do is to sell you some of BC's best and let your palates be the judge.  In the meantime, we would like to share with you some blind tasting results (see below), and you can draw you own conclusion.  We should always take any blind tastings with a grain of salt, but nonetheless it is an interesting read.

 

CANADA-BORDEAUX CHALLENGE BY VENDANGE INSTITUTE, OTTAWA
On October 15, 2005, the Vendange Institute (a wine and spirits institute) organised a public blind tasting of 18 wines from vintages ranging from 1998 to 2002: six Meritage blends from British Columbia, six Cabernet/Merlot from Ontario, as well as six red Bordeaux, including four 2nd growths, one 5th growth and one St. Emilion Grand Cru Classe.

And, yes, our very own BC wines did very well - placing five wines in the top 10.  BC's CedarCreek Estate Winery garnered first place with its 2002 Platinum Reserve Meritage, followed by Ontario's Colio 2000 CEV Reserve Merlot, BC's Burrowing Owl 2002 Meritage, BC's Sumac Ridge 2001 Pinnacle, and the top Bordeaux wines took fifth and sixth place with a 2000 Chateau Lascombes and a 2001 Chateau Pontet-Canet.  Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron (which retails for over $100) only managed 11th place.  Other top 10 BC finishers included Osoyoos Larose 2002 and Mission Hill's Oculus 2002.

 

BELLEVUE WINE CHATS, WEST VANCOUVER
At one of our Bellevue Wine Chats events in October 2004, we invited approximately 40 wine aficionados and trade professionals for an evening of fun and game, including comparing BC’s offerings to other “benchmark” wines from Burgundy and Bordeaux.  At the Burgundy blind tasting, all the BC Pinot Noirs were clear winners.  In the order of favourites, the ranking was:

1. CedarCreek Platinum Reserve Pinot Noir 2001

2. Gehringer Brothers Optimum Pinot Noir 2002

3. Quails’ Gate Family Reserve Pinot Noir 2001

4. Louis Jadot Bourgogne Burgundy 2001 (France)

5. Willamette Valley Vineyards Barrel Select Pinot Noir 2001 (Oregon)

After having some fun with Pinot Noirs, we moved onto Bordeaux/Meritage blends.  With prices ranging from $8.29 to $50, this was a really fun process to watch!  After people had decided their high- and low-cost wines, we then asked everyone to rate them by which ones they liked most.  The results?  Inniskillin Dark Horse Vineyard Meritage 2002 and the Sumac Ridge Pinnacle 2000 shared first place.  Dunham Cellars Trutina 2000 from Washington State took third.  Even our BC value wine (Okanagan Vineyards Cabernet/Merlot 2003, $8.29) ended up topping a 2000 Bordeaux, namely Frank Phelan St. Estephe Medoc 2000, which came dead last in the group vote.

When we set up to do this, we were only interested in an objective comparison.  What we all got at the end was a pleasant surprise.

ANNUAL BORDEAUX TASTING BY GARAGISTE, SEATTLE
On July 16, 2005, John Rimmerman of Garagiste Wines (a top wine retailer based in Seattle) hosted a blind tasting of 16 Bordeaux wines from the 2002 vintage. The tasting included all of the first growths, several super-seconds, a number of other highly rated wines from the vintage, and one "ringer" (unannounced to the participants).  There were approximately 50 participants, ranging from novice tasters to wine writers to winemakers, and here is how the wines finished in the voting:

1. Pape Clement

2. Mouton Rothschild

3. Latour

4. Osoyoos Larose   (the "ringer" from British Columbia!)

5. Palmer

6. Leoville Barton

7. Lafite Rothschild

8. Margaux

9. Lynch Bages

10. Haut Brion

11. Cheval Blanc

12. Pichon Lalande

13. Leoville Las Cases

14. Cos D'Estournel

15. Vieux Chateau Certan

16. Montrose

 

© 2005 Bellevue Wine Company