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Patty's Pinot Closet publishes this newsletter on the enjoyment and appreciation of Pinot Noir. We welcome you to enjoy the newsletters and to share them with others. This, my thirteenth newsletter, covers British Columbia, Canada Pinot Noirs, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir Icewine. Tasting was done at wineries, wine festivals, and during very lovely dinners and lunches.

"Wine Notes"
Wine Evaluation Software

Developed exclusively for me by the Groundspace Corporation to evaluate wines quickly, accurately and with more detail than using a mere pencil. Wine Notes allows a user to evaluate wines using the 100-point scale. Easy to use with touch & tap operation. You can always have it with you because it runs on a Pocket PC. Available now at www.pocketwinenotes.com

Congratulations to UC Davis student, Diane Y. Choo, who is the first recipient of the Douglas Wisor Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship allows a young American winemaker to train at a selected winery in New Zealand during the harvest each year. Ms. Choo will intern for three months at Craggy Range Winery, a specialist producer of single vineyard wines, starting in March 2006.

British Columbia

British Columbia contains four main wine growing areas: Okanagan Valley, Similkameen, Vancouver Island & Gulf Islands, and Vancouver & Fraser Valley. They classify several other wineries outside these areas as British Columbia. This newsletter covers only the first two (Okanagan Valley and Vancouver Island & Gulf Islands) as they are the ones concentrating on Pinot Noir.

Food, Wine & Accommodations

Food

I found the two most representative regional foods to be wild BC salmon and wild game sausage. I´ve found an old recipe for Venison Sausage in "The Sausage Book" by Richard Gehman, published in 1969 by Weathervane Books. It´s a very amusing recipe that includes ingredients such as an onion the size of a NO. 10 Downing Street door knob.

Salmon, especially wild salmon, heads my list of most favorite foods. Add a little Pinot Noir sauce and it´s exceptional and really good for you. They say salmon keeps you young and retards aging. Mark Bittman developed a favorite recipe of mine for Roast Salmon Steaks with Pinot Noir Syrup ~ an easy and delicious recipe.

Recipes

Venison Sausage recipe

Roast Salmon Steaks with Pinot Noir Syrup recipe

Restaurants

Many Okanagan Valley wineries include restaurants. These restaurants usually open for lunch only. Most include very beautiful settings overlooking the lake. Vancouver & Gulf Islands also contain a number of wineries with restaurants open for lunch. In many restaurants, ordering wine by the glass means it comes in a small decanter. I imagine, so you´ll know how much wine you are getting.

Vancouver Island Restaurants

Okanagan Valley Restaurants

Terrace Restaurant at Mission Hill Winery

Accommodations

If you ask the lady at the desk of your hotel for change for a $5 bill and she asks you in return if you want that all in looneys, don´t be surprised. She´s talking about their one dollar coins that have a loon on them.

Sooke Harbor House, Sooke Harbor, BC A beautiful hotel and spa. Breakfast delivered to your room. Complimentary chocolate chip cookies and Port at bedtime. www.sookeharbourhouse.com Salt Spring Vineyards, Salt Spring Island, BC Beautiful little B & B with two rooms beautifully appointed. www.saltspringvineyards.com Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC This beautiful turn of the century hotel has been completely updated. It sits on the inland harbor in Victoria and is a wonderful place to stay while visiting the wineries of Vancouver Island. Don´t miss the afternoon tea. www.fairmont.com/empress Fairmont Vancouver, Vancouver, BC This beautiful vintage hotel makes a great stop-off between Vancouver Island and the Okanagan Valley. www.fairmont.com/hotelvancouver The El Dorado Hotel, Kelowna, BC (Okanagan Valley) Located right at the water´s edge in Kelowna. hoteleldorado.kelowna.com

Sooke Harbor House

Things To Do In British Columbia

We visited the Vancouver & Gulf Islands and the Okanagan Valley for wine tasting. Both of these areas offer, besides winery touring and tasting, vacation paradises. They don´t call it beautiful BC for nothing!

Rose Fountain at the Butchart Gardens

Vancouver & Gulf Islands   Butchart Gardens contains a beautiful sunken garden developed in an abandoned quarry by Jennie Butchart in 1904. www.butchartgardens.com Vancouver & Gulf Island websites to explore: www.winesofcanada.com/bc_island.html

Okanagan Valley

A vacation paradise, in the summer this area offers sports centered around water such as fishing, boating, etc. You´ll also find great hiking close to the towns. At least 18 golf courses exist in the Okanagan Valley for those who golf. In the winter, combine a wine festival with skiing at the Icewine Festival. See the Events section for information on the Icewine Festival.

Pinot Noir Wine Events

British Columbia Pinot Noirs

British Columbia boasts 229 grape growers, 88 wineries, 10 fruit cideries and one meadery. These range from small family businesses to large-volume producers such as Vincore, North America's fourth-largest wine producer. This newsletter covers the Okanagan Valley and Vancouver Island & the Gulf Islands. Now, another reason exists for visiting these areas besides their natural beauty ~ they are producing very good Pinot Noirs.

Okanagan Valley

BC´s largest and oldest wine-growing region. Situated just north of the US-Canada border and 100 miles East of Vancouver. This area experiences a hot, dry climate with low humidity and little rainfall. It contains Canada´s only desert as well as snow-capped mountains, sandy beaches and mountain-fed lakes. Sounds like California, doesn´t it?

The Okanagan Lake fills the valley and covers 87,000 acres with a shoreline length of 168 miles. Many believe the Sea Serpent Ogopogo (called N´Haatik by the First Nations) resides in Okanagan Lake. On the slopes above the lake you´ll find grape vines, wineries, golf courses, and ski resorts. The Okanagan Valley contains six wine growing areas:

Westbank The largest floating bridge in North America connects Kelowna to the Westbank region. Home originally to the First Nation people in the Stekatkolxne´ut Village overlooking the Okanagan Lake. Fur traders used the area as a stopping place in the early 1800´s. A few of the Westbank wineries overlooking Okanagan Lake are:

Mission Hill Family Estate Possibly the most beautiful winery I´ve ever seen. If you get to the valley, you must visit Mission Hill. They possess great scenery and produce terrific wines. www.missionhillwinery.com Mission Hill Winery,  Photo by Pamela Gilane Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery www.mtboucherie.bc.ca Quails& Gate Estate Winery www.quailsgate.com

Eastside Bench This region includes Kelowna and the area south of Kelowna. A few of the wineries in this area are:

Northern Bench This region runs north of Kelowna up to Veron and ­p>

Gray Monk Cellars www.graymonk.com Arrowleaf www.arrowleafcellars.com

Summerland Bench Between the Westbank and Penticton you´ll find the Summerland Bench. Home to many wineries, this region lies across Okanagan Lake from the Naramata Bench. Here you´ll find

Naramata Bench On the east side of Okanagan Lake, the Naramata Bench stretches 20 km from Penticton to Naramata. Home to 13 wineries, the scenery is magnificent in this area. Two of the wineries here are

South Okanagan The South Okanagan runs from the US border up to Okanagan Falls. Here you´ll find:

Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands BC´s newest wine-growing region lies just West of Vancouver. You access the islands by ferry, float plane or commercial airlines. Canada´s warmest year-round wine-growing region boasts 19 wineries, a cidery and a meadery. Most of the Vancouver Island wineries are located near Victoria. Temperatures reach average highs of 70 to 80°F, but evenings can be cool.  In winter the Vancouver Island region is the most temperate of all British Columbia, with temperatures just below freezing. For a list of wineries and more information see: www.winesofcanada.com/bc_island.html For Ferry Information: www.bcferries.com or 1-888-BC FERRY. A few of the wineries we visited were:   Salt Spring Vineyards, Salt Spring Island, BC. www.saltspringvineyards.com Blue Grouse Vineyards, Vancouver Island, BC. www.bluegrousevineyards.com Chalet Estate Winery, Vancouver Island, BC. www.chaletestatevineyard.ca Vigneti Zanatta Winery and Vineyards, Vancouver Island, BC www.zanatta.ca

Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA)

The British Columbia Vintners Association adopted the VQA program as a cornerstone of its wine certification and marketing strategy. Highlights of the VQA Standards are:

• Wines bearing the label designation "Product of British Columbia" must be produced from 100% British Columbia grown grapes.
• Optimum growing standards are encouraged.
• Wines bearing the name of a viticultural area are derived from a minimum of 95% of the grapes grown in the named area
• Where a vintage date is stated on the label, at least 95% of the wine is obtained from the designated year of harvest
• Wines labeled as "estate bottled" are produced from grapes grown in a vineyard owned or controlled by the winery, and all processing steps from crushing to bottling are performed at the winery.
• As a final check on quality, the wine-tasting panel tests and approves each wine.

Most premium wine producers in BC belong to the VQA, but not all.

Icewine

The VQA, defines Icewine as a wine made from vitis vinifera grapes or Vidal grapes that have been naturally frozen on the vine. They then harvest and press the grapes while the air temperature remains at or below -8º Celsius. In most cases, wineries wait for two consecutive nights of weather where the temperature remains at or below -10º to -12º Celsius. This ensures that the Icewine reaches the desired sugar levels to produce the best results. Their desert climate provides a long, hot growing season to ripen the grapes, and very cold winters to freeze them on the vines.

At any given time the entire crop could be lost due to natural elements such as rain, snow, mold, and mildew before the December, January or February harvest. Also, producers get as little as five to ten per cent of a normal yield to work with in any given year. These factors result in an expensive and rare delicacy.

At Calona Vineyards in Kalowna I tasted their Pinot Noir Icewine. It contained incredibility intense aromas and flavors. Hainle Vineyards Estate Winery produced Canada´s first Icewine in 1978. See our events section for information on the 8th Annual Icewine Festival in January 2006.

Calona Vineyards Pinot Noir Icewine

Calona Vineyards Pinot Noir Icewine

Wines

Most of the Pinot Noirs I tasted in these areas were full-bodied with aromas of cherries, plums, and raspberries. I've included some Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris as they are related to Pinot Noir. I've also included two Pinot Noir Icewines as they are a very special wine from this area.

Patty's Pinot Closet lists all the wines reviewed in current and past newsletters. We've included a price taken from the winery website or other retail sources if possible. They are included for relative comparison only, your price may be different. All prices in this newsletter are in Canadiam dollars.

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