Tinhorn Creek Vineyards

Tinhorn Creek was the Okanagan’s first winery to switch all of its production (except for icewine) to Stelvin® closures and this is the winery’s first Cabernet Franc under screw cap. The winery expects the wine to age well for five or six years from the vintage date. However, it will monitor the wine’s progress, with progress reports on the winery website.

Tinhorn Creek has begun to make a name for its Cabernet Franc, a good thing considering that the winery grows a lot. In this vintage, it harvested 50 metric tones and made 4,300 cases. The grapes were cold-soaked for three days before adding yeast. After fermentation, the wine went into two to four year-old American oak barrels for 13 months. The wine was aged in bottle for nine months before release. That shows commendable concern for consumers even if it is a long time to sit on inventory.

This is a big, friendly red, dark ruby in colour, with aromas of vanilla, spice and cherries. On the palate, there are flavours of plum and raspberry, with just enough tannin to give the wine an earthy, chewy texture. 87 points.

Reviewed August 2, 2007 by John Schreiner.