Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars
2006 Pinot Gris Cream Label(Okanagan Valley)
With 563 acres planted in British Columbia, Pinot Gris has succeeded in nearly every one of the province’s appellations, particularly in the Okanagan where the Blue Mountain style – dry and crisp - is, arguably, the benchmark. A handful of producers finish Pinot Gris with residual sugar; a few age the wine in oak. But for the most part, Blue Mountain defines the mainstream for British Columbia Pinot Gris. Cream Label is the winery’s regular offering. The reserve wines, a little more concentrated and aged longer, are released as Stripe Label wines.
Made from gently processed grapes, this wine delivers the variety’s sometimes delicate flavours. This wine begins with aromas of citrus. On the palate, there are flavours of pear and citrus, a classic example of this defining style of Pinot Gris. The crisp finish leaves the wine deliciously refreshing.
Blue Mountain’s Pinot Gris is a staple on many restaurant wine lists in British Columbia because this focused but unobtrusive wine is such an able companion to seafood.
Reviewed October 5, 2007 by John Schreiner.
Other reviewed wines from Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars
Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars 2006 Pinot Blanc Cream Label (Okanagan Valley)John Schreiner 10/4/2007 |
Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars 2006 Chardonnay Cream Label (Okanagan Valley)John Schreiner 9/12/2007 |
Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars 2005 Pinot Noir Cream Label (Okanagan Valley)John Schreiner 5/17/2007 |
The Wine
Winery: Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars |
The ReviewerJohn Schreiner has been covering the wines of British Columbia for the past 30 years and has written 10 books on the wines of Canada and BC. He has judged at major competitions and is currently a panel member for the Lieutenant Governor’s Awards of Excellence in Wine. Both as a judge and as a wine critic, he approaches each wine not to find fault, but to find excellence. That he now finds the latter more often than the former testifies to the dramatic improvement shown by BC winemaking in the past decade. |