Wine Recommendation
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Wine Recommendation

Burrowing Owl Vineyards 2004 Syrah, Estate (Okanagan Valley)

Burrowing Owl Vineyards

2004 Syrah, Estate
(Okanagan Valley)



This is the fifth vintage of Syrah released by Burrowing Owl, one of the first of the wineries on the south Okanagan’s Black Sage Bench to plant this vine. Now, most vineyards in the region include some Syrah. While there is some hesitation about growing a late ripening variety, the winemaking results invariably are satisfying. Burrowing Owl, for one, has made one solid Syrah after another.

This big, dark wine begins with aromas of spiced plums. The wine presents a rich palate of flavours, including plum, black cherries, pepper and cola, with overtones of leather and minerals and a finish of black cherries and liquorice. The abundant fruit rests on a firm texture of ripe tannins. The wine will cellar well for several years but it also is drinking well now. 89 points.

Reviewed July 27, 2006 by John Schreiner.

The Wine

Winery: Burrowing Owl Vineyards
Vineyard: Estate
Vintage: 2004
Wine: Syrah
Appellation: Okanagan Valley
Grape: Syrah / Shiraz
Price: 750ml $30.00

Review Date: 7/27/2006

The Reviewer

John Schreiner

John 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.