We first stopped in at the 100-year-old Naramata Heritage Inn to visit with always hospitable Quentin Kayne - currently GM of the restaurant/Cobblestone Wine Bar.

Quentin set us up with a fantastic flight of local wines/cider (not to mention some great food):

Orchard Hill Red Roof Cider (on tap at the Inn)
I’ve been a fan for a while now, but I finally had the chance to visit their fruit stand last week (they only have 2 types of cider). The Red Roof is my favourite cider in BC - made with 5 or 6 varieties of apples, very dry and tart with some subtleties. Very refreshing.

Lake Breeze ‘08 Pinot Blanc
Always delicious. Bright, fresh and minerally. Apple, lime citrus, and asian pear characters. Tied with the Road 13 Chenin Blanc as my favourite BC white for the summer.

Lang Farm Reserve ‘07 Riesling
My first time trying this Riesling, and I really enjoyed it. Some petrol notes with red apple, lime and spice. Good acid, some richness and a touch of well balanced sweetness. I’m definitely going to give it another try (BCLDB link).

Nichol ‘08 Pinot Gris
My first time trying this vintage - rich and full bodied style with enough acidity. Quite perfumey - interesting spiced pink grapefruit note. Fantastic Pinot Gris.

Stonehill ‘06 Esprit de Gewurztraminer
Unique little dessert wine made port-style by adding a Gewurztraminer marc (brandy made from grape skins) to fermenting Gewurztraminer grapes. Fairly obvious grappa/marc flavour but also perfumed apricots. Not something I would find myself drinking but nice to try.

A brilliant tasting for a very hot Okanagan afternoon, especially considering all wines (save the Esprit) are available for less than $20.

After lunch, Q took us over to Marichel Vineyards, which could quite possibly take the medal for the most pristine property in a crowded bench of beautiful views. Owner Richard Roskell grows only two grape varietals, Syrah and Viognier, and makes a tiny amount of wine from them (we’re talking less than 500 cases annually). I admire his focus on working with two varietals well as opposed to stretching himself thin making 10 different wines. Richard took us into his vineyard and explained the erratic nature of Viognier (he calls it completely enigmatic) and touched on his experience with planting density (his Viognier is relatively narrowly spaced). He also briefly talked about how he uses integrated pest management to control vineyard bugs (basically encouraging predators to eat vine pests) and how he hasn’t sprayed pesticides in his vineyard for over 4 years. We revisited their ‘08 Viognier and ‘06 Syrah, which I both enjoyed, but we lucked out as Richard let us try the freshly bottled ‘07 Syrah…



Marichel ‘07 Syrah
This was literally bottled 1 week ago, so I expect it to be a little different than it will be on release. Quite dark and concentrated with some medium tannins. A great smokey meatiness with dark black fruit, and chocolate. I can’t wait to try this again in 6-8 weeks as I’m sure it will evolve.

Finally we popped in to the Van Westen household to join Rob, Tammi, and some friends/family to sip their perfectly apt aromatic whites in the shade of the cherry orchard. Rob took us for a walk through the orchard and made sure we left loaded up with a heaping box of delicious cherries.

Something about the quality of Naramata life that often makes me completely envious…