Bottleneck drive

OMG how time flies!!!

There was a promotion by the wineries in Summerland. If you went by and said bottleneck drive when purchasing wines last Sat then you got 10% off the first 2 bottles you bought. Sarah and I had always talked of headin up to visit these wineries and this just provided that extra impetus (along with the fact that I had my first Sat off in who knows how long). The wineries we visited had all been tried by us at previous wine events but it was good to do the compare and contrast thing with each of them.



The first winery visited was Silk Scarf. They had a red blend called Ensemble (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir), Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Viognier.

Silk Scarf Viognier - creamy texture, yummy tropical fruit with a bitter undertone and mineral backbone. A touch hot in the throat.
Drinking the Gewurtraminer right now and am marinating some scallops with it as well. Lychee and dried apricot on the nose even rose petal. Nice tartness carries the citrus and mango/mandarin orange fruit onto the palate with a juicy yet spicy finish. It is oxidized since I opened this a few days ago but is still showing reasonably well. I am going to try save some for the scallops tonight but there is only a glass and a bit left from the other night. I am planning to put some curry paste onto the scallops and sear them. The marinade I will reduce and add some sweet bell pepper and dried mango and then sweeten it with some clover honey and pour over top of the scallops. As a side dish I think maybe add a touch of cumin to a simple tomato pasta and Voils... dinner is served.

I just finished writing my first midterm in Lipids and Biomembranes so if this seems like a bit of a regurgitation without much thought I apologize. I am not one for proper grammar when my brain is already fried.

It has been over a month since we have gone to the bottleneck drive now. I have been very lax in my updating of this blog. In that interest I will highlight the wineries and not the wines for the rest of the bottleneck drive trip.
Next on the list I think was Thornhaven. Disappointing to be sure. The barrel reserve Pinot (their flagship wine I think) is oxidative and too light for such a great aspect as they have. Their Chardonnay was good, the dessert wines showed best in my recollection. The Nectar del Sol Riesling (Ice wine?) for the price ($25-35 I can't be sure) was excellent and well worth the buy. The best patio of the trip with cheese boards on offer while overlooking the lake, the Summerland bench and Penticton.

Dirty Laundry was the funnest winery on our tour. The story behind the actual building as both a Chinese laundry fronting for a brothel in back has been excellently captured in the label of sinuous steam with almost subliminal female forms rising from an ironing table. The music interesting and funky on a very traditional Greek or Italian style patio with grape vines trellissed overhead. They have made their name on Gewurztraminer with sweet, dry and single vineyard bottlings. Unfortunately, I almost feel like the wines are a victim of their own success in that the vineyard manager has started overproducing for the sake of sales. There could be more flavor and richness on the palate if they thinned their crops even more. Then these would be truly stellar wines. The Rose, Merlot and Cab Merlot showed better than the whites and we ended up buying one of each of them.

Onward and upward to Hollywood and Wine (? or is it Vine). Anyway, a new organic winery, very small production, tiny renovated tasting room that looks as if it could have been a storage shed for landscaping tools. It is run by a lovely couple, Neil and Betty, who are transplants from the movie industry. Neil still drives dressing rooms etc around for productions and the autographed pics of his favorite celebs adorn the walls of the tasting room. The wines were tasty but a surer hand would benefit them in the winemaking department to bring them from OK wines to good and even great wines. We bought the Pinot Gris and Cranky Old Man Meritage blend.

Lastly, was the best of the bunch, whether because of the amount of wine drunk by now or because the wines and the people came through the squiffiness to create such an impression. 8th generation is simply that a winemaking family with presumably the 8th generation running underfoot to become the eventual proprietors. The wines we tasted hit all the marks I want to see in each of those varietals
Pinot Gris - fruity with creamy texture and mushroomy/minerally subtlety
Riesling - 3 different bottlings each with a different sweetness; all well balanced and delicious
Pinot Rose - dry with strawberry notes and creamy finish.
Merlot - rich color and full bodied, firm tannin that accentuates the luscious fruit nicely. This was the only wine with any potential downfall in that it was almost candied fruit instead of ripe. A sign of the winemaker's hand but still yummy.
Stefanie and Yolanda, in the wineshop, are wife and mother to the winemaker who was given the kids for the day "for a vacation" whether that be vacation for Stefanie or for her husband was left up in the air.

Next, the Riesling that rocks my world and the Sandhill winemaker's dinner.