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Wine Recommendation
Salt Spring Vineyards
2006 Pinot Gris(Gulf Islands)
The fresh, whimsical labels used by Salt Spring Vineyards provide a snapshot of Salt Spring Island’s breezy, artistic culture. The female figure on the label, floating above the island clad just in a diaphanous veil, was inspired by an island resident with a PhD. When she was getting nowhere with a protest against logging on the island, she got the forestry company’s attention by doing a Lady Godiva ride along a major Vancouver street. Of course, Salt Spring Vineyards launders the story by describing the label figure as the earth goddess.
With a vineyard only 3 ½ acres in size, Salt Spring Vineyards purchases grapes from elsewhere on the island, from nearby Vancouver Island and from the Okanagan. This Pinot Gris is made exclusively from Salt Spring Island grapes.
The wine reflects the terroir well. It is fresh and crisp, with flavours of citrus and green apples. Winemaker Paul Troop softened the often sharp island acidity by letting the wine go through malolactic fermentation. Even then, enough acidity remains to lift the zesty flavours and provide a clean finish in what is an excellent seafood wine. 88 points.
Reviewed July 17, 2007 by John Schreiner.
Other reviewed wines from Salt Spring Vineyards
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The Wine
Winery: Salt Spring Vineyards |
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. |