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Wine Recommendation
Therapy Vineyards
2005 Chardonnay(Okanagan Valley)
Therapy Vineyards opened in 2005, taking over the winery premises formerly operated by Red Rooster (when the latter winery moved to larger quarters). The owners, primarily Albertan members of the Opimian Society, were so inspired by the vineyard’s pastoral setting they called it Therapy. The winery followed up on this theme by designing labels remarkably like the Rorschach ink blots used in psychotherapy.
Fortunately, this quirky marketing is supported by the talents of a third-generation winemaker, Australian Marcus Ansems, whose family once owned Mount Langhi-Ghiran. Ansems has spent most of this decade in Canada, helping Creekside in Ontario through its first four vintages. He also did a vintage at Blasted Church in the Okanagan before taking over at Therapy last year.
His training and heritage shows in this Chardonnay. Light gold in colour, the wine starts with lemony and buttery aromas which carry through to flavours of citrus and other tropical fruits, very nicely integrated with oak. The crisp acidity gives the wine a tangy, refreshing finish. 87 points.
Reviewed December 20, 2006 by John Schreiner.
The Wine
Winery: Therapy 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. |