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Wine Recommendation
Osoyoos Larose
2003 Le Grand Vin(Okanagan Valley)
This is the third release from Osoyoos Larose, a joint venture winery formed by Vincor International Inc. of Canada and Groupe Taillan, the owner of Château Gruaud-Larose of Bordeaux. Only Bordeaux varieties are grown in the vineyard, located near Osoyoos. The winemaker is Bordeaux-trained Pascal Madevon.
The 2003 Le Grand Vin is 75% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc. Aged 16 months in French oak (60% new barrels), the wine is deep in colour, with aromas of blueberries, currants and vanilla. The texture is concentrated, with flavours of berries. The ripe but firm tannins suggest the wine will cellar well at least until its 10th birthday, revealing sweet fruit and elegance with bottle development. Score: 88 points, with potential to move to 90+ with a few years of bottle age.
Reviewed November 13, 2005 by John Schreiner.
The Wine
Winery: Osoyoos Larose |
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. |