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Wine Recommendation
Quails' Gate Estate Winery
2006 Chasselas-Pinot Blanc(Okanagan Valley)
One of two Chasselas growers in the Okanagan, Quails’ Gate has been growing the variety since 1961. The initial planting was an accident. The Stewart family, which operates this vineyard, had ordered a white labrusca variety and the nursery shipped Chasselas in error. By the time the mistake was detected, the Stewarts understood how fortunate they were to have one of the first vinifera varieties in the Okanagan. They added more Chasselas in 1975 and 1983.
The knock on 100% Chasselas wines is that they can be mild in personality, even bland. Quails’ Gate winemaker Grant Stanley has given the wine both character and backbone by blending Pinot Blanc. The grapes were whole bunch pressed and fermented very cool, to capture the maximum fruitiness.
The outcome is a delicious summer wine. Beginning with the aroma of green apples, it is vibrant on the palate, thanks to lively acidity and to more flavours than a fruit salad. One tastes limes, grapefruit, melons and peaches. The finish is crisp and very refreshing. The winery made 3,600 cases. 88 points.
Reviewed July 15, 2007 by John Schreiner.
Other reviewed wines from Quails' Gate Estate Winery
 2006 Stewart Family Reserve Chardonnay (Okanagan Valley)John Schreiner 3/19/2008 |
 2005 Family Reserve Pinot Noir, Estate (Okanagan Valley)John Schreiner 5/23/2007 |
The Wine
Winery: Quails' Gate Estate Winery |
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. |