Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars

Right from its opening in 1992, Blue Mountain has enjoyed a cult following in British Columbia. Its wines are always on allocation, either to restaurants or to clients who cling to their place on the mailing list by never skipping the annual invitation to order. The winery tasting room is open only by appointment. The owners are not reluctant to turn away visitors without appointment, usually because few wines are available for tasting at any one time.

Blue Mountain gets away with its aloofness by offering solid wines that are well-priced. It starts with exemplary grape growing. Owners Jane and Ian Mavety have grown grapes here since 1972. Beginning in 1986, they converted the entire vineyard primarily to Burgundy varieties. They opened the winery with a range of dry table wines when nearly all their peers in British Columbia then offered off-dry Germanic whites.

The winery has been consistently successful with Chardonnay, capturing pure, clean fruit through gentle processing. The hand-picked grapes are whole-cluster pressed with the stems still attached, thereby avoiding the mangling of a crusher-de-stemmer. A portion of the juice is barrel-fermented in French oak, which leaves subtle oak backing up toasty and citrus aromas and flavours. The wine, moderate in alcohol, is full on the palate but not heavy, with an elegant balance. 90 points.

Reviewed September 12, 2007 by John Schreiner.