Mission Hill Winery
2006 Reserve Pinot Blanc, Lakeshore Vineyard(Okanagan Valley)
This is Mission Hill’s first single vineyard wine and that’s a surprise. Since 1995, the winery has acquired close to 1,000 choice acres of vineyard throughout the Okanagan, always choosing to make multi-vineyard blends. In 2006, winemaker John Simes found qualities that stood out about the Pinot Blanc from the winery’s new Lakeshore Vineyard, not far from the winery on Mount Boucherie.
The aromas and texture of this wine suggest this is an excellent terroir with lots of minerals in its volcanic soil. The wine begins with subtle fruit salad aromas of cantaloupe and honey dew melons as well as apples. The fleshy palate tastes of apples and melons as well. The lively – but proper – acidity gives this wine a crisp finish. A finely crafted wine and one of the Okanagan’s best Pinot Blancs. 90 points.
Reviewed October 4, 2007 by John Schreiner.
Other reviewed wines from Mission Hill Winery
Mission Hill Winery 2006 Reserve Riesling Fritz Hasselbach Collection (Okanagan Valley)John Schreiner 10/4/2007 |
The Wine
Winery: Mission Hill Winery |
The ReviewerJohn 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. |