|
|
Wine Recommendation
Black Widow Winery
2005 Merlot-Cabernet, Naramata Bench Vineyard(Okanagan Valley)
The strip of vineyards along the Okanagan’s Naramata Road now are among the highest priced grape growing land in British Columbia. There are three reasons for this. There are 19 wineries jammed along a route than can be driven in 30 minutes, making this a magnet for wine touring. Second, the scenic values are exceptional. Third, the proximity of immense Okanagan Lake keeps autumn frosts at bay, enabling the growers to hang fruit for maximum ripeness and flavour. Black Widow owner and winemaker Dick Lancaster picked the grapes for this wine fully ripe at 26 Brix on October 14, 2005.
Lancaster is a veteran home winemaker who turned professional after buying this steeply sloped, seven-acre vineyard in 2000 as a weekend retreat with his family. He built a gravity flow winery in 2006 to make, so far, only wines from his vineyard.
This is Black Widow’s flagship red, a bold wine aged 20 months in French oak, with oak aromas and flavours supporting bright fruit notes of cherries and currants. The firm structure and the good acidity ensure that this wine will age well. 88 points.
Reviewed October 20, 2007 by John Schreiner.
Other reviewed wines from Black Widow Winery
 2004 Merlot-Cabernet, Naramata Bench Vineyard (Okanagan Valley)John Schreiner 10/23/2006 |
The Wine
Winery: Black Widow 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. |