CedarCreek Estate Winery

At CedarCreek, the top tier wines are released under the “Platinum” designation. This came about some years ago when a judging panel at the Okanagan Wine Festival, impressed with one CedarCreek wine, created a special Platinum award for it.

Beginning with the 1998 vintage, the winery has released its best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay as Platinum, and has recently added a few other varietals to this ranking. CedarCreek’s Pinot Noir has emerged to become one of the best from the Okanagan, vintage after vintage. To the winery’s chagrin, it could release no 2003 Platinum Pinot Noir after the grape skins were saturated with smoke during that summer’s forest fires. Winemaker Tom Di Bello managed to strip much of the smokiness from the 2003 wines but the fix also stripped other aromas and flavours. Those wines went into generic blends.

In the 2004 vintage, the winery was able to make 764 cases of Platinum Pinot Noir. Di Bello fermented the grapes (many whole bunches) in small stainless steel tanks, employing a technique he calls pneumattage to turn the cap gently several times a day with bubbles of air. The wine then aged 15 months in French oak (67% new barrels, the rest one year old).

His gentle touch with the fruit invariably yields a plush, velvety style of Pinot Noir. This wine has seductive aromas of cherries and spice, followed by flavours of cherry and strawberry. The full texture gives the wine a sensual finish, with lingering sweet fruit. 90 points.

Reviewed October 23, 2006 by John Schreiner.