Sperling, Pinot Noir, Okanagan Valley

Red with clear edge. Pinot fruit, toasty oak and peanut nose. Red fruit is good but dilute and quickly fades. Insipid. Label describes “limestone rich slopes”..... not sure where, as Okanagan is mainly volcanic terrain.

My first Pinot from British Columbia. Ann Sperling brings 25 years of international wine making experience to her family's heritage hillside vineyard. Wine made solely from that terrain. Hand harvested and sorted bunches fermented in small lots. Slopes rich in limestone highlight minerality and structure of the wines. Large format French oak barrels. Still drinkable but past its prime. The odor is odd. The flavour is mediocre. Whoever put the drinking window closing in 2018 was sorely mistaken.

2012 may prove to be the benchmark year by which to judge all BC wines. Put simply, this wine is incredible although it will benefit from a year or two in the cellar. Tight at open, the wine showed its real character with an hour to breath. Currents and black berry come through. Medium depth in color, the wine has legs that would do ZZ Top justice. This wine is no light weight with 13.3% alcohol, you would have to …