Notes from a dinner tasting of British Columbia wines.

2001 Poplar Grove Riesling - this wine never made it to any stores. They made
around 50 cases from vines they were about to rip out to plant Pinot Gris, and
49 of them went directly to restaurants, with one escaping to my cellar. It is
a bit of a curiosity, as apparently the restaurants had been bugging the
winemaker to produce a 'crisp' food wine. I can just hear him now - "They want
acidity, I'll give them ACIDITY!!" While showing no green notes as it would if
harvested too early, the wine when first bottled resembled a young Savenierres,
about which one is usually well advised to stay away for 6-7 years lest the
enamel on your teeth suffer. It has toned down a bit now to the point where the
acidity is, shall we say, brisk, and the nose a good varietal one, but I intend
to leave it a couple more years......I through it in just for fun and to let
people taste a curiosity.

2001 Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris - this seemed pretty tame after the searing PG.
Clean, medium bodied - I'm sure the impression of softness was relative!

1994 Quails Gate Private Reserve Chardonnay - another interesting one tendered
somewhat tentatively by its owner as a refugee found in someone's closet or
something. The colour was dark, and the nose was (ahem) mature, but lacked any
element of maderisation, so we plunged ahead and tasted it. It was toasty,
smooth and interesting. Good one to try with a group, and in better shape IMO
than many California chards from that vintage. Jeff Martin started at QG in
1994 and may have had a hand in this wine.

2001 La Frenz Viognier - made by Jeff Martin, former winemaker at Quails Gate
and before that in Australia. Nice melony nose, soft and smooth on palate with
enough acidity to carry it off against some pretty interesting food. I like
Jeff's whites and generally buy the Semillon, Viognier and Pinot Gris.

2000 Quails Gate Family Reserve Pinot Noir - the next two wines were served
together. warm ripe raspberry nose, medium bodied and a fair bit of acidity
balanced the wine.

2001 Cedar Creek Platinum Reserve Pinot Noir - the nose on this was simpler,
sweeter, and a bit indeterminate in terms of exactly what it resembled, and the
wine had a sharpness caused by terminal acidity just a bit too high for it to
carry off gracefully. Somewhat to my surprise based on previous experience, I
preferred the Quails Gate.

1997 Poplar Grove Reserve - a blend of merlot and cab franc (about 2:1). For a
reason that seemed to make sense at the time, but which I have since forgotten,
the blend of the best barrels of these varietals seems to mature more quickly,
or at least present as more forward than either of the components do on their
own. Generic Bordeaux nose with some green pepper coming out as it opened in
the glass. Medium to full body, excellent balance and length.

1999 Cedar Creek Platinum Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - toasty nose with a bit
of pepper, medium body and fair length. Not complex.

2000 Black Hills Nota Bene - these are the heavyweights from BC - almost as if
they intentionally go for concentration over finesse. The nose was a good
cabernet nose with some mint, but there was a strange elastoplasty thing
happening on the palate. The finish was long. Not bad, but I hope it develops
past the strangeness - it didn't show that earlier in life, and I suppose it
could just be bottle variation.

2002 Black Hills Nota Bene - first bottle corked. Second one was very good - a
blend of 52% cab sauv., 30% merlot and 18% cab franc, it showed some intriguing
cassis aromas amidst the obligatory vanilla and cedar. Full bodied with
excellent concentration and very good length, I'd vote this as the best wine
they have made so far!