Ciao Bella Winery

Ciao Bella is a family-owned winery, and if you could guess by the name, they do wines in the Italian style! They have a cute garden area where we were able to do our tastings outside. There was food for purchase, and plenty of eating and sitting areas to enjoy food and wine.

Kalala Organic Estate Winery

We really like Kalala and always take friends and family here. The story behind the name as well as the wine itself is wonderful. Here’s a detailed post from one of our visits.

Black Swift Vineyards

We discovered Black Swift Vineyards through the hatch wines. Their outdoor patio and picnic area have views of the lake, and they are also dog-friendly. Here’s a detailed post from our first visit.

Fitzpatrick Family Vineyards

Fitzpatrick is technically Peachland but it’s a perfect stop to add to a “West Kelowna” wine tour. You can do a tasting (we love their bubbly) as well as eat at the restaurant with views of the lake. It could be a way to start your West Kelowna wine tour, from the most southerly point and head back toward West Kelowna.. however, with the views, you’re best to finish here.

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Latest tastings:

• 2012 Gevrey-Chambertin Louis Latour
• 2014 Martin’s Lane Riesling
• 2011 Cool Climate Syrah from Cline
• 2004 Cabernet – Merlot Tinhorn Creek

2014 Martin’s Lane Riesling

This was their inaugural vintage. The grapes are from the Naramata area, which is a warmer climate than here in Kelowna. 900 cases. It was a typical Riesling, aromatic, and I vividly remember the tertiary notes. It was incredible, and would definitely be something we’d reach for again. We still have to go check out their tasting room.

2012 Gevrey-Chambertin Louis Latour

Hello, I’m in love. This wine is likely one of my new favorite Pinot Noirs. This Gevrey-Chambertin was elegant, with notes of cherry and earth. We paired it with steelhead trout for dinner.

2011 Cool Climate Syrah from Cline

This Cline was kicking around in our cellar and we were worried it was heading past its prime. We picked this up from a road trip many years ago, and it’s moved with us many times. Not sure why we didn’t tuck into it sooner, but it was fun to open it this year, as an early tribute to our 10 year wedding anniversary. Lots of black fruit, earth, and tobacco notes.

2004 Cabernet – Merlot Tinhorn Creek

We had this Miradoro. We saw it on the menu and were intrigued given that it’s a 2004. We found out they had discovered a case in their back room. It was delicate so there was no decanting involved. It drank beautifully. We got notes of plum, vanilla, and cassis.

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For this Member Exclusive Experience at CedarCreek Estate Winery, you had to book a time slot for your pickup, and it was nice that it was one household per time slot. We got a “tour guide” or ambassador to take us around to the various stations. We started on the 2020 vintage of Sauvignon Blanc. It was fresh, bright, herbaceous, reminiscent of Marlborough style SB. A small percent of this wine was aged in oak, which is not common for Sauvignon Blanc.

After the first tasting station, our guide took us by golf cart to the upper area of the winery. Here we got to visit the chickens and learn about the composting program at the vineyard. Then we headed into the vineyard to try Pinot Noirs from their new collection called Aspect. The last stop was in the building above the back parking lot where we got to try the Pinot Gris and learned about the beehives. We got to revisit one more wine, so we chose the Aspect Pinot Noir. They served us in the Aspect House, a members-only area.

It’s fun to reflect on how much CedarCreek has changed over the last few years. When we first joined, the tasting room was very rustic and quaint. Now, they have some giant structures like the new tasting room, restaurant, and Aspect House. I love the style and design, and definitely want to incorporate some of the elements into our own home.

Our other CedarCreek pickup party experience here.

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As per the WSET website for Level 2, this qualification is intended for beginners wishing to learn about a wide range of wines or those seeking to build on the introductory knowledge gained with the WSET Level 1 Award in Wines. You’ll gain knowledge of the principal and regionally important grape varieties of the world, the regions in which they are grown, and the styles of wine they produce. Through a combination of tasting and theory, you’ll explore the factors that impact style and quality and learn how to describe these wines with confidence.

WSET Level 2 in Wine happens across 3 days/classes for us, offered through Fine Vintage Ltd. Level 2 is an intermediate course and covers grape growing, winemaking, the classic grapes, tasting and so much more. Just like in WSET Level 1, it was in-person classes with an instructor who took us through the theory and tastings. If you’re interested in taking WSET courses, we took ours through Fine Vintage and had a great experience. Use our referral link to get 10% off your registration.

Fine Vintage did a pretty good job outlining their pandemic protocols, so we felt there were enough measures in place for us to comfortably attend the in-person classes. In theory, wine tasting classes sound super fun and super easy. You’re just drinking wine. It is anything but! You’re tasting a lot of wine, thinking, processing, and making tasting notes for each. The senses will tire after a while.

It is one thing to do self-study with wines, but I absolutely appreciated the in-person classes. Our instructor, Mike Lee, is a DipWSET, FWS, which means he knows his wine. It was great practice to attempt our own tasting notes, and then calibrate with someone who has a much more distinguished and experienced palate. That made the classes well worth it. The second benefit was learning about the mental models and maps for remembering the various grapes and types of wine.

This blog post was a long time in the making, and we have since learned that both of us have passed the WSET Level 2 Award in Wines. We are confident that we passed with distinction but have to wait until we get the official results from WSET. I’m excited to get our certificate, as well as another pin. We still have to figure out what we want to do with our WSET certifications, but I am entertaining the idea to pursue Level 3.

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WSET has a systematic approach to tasting wine. Every grape has certain characteristics on the nose and palate, so we’ve been working to train and align our taste buds to the smells and tastes. It’s been fun trying our favorite grape varietals from around the world, mostly from France.

Since we’ve started tracking our wines and tasting notes, here’s a list of the wines we’ve had recently. They are in no particular order.

• Veuve Cliquot Rose Champagne
• William Fevre Chablis
• Chartron & Trebuchet Pouilly-Fuissé
• Kettle Valley 2014 Syrah
• Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais AOC
• M. Chapoutier Côtes-du-Rhône

We loved the 2014 Syrah from Kettle Valley Winery. We will need to find a Côte-Rôtie to do a comparative tasting but based on our WSET studies so far, we think this Syrah is reminiscent of Côte-Rôtie AOC as this Syrah follows the traditional method of co-fermenting with a small amount of Viognier (5%). Lots of black fruit and pepper notes on the nose and palate. It is supposed to have floral aromas, but we simply may need more practice to detect that on the nose. The Syrah was amazing and we thought it provided tremendous value for its price point. We had it with lasagna.

Justin hunted around for the Veuve Clicquot Rosé Champagne because I was on a Rosé champagne/bubbly kick and they’re not the easiest to find around here. We brought this back from a trip somewhere last year. It’s non-vintage and made with Pinot Noir grapes. It was dry with light body. We got strawberry and citrus on the palate. There was a touch of biscuit, but overall we found ourselves wanting more body and toasted notes. Wouldn’t go out of our way to pick up this Rose Champagne and would opt for regular Veuve Clicquot as it’s dry and more complex.

We did our first comparative tasting with the Pouilly-Fuissé and Chablis. It was inspired by a local fishmonger, Codfathers, advertising fresh West Coast oysters. We picked up 2 dozen. It was my first time ever shucking oysters and decided to mark the occasion with a nice white. It’s a lot of work shucking oysters when you don’t know how to shuck oysters.

The Chablis was the preferred pairing with the oysters because it was more acidic, with green fruit and lemon vs. the Pouilly-Fuissé which was creamier from the use of oak and had notes of stone and tropical fruit.

Funny story: I made the mistake of confusing Pouilly-Fuissé with Pouilly-Fumé at the liquor store. Originally, I was hoping to test Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc for the oyster pairing. Pouilly-Fumé is Sauvignon Blanc grapes, and I thought we were tasting that vs. the Pouilly-Fuissé.

The Pouilly-Fuissé has medium body, stone/tropical fruit notes, and complexity from being fermented in oak. Pouilly-Fumé or Sauvignon Blanc is not typically put on oak, because its fresh and herbaceous characteristics are easily overwhelmed. Pouilly-Fuissé is made from Chardonnay. So we were tasting two Chardonnays because Chablis is also made from Chardonnay.

It was a trip tasting the Pouilly-Fuissé because I was looking for Sauvignon Blanc qualities when we were actually tasting a Chardonnay. Justin finally corrected me and we had a good laugh. I don’t know how I’ll live it down when I was trying to convince him against his taste buds. I should be able to remember the difference between Pouilly-Fuissé and Pouilly-Fumé for a very long time.

I think I will design a wine journal for us to keep track of wine that has some semblance to the WSET method as well as the way we’d want to document our wine experiences.

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