Two years have passed since our last barrel tasting at Nagging Doubt Winery. We were really looking forward to a repeat visit with Rob Westbury as we scheduled another wine tasting during the Christmas break. Nagging Doubt is known for aromatic whites and velvet smooth red blends.
White Wines
The 2018 vintage whites were up first and did not disappoint. Below are the preliminary tasting notes which may change before the final release.
Nagging Doubt Ortega 2018
The first wine we tasted was the latest vintage of Ortega. The estate vineyard only has about 400 Ortega vines. The early-ripening grapes are planted in the coldest section of the vineyard. The grapes were the first picked from the vineyard on October 4th. Ortega is a German grape variety developed in 1948 by crossing Müller-Thurgau and Siegerrebe.
The wine we tasted was still fermenting and cloudy. Rob made the wine with super slow fermentation and with minimal intervention. The Ortega was fresh and full of acidity from front to back with a nicely balanced residual sugar leading to a full mouthfeel. The wine had an amazing pear aroma and flavour. Rob will probably only release the Ortega wine together with Siegerrebe and Chardonnay in a white blend.
Nagging Doubt Siegerrebe 2018
The wine is made from estate vineyard grapes that were harvested in September. The grapes were subjected to partial skin contact fermentation to increase phenolic content.
The Siegerrebe wine greets your nose with a floral bouquet from the concentrated aromatics and baking spice! Ripe peach, pink grapefruit, honeysuckle, with citrus notes and soft acidity. 91 Points
Nagging Doubt Chardonnay 2018
We were able to taste the Chardonnay with and without oak. Rob uses 100% French Oak puncheons which decreases the wood to wine ratio compared to standard barrels so delivering a lightly oaked wine. The Chardonnay is highly aromatic with a powerful nose and flavour of green apples which will decrease in the final product when the acid level is decreased. This is a perfect Chablis-style wine, dry with balanced minerality.
The Red Wines
Rob has decided that he wants to do an extended ageing program to produce wines with more Old World character. Most BC wineries release red wines
Nagging Doubt The Leap 2016
43% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Franc and 19% Malbec and 14.3% alcohol. The Cabernet Franc and Malbec come from the Red Brick Vineyard managed by Chris Hansen in the South Okanagan and the Merlot from the Hiwanda vineyard in Naramata.
Aged in new, first-pass and neutral French oak for 24 Months with 390 cases produced. The wine was only bottled and released a month ago. Although the wine was a little colder than you would normally serve, it still had a fabulous blueberry and blackberry aroma with lovely floral notes. The wine has great fresh juiciness to the taste from the Malbec with smooth tannins and a soft palate feel from the extra ageing. Flavours of black cherry, plum and blackberry. 93 Points
Nagging Doubt Pinot Noir 2018
The next wine we tried was a barrel tasting of the new Pinot Noir, the first from the estate vineyard. Beautiful floral bouquet of violets. A light Burgundian style pinot with high acidity. A subtle food-friendly wine. The wine ages with 25% new oak, so it
Notes from October 2021 tasting. The light-bodied 11.9% Alc. pinot has a hint of violets together with a Burgundian“forest floor” aromas. Flavours of red cherries and strawberries, smooth tannins, excellent acidity and oaky spices on the finish.
Nagging Doubt Merlot 2018
This was Rob’s favourite wine from the 2018 vintage. The wine will only be the base Merlot for “The Leap”. Blueberries and chocolate just jump from the glass of this still young Merlot.
In conclusion, the Nagging Doubt 2018 vintage wines will be outstanding when released.
Future Plans
It was good to hear that Rob had just completed his three-year Wine Science (Viticulture & Enology) studies at Washington State University.
He plans to maintain annual production at around 1000 cases for the foreseeable future. The 5-acre estate vineyard produces around 700 cases and the grapes for another 300 cases will be purchased from Southern Okanagan vineyards.
We were able to see the original chalk drawings used for the labels on the Nagging Doubt wines. Rob plans to preserve the drawings, frame them and hang them in the tasting room. Some Nagging Doubt drinkers don’t know that the labels are based on hand drawings.
Tastings are by appointment only with most tasting room traffic coming from the local wine tour companies.
For the details of Nagging Doubt’s previous vintages, please see my earlier posts here, here and here.