Scorched Earth Winery won three medals at the 2020 BC Lieutenant Governor’s Wine Awards and I was really looking forward to trying the new releases.
Here are the tasting notes for the three wines.
Scorched Earth Bearly Blushing Rosé 2019 ($19.95)
The organically grown Estate Pinot Noir was hand-selected, hand-picked and hand-sorted after sharing with the resident bear family. The Rosé is made from 100% Pinot Noir grapes and is not blended with any other grape and is fermented only in stainless steel.
Alcohol 12.2% | pH 3.71 |TA 5.9 gm/L|RS <2 gm/L
A glorious salmon coloured Rosé with lovely notes of strawberry, grapefruit, watermelon, lemon peel and rhubarb. Crisp, lush and completely dry with refreshing acidity. 91 Points.
The Bearly Blushing Rosé won a bronze medal at the BC Lieutenant Governors-General Wine Awards.
Scorched Earth Pinot Noir 2016 ($26.95)
100% organically grown from the estate vineyard, aged 21 months in 100% French Oak – 25% New / 75% Neutral. The wine is BC VQA Okanagan Valley.
This is a blend of 115, 828 and 777 Pinot clones. Each cluster was hand-selected and inspected 3 times to ensure only the best of the young Pinot Noir grapes made it to the barrel. 95% whole grape fermentation with Burgundian yeast.
Alcohol 13.5% | pH 3.73 |TA 5.6 gm/L
The Pinot is a pale ruby red colour with a medium body and aromas of violets, black cherries, smoke and a hint of vanilla and cinnamon.
On the palate black cherry, blackberry, red plum and the earthiness and classic Pinot Noir forest floor backbone. Firm tannins and well-balanced acidity lead to a long lingering finish. 13.5% Alcohol. 93 Points
Scorched Earth Syrah 2018 ($20.95)
An elegant medium-bodied elegant Rhone-style wine. The Syrah grapes were sourced from a premium vineyard in Oliver. Handpicked and hand-sorted with ageing in only French oak – 30% new. The wine is BC VQA Okanagan Valley.
Alcohol 13.5% | pH 3.48 |TA 6.5 gm/L
A beautiful deep mahogany red colour.
A floral bouquet of violets mixed with black cherries and blackberry pie.
Medium-bodied with flavours of blackberry, blueberry, chocolate and mint with a hint of white pepper, velvet smooth tannins and a long finish. 91 Points
This is a great deal at $20.
The 2016 vintage won a silver medal at the BC Lieutenant Governors General Wine Awards.
Please visit the Scorched Earth Winery website to order any of these excellent BC wines.
Harvest 2020
2020 was such an interesting year. The year started off great. It was the year of all years considering you’ll only see 2020 once in a lifetime. But perfect vision it was not. The spring was rainy and too long and the summer was great but too short.
Fall came fast and we were looking forward to a perfect harvest. The forecasters predicted sun, sun, and more sun! But instead, it was sun, rain, rain, and rain. We were so lucky and were able to pick our vineyard clean before the unprecedented snowfall and cold snap.
The crop this year was smaller partly due to our resident bear and mother nature. For some reason, the weather made for smaller grape bunches. Here’s to 2021! Going to carry on doing the same thing and praying for great weather, oh and no restaurant closures!
Previous Releases
For the tasting notes on the previous vintages please see – Scorched Earth Winery for Pinot Noir