1993 Seven Hills Columbia Valley Cabernet , Klipsun Vd. - red fruit and just a hint of vinyl in the nose, soft tannin and a hint of astringency at the end and decent fruit in the middle and toward the end, with good acidity. Still alive and tasty. This wine brought up whether a wine is defined by origin of grapes or location of winery - is this a WA or OR wine. We concluded it was WA because all the grapes were grown there, even though the winery is over the border in OR. I still wonder if a wine was blended from some grapes from each state with the winery in OR, would the consensus have been different.
1996 Spring Mountain Miravalle la Perla Chevalier - a Bordeaux blend (87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc) that had a rich sweet cocoa nose, very Bordeaux in style, medium body, mature and drinking well now. Not as widely framed as many CA wines, it should continue to drink well for a number of years, Worth considering as a ringer in a blind Bordeaux tasting.1999 Ch. d'Armailhac - the nose very similar to the Spring Mountain gave us pause for thought. The wine has good fruit, soft tannin, good balance and drinks beautifully right now. Very nice.
1998 Ruffino Modus - a bit of a switch here, with a super Tuscan 50% sangio, and 25% each merlot and cabernet. Darker colour, nice lush smoky nose - what there was of it, as the wine seemed a bit closed, and narrowing a little on palate, at least from what one expected based on the nose, ending with a little sweetness. May need more time.1988 Pichon Lalande - excellent Bordeaux nose with vanilla and currant, the wine still compact and somewhat tannic, with adequate fruit and some life yet.
2000 Kettle Valley Old Main Red - a BC wine blended from the usual Bordeaux varietals and it did an amazing job of fitting into the line up. Big sweetish nose with cassis and anise, the only tip off that we weren't again in France being the 21 months in American oak. We were thinking maybe CA or WA, and were pleasantly surprised to discover it was a local wine.1996 Prado Enea Muga Rioja Gran Riserva - big jammy herbs and fruit in nose, and big wine on palate with lots of fruit and a smoky long finish, with lots of acidity but ending sweet. Nice wine, surprisingly drinkable now and with good future.
2003 Mt. Boucherie Riesling Esiwein - I am generally not impressed with domestic sweet wines, which seem to feature a mass attack of sugar and simple concentrated fruit flavour over any complexity, but this one showed some restraint. Light to medium amber colour, a sweet nose, but neither Riesling nor Botrytis apparent, more apples than anything else, and medium sweet in the mouth. Not a bad showing, and a far cry from the usual sticky designed to part Japanese tourists from ridiculous amounts of money.