It's hard to find a good Pinot Noir at a good price. It's a notoriously fickle grape to grow and manage, as such overheads in the vineyard and winery are higher than other varieties. Sub $20 Pinots are often tanic and thin. Not too pleasant, and need to hide behind a robust pasta or a spicy pizza. It's easy to spend upwards of $50 for Pinot, and even some of those are a disappointment, especially when you look at your empty wallet. At the other end of the sea-saw though, a good Pinot is sublime, complex and worth the search and expense.
So this 2006 Mission Hill Pinot Noir, a VQA wine from the Okanagan could have fallen either way. At $22 it's got a lot of competition. Does it hold up or wash out? But before I got to the wine, I had another conundrum. Should I put the arty-farty picture on the blog, or the one with the gold medal? Fear not, I put them both in for your visual enjoyment.
On to more serious fare. The nose; meaty, slightly unripe berries mix with richer plumb and raspberry flavours, with a little vanillan oak. So far so good. I was enjoying it.
In the mouth I found nice berry flavours, most of the greenness had gone, replaced with spicy plumb and integrated oak and a lovely lingering length (now there's a three letter acronym for you).
This was a wonderful surprise at this price point. I have not had a lot of experience with Okanagen Pinots, but I'll certainly be searching out a few more when I'm in the mood for a silky smooth Pinot in the future. I would have been happy paying an extra $5 for this one.
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