Media Coverage

 
Wine Recommendation - Chardonnay 2005

Unlike some of its peers, Noble Ridge limits itself to a focussed portfolio of varietals – two or three reds and two whites and, one day, some sparkling wine. When it comes to Chardonnay, Noble Ridge had the good fortune to employ Michael Bartier as its winemaking consultant for its 2004 and 2005 vintages.

Now the full-time winemaker at Golden Mile Cellars, Bartier has a sure touch with Chardonnay. He made national prize winning examples from that variety earlier in his career, at Hawthorne Mountain and again at Township 7; and he continues on that winning path at Golden Mile.

The 2005 Noble Ridge Chardonnay is another display of Bartier’s style and ability with the well-grown estate grapes at Noble Ridge. The Chardonnay was barrel-fermented and then aged in barrels (French and American) for nine months, with regular lees stirring. Lightly golden in colour, the wine starts with aromas of cloves and fruit, going on to flavours of ripe apples and peaches, with a long finish of citrus and cloves. The wine has a generous mouth-filling texture but with a balance that maintains a refreshing crispness. 89 points.

Reviewed May 8, 2007 by John Schreiner.

THE WINE
Winery: Noble Ridge Vineyard and Winery
Vintage: 2005
Wine: Chardonnay
Appellation: Okanagan Valley
Grape: Chardonnay
Price: $19.99

THE REVIEWER
John Schreiner has been covering the wines of British Columbia for the past 30 years and has written 10 books on the wines of Canada and BC. He has judged at major competitions and is currently a panel member for the Lieutenant Governor’s Awards of Excellence in Wine. Both as a judge and as a wine critic, he approaches each wine not to find fault, but to find excellence. That he now finds the latter more often than the former testifies to the dramatic improvement shown by BC winemaking in the past decade.

© 2007 Appellation America