20th Anniversary Sparkling Release
December 2023
20th Vintage Sparkling Wine 2020 “The One”
We’ve tasted it and this wine is ready now and we wanted to make it available to you in time for New Year’s Eve! Made with 75% Chardonnay grapes and 25% Pinot Noir grapes, this wine spent 30 months on the lees (sur lie) to add beneficial textures and flavours to the wine. Benoit and his team also used traditional yeast requiring regular hand riddling while it rested for over 2 years. It is now time to enjoy this beautiful wine and with just 500 bottles available of this special edition it will be gone fast.
Full Tasting Note:
Tasted by: Katherine McEachnie, DipWSET, CWS, FWS, Master of Champagne & IWSC Champagne Judge
Date tasted: December 15, 2023
Location: Naramata Bench, BC
Appearance:
Clear and bright. Medium straw colour with soft gold hues. Persistent quickly rising fine pinpoint bubbles forming a thin edge of foam around the edge of surface.
Nose:
An expressive lively and multifaceted nose with distinctive chalky limestone mineral aromas which are first to enter my olfactory receptors. This hit of minerality, reminiscent of the old world, is followed by aromas of fresh baked bread, salted almonds, lemon drops, toasty pistachio brioche and citrus zest. Elegant scents of preserved lemon tart and baked apple pie spices are layered with figs and marzipan to round out the aroma profile.
Palate:
Explosion of tiny fine pinpoint bubbles are first to dance across my palate. The limestone minerals are very present as the foamy elegant mousse is lifted to both sides of my tongue with focused lively acidity. This is followed with indulgent flavours of toasted almonds, puffed pastry, tart lemon curd and crème caramel that harmoniously delight the mid palate. The piercing lemon zest acidity carries the almond croissant nuances right to the back palate leaving a lasting impression. The finish is generous yet precise and lasts for several minutes. The extended length is beyond reproach revealing a truly outstanding sparkling wine.
Summary:
Winemaker Benoit Gauthier has once again crafted a truly exceptional sparkling wine. The 2020 Vintage of “The One” is the best bubbly so far to come from Noble Ridge Winery. Its bountiful depth of flavour, racy focused acidity, rich texture, and elegant creamy mousse are all extraordinarily balanced with persistent yet finessed tiny pinpoint bubbles that danced on my palate for an impressive length of time. Having been a champagne specialist judge at the IWSC for 10 years, I was trained using their 100-point scoring system and there is no question that this traditional method sparkling wine clearly falls in the 96-100 category of excellence. Having witnessed perfection in the world of champagne, I can say with full confidence that this wine is on the precipitous of perfection. I think it is possible for this wine to be even better in a few years giving the already seamless structural elements an even deeper harmony. Having said that, this outstanding sparkling wine is ready to provide immense pleasure right now!
Score: 99 Points
