Okanagan Wine

Today Sydney and I had two lovely visits with friends.  The day started off with a trip this morning to my friend Brenna's brand new home to meet her new sweet baby girl, Bianca.  It was awesome to hold her as she slept in my arms and Brenna and I enjoyed one of my favourite wines from Naramata, Joie Noble Blend even though it was only ten o'clock in the morning!

We spent the afternoon lounging in the backyard at my friend Saskia's with our friends Barbara and Andrea and their babes.  It was such a lovely time sipping wine, eating yummy snacks and catching up.  I could have stayed there all day! 

This time of year is especially exciting if you love Okanagan wine as most of the wineries start their releases.  In the past couple of weeks I got cases of wine from two of my favourite Okanagan wineries, Burrowing Owl and Laughing Stock.

This year I ordered the Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris, a lovely, crisp summer sipper which I will be sure to enjoy over the next few weeks.  I got a few bottles of their Syrah as well which can stand a few years sitting and just seems to get better and better.  I'll tuck these ones away for a few years down the road!

The Laughing Stock vineyard is owned by David and Cynthia Enns.  Like me, they both worked in finance for many years and decided to give it all up and buy a plot of land in Naramata and open a winery.  They were the "laughing stock" of their friends and family, hence the name of their winery.  It is a double entendre as the stock market is the launching pad on which they market and name their wines as well.  Their signature wine, Portfolio, is a bordeaux blend, perfectly balanced like any good portfolio is.  This wine is amazing, I have a standing order of it every year and always look forward to my case arriving.  Notice how their labels look like a ticker tape, the stock prices on the outside of the bottle are those of the exact day that the grapes were harvested for that particular variety.  Neat hey?

This year I ordered some of their Blind Trust, this wine is truly blind, as the winemaker has full discretion over the blend, you don't know what it is comprised of until you peel back the seal on the top of the bottle which will reveal this year's blend.  I can't wait to try it!

I rounded it off with a few bottles of their Pinot Gris as it is consistently good for summer sipping.  Look forward to sharing some bottles of this with friends in the back yard this summer!



Cheers!