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Wine-Reviews

Mission Hill Reserve Rosé a blend of merlot, shiraz, pinot noir

Mission Hill Reserve Rosé

Wine: Reserve Rosé

Winery: Mission Hill, West Kelowna

Why drink it? A blend of merlot, shiraz, and pinot noir, the colour is a ruby red grapefruit in the bottle, and that citrus element continues on the bright nose with watermelon and strawberry notes in the mix. The grapes come from hotter vineyards at the south end of valley, ripening to expressive fruit flavours of red berries, juicy watermelon, a bit of vanilla, and very light herb-sage and currant notes. Don’t be fooled by the fruitiness, this wine is very crisp with nice acidity, well-balanced to a refreshing and inviting finish, lingering with fresh strawberries on the palate.

Price: $22

Pair with: Watermelon and feta cheese skewers as a fun spring appetizer or a Greek salad, followed by grilled fish fresh off the BBQ, or a light pasta dish drizzled simply with olive oil and fresh basil. A great brunch wine as well, with a spinach frittata.

Music pairing: Spring Haze, Tori Amos



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About the Author

As a kid, Shelley Boettcher often found herself in the back seat of a pick-up, exploring the back roads of the Okanagan Valley with her parents. They’d occasionally leave her and her brother in the car while they stopped at mysterious addresses to buy wine. They would emerge, clearly happy, as they stuck a box or a few bottles in the vehicle. Then they would continue on their journey.

But it wasn’t until a trip to Spain in 2000 that Shelley herself fell in love with wine. She came home from the holiday and promptly told her editor she wanted to become a wine writer.

And she did. 

An award-winning food and wine writer and editor, Shelley holds her master’s degree in journalism and her advanced WSET certification, as well as her level 2 International Sommelier Guild certification. A wine columnist for the Calgary Herald, she spent a decade as CBC Radio’s national syndicated wine columnist and she has written three books about wine, including two that were Canadian bestsellers. Her byline has appeared in magazines and newspapers around the world, including the New York Times, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and Postmedia newspapers across Canada. 

Shelley has travelled throughout many of the world’s wine regions and countries, including Niagara, Oregon, Washington, California, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Australia, Germany, Argentina and the Republic of Georgia. A few years ago, she even tracked down and visited a winery in Denmark. 

Shelley has also served as a professional wine judge regionally and internationally, including the Okanagan Wine Festivals, Vinitaly and the Chianti Classico Consortium. For more than a decade, she has been a restaurant wine list judge for the Vancouver International Wine Festival, too. She still teases her parents for sparking her love for wine, especially BC wine.

And her favourite? Whatever she's drinking at the moment.

You can follow Shelley on Instagram @shelleyboettcher or Twitter at @shelley_wine. 

If you have a BC wine you’d like to suggest, email Shelley at [email protected] with the name of the wine and a short note about why you enjoyed it. 

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