2020 Blue Mountain Sauvignon Blanc

Blue Mountain Sauv Blanc

Allison Markin - Aug 15, 2021 / 4:00 am | Story: 342896

Photo: Contributed

Wine: Sauvignon Blanc, 2020

Winery: Blue Mountain, Okanagan Falls

Why drink it? Sauvignon Blanc can be thought of as a “young” wine, thanks to its typical freshness and vibrancy; this one has some irony behind it. The vines are more than a dozen years old, French Oak plays a role in fermentation, the wine rests with some of the delicate lees … and what does this mean? The option to age this bottle for a few years. The nose is a mix of green melons and the scent of wet stones after a summer storm, with tea leaves and stone fruits. The palate is fuller bodied than you might anticipate, with peach and white grapefruit flavours. Truly unique and inviting.

Pair with: Salmon steaks fresh from the grill with lemon pepper and chimichurri sauce, seared tuna with a side of fresh spinach leaves dressed with a fresh lime vinaigrette, or grilled peaches. A summer fruit salad with a small dollop of crème fraiche.

Price: $25

Music pairing: Trouble, Ray LaMontagne

Back to Homepage

Typos News Tips Forums

More Wine Reviews articles

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.