Kettle Valley Pinot Noir Vertical
Kettle Valley Pinot Noir Tasting, 2007
I have been looking forward to this tasting for some time now. Being a fan of Kettle Valley Pinot Noir for a few years I was excited to put them side by side and see the difference (if any?) and their development. I was not disappointed and the culinary creations of Chef Jeffrey Brandt gently coaxed the nuances into a beautiful balance.
The dinner started off with a look at the 2004 Viognier, this was our reception wine that brought us through our Amuse Bouche and the first course. The Viognier was taking on a light golden hue and the nose was dominated by fragrant hard candy notes. There was some great peach cotton candy that played against some apple and a hint of lemon. The palate showed consistency and balance from start to finish with an oily texture that coated your teeth. There was still a little heat on the finish but not excessive.
The amouse consisted of a fresh pacific halibut ceviche that was garnished with bruinoise of local asparagus and rhubarb. You may be thinking those are two unfriendly food components that do not play well with wine, but when they are cooked they don’t exhibit those astringent flavours. This course was designed more for texture than flavor, the curing acid in the ceviche eliminated any acid in the Viognier and together they gave the wine a very fat and heavy mouth feel emphasizing the melting texture of the halibut and the hard candy flavor in the wine.
The next course was still designed around Viognier as chef cold smoked some pacific black cod and slowly steam baked it to a minimal doneness. The result was a rich oily texture from the fish that dissolved on your tongue, it was truly decadent. This dish was paired with organic baby lettuces from Mariposa farms in the Similkemeen. These lettuces were lightly dressed in our black cherry vinaigrette and seasoned with a little salt and pepper. The oily textures from the food and wine worked with each other to bring out acid and fruit in the wine. When combined with the lettuce, it brought out a complex finish that consisted more of lemons. There was also a touch of crème friache on the plate that was used to ground the flavours and provide a palate cleanser as the wine was not big enough to cut through the dairy.
Time for Pinot Noir, we looked at the older vintages first and tasted the next three in a flight with the next course. We looked at the 1998, 1999, and 2001, all regular labels, not reserve. The 1998 started with a hint of brettanomyces (bret) with lots of dark rich black cherry notes. There was layers of smoke and earth and the color still showed only a little aging. I think there is still a couple more years of good life in this wine. The 1999 showed a bit more bret but with more layers of leather and cherry fruit. Not as dark cherried flavoured at the 98’ but very well built for a year that wasn’t as revered as big as the 98’. The 2001 held the most spice flavours with more presence of the dark cherry notes again. All of the wines held soft silky tannins with balance acidity across the board.
Chef designed a pork dish from which he sourced some Berkshire pork from Saskatchewan that was finished and butchered in Salmon Arm. The pork was simply seared and paired with a light red wine and cherry sauce. The plate was complimented with braised baby mustard greens and a red rice pilaf. Chef designed this dish to be very soft in flavours as to not over power the delicate and complex flavours from the wines. I thought the 1999 sung the loadest as its complexities really came through on the finish with the pork. The 2001 took on a beautiful complexity of spices with the sauce and all the wines used the pork to get a little more complex.
The next flight looked at three more pinot’s from the 2003 and 2004 vintages. We started with the 2003 reserve, then the 2004 reserve, and finally the 2004 Hayman vineyards label. All three of these wines showed great levels of concentration and structure. The big black cherry flavours dominated against the developing leather and sweet oak undertones. The Hayman vineyards label showed a different complexity of flavours that kept me coming back more than the others, but all of them shined with great finishes. The concentration of these wines cause them to taste hot, not as a fault in the wine, but as a sign of youngness that needs time to settle into all the flavours.
Chef designed a dish that would act a cooling agent with the wines. Using a beef short rib as the focal point, we were able to take advantage of the layers of marbling in the meat. This marbling would act as little cooling agents as the wine spent its time focusing on the natural fats, the mouth feel of the wine was allowed to express all its clean bright red fruit flavours. Chef slowly braised the short ribs in a red wine and stock liquid that was lightly scented with flavours we found in the wines like clove and cinnamon. This also helped bring out the bright fruit flavours in the wine and helped define the beautiful finishes of these young pinots.
We finished off the pinot’s with a local cheese course as we went back and reviewed all six of the wines and took one last look at an excellent vertical that expressed great consistency and terrior.
Our final course consisted of a 1998 Caboose. This is a late harvest chardonnay that showed a deep golden colour and a good level of tartaric crystals in the bottle. As the wine warmed up the rich raisin and apple pie flavours started to soften and take on a jam like character. Chef paired an upside down rhubarb cake with an orange scented Chantilly cream, garnished with candied orange peel. The rhubarb did take some flavor and body away from the wine, but when the cream, and candied peel where all tasted together the wine showed its complexity like a peacock strutting its feathers. This is the type of wine you wished there were more than 20 cases made.
Wine maker Tim Watts was present as he detailed each of the vintages we looked at. We conversed late into a wonderful evening that was only complimented by new friends as we talked about a growing wine industry and learned more about the passion and style behind Kettle Valley wines.
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