Baillie-Grohman Blanc de Noirs 2009

Creston, BC
$20-24 available at winery, VQA or private stores
www.bailliegrohman.com

BC’s newest winery is also coming from BC’s newest wine region – Creston. You might have heard of it via Bountiful infamy. Let’s hope that Baillie-Grohman, plus the area’s other winery, Skimmerhorn, can put it on the map wine-wise instead.

Creston was originally put on the map by William Ballie-Grohman, the European credited with ‘discovering’ the Creston Valley in 1882. Legend has it he was hunting for mountain goats with his good friend, Teddy Roosevelt, later to become president of the USA.

The Baillie-Grohman property, owned by Calgarians Bob Johnson and Petra Flaa, was planted to vine in 2007, and the wines overseen by experienced New Zealand winemaker Dan Barker. Barker, a true ‘flying winemaker’ comes to Creston for a quarter of the year to manage harvest and the viniculture in the months following. At this early stage, output is small (the Chardonnay released this fall is already sold out), but dreams are large. Currently released are Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and the Blanc de Noirs Rose – next year a Reserve Pinot Noir will join the fold. Their wines are all estate grown – sustainable and organically farmed.

This handsome rose is 100% Pinot Noir, with strawberry and candied cherry aromas. The medium-weighted palate shows more of the same, along with just-crushed, juicy raspberries, earthy mineral, red currants and a sweet lime finish. Texturally supple, with a lengthy and tongue-tingling finish (this wine does clock in at nearly 14% alcohol, so it’s no lightweight), this would be well suited to baked salmon or ham.

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