Vintage J-T Merlot

With Boo's Christmas wish to drink more of the bottles we already have in our place, I think there are going to be a lot more of these "older" BC vintages making it to The List. It's probably time that we open them in any event, but if this needs to be part and parcel of the Christmas "No Buy Leash," so be it.

1030. 2002 Jackson-Triggs Proprietor's Grand Reserve Merlot (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Bruce Nicholson, Jackson-Trigg's previous winemaker (who was still in charge for the 2002 vintage), has been quoted as saying that "Merlot is where we started to make our name for red wines." It wasn't clear to me whether he was just talking about J-T in particular or about the BC wine industry in general, but with the Proprietor's Grand Reserve being J-T's premium label, this bottle should provide some indication of expectations for ageing BC wines, especially since 2002 was seen as an excellent vintage for the Okanagan.

I don't know. The bottle didn't stand out for me as a fave. Don't get me wrong. The wine still exhibited a nice nose and the wine was still solid; but for a supposedly great vintage and a premium label, I'd rather hoped for more fruit to still be evident on the palate - particularly since I find that Jackson-Triggs is big on fruit forward wines.

I won't give up on the age-ability of BC reds, but maybe there's some legitimacy for Boo's desire to get on with drinking some of the older bottles that I'd been trying to hold on. Don't tell him that I said that though. I wouldn't want it to go to his head.