There isn't a lot of Zinfandel grown in BC's Okanagan Valley. Back in 2012, Jurgen Gothe wrote in his Georgia Strait column that it was only the 12th most planted red grape varietal (0.19% of total plantings) in the province. Hardly counting as a heavy hitter in the BC wine scene, California producers likely aren't shaking in their boots.
I can count plenty of Zinheads amongst my wine-loving friends though. So, I do like to try the various BC producers - like Mount Boucherie, Covert Farms, Rustico, Desert Hills, Quinta Ferreira and Inniskillin - when I run across them.
This is the second Inniskillin Zin that I've added to The List. The 2003 vintage was counted some time ago, back at No. 462. As such, I won't repeat everything I said at that time (you can just hit the link and take a read for yourself), but it's worth repeating that Inniskillin was the first winery to produce a Zinfandel varietal wine and that only encompassed a limited production as part of their Discovery Series - where winemaker and vineyard supervisor Sandor Mayer started experimenting with grape varieties that were relatively unique to the Okanagan Valley.
When I picked this wine for the evening, I was thinking of the lighter and fruitier end of the red wine spectrum. I'd expected that a BC Zin would be significantly lighter bodied than a more typical Californian Zin while still exhibiting some classic Zin fruit. I was kinda off on both fronts. The wine was bigger bodied than expected and the fruit was more subdued than hoped for.
All the same, we had no problem emptying the bottle in a timely fashion. We might have been drinking a little more Old World than I'd anticipated but, then again, I had gone with the Discovery Series. We just discovered a little different take on our regular Zin and isn't that what discovery's all about?
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