CedarCreek Platinum

Since we went Platinum Bench yesterday, why not go Platinum Block tonight? Why not, indeed. 

The thing is, of course, that these "Platinums" don't really have anything to do with each other except that they're both from the Okanagan Valley - albeit opposite ends of the valley. Platinum Bench is a fairly new winery down by Oliver and Osoyoos on Black Sage Bench while CedarCreek is one of the early pioneers in the Valley and is up by Kelowna.

But, I suppose it's all in the segue between posts (as he laughs to himself, "no way I want to have to worry about transitioning that into the blog as well.")

1952.  2012 CedarCreek Platinum "Block 3" Riesling (Okanagan Valley VQA)

CedarCreek's premium line of wines is labeled under the Platinum label and this single block Riesling definitely merits the designation. I don't usually make it as far north as Kelowna when we make it to the Okanagan. As a result, I haven't seen much of this Riesling as it's primarily sold out of the winery cellar door. The 2014 BC Wine Appreciation Bus Tour visited Kelowna and Lake Country wineries and "dropped in" on the folks at CedarCreek as part of the tour. I made sure that I picked up a few bottles.

The bottle's back label calls this a "Mosel-by-way-of-the-Okanagan" Riesling. It's got a beautiful acidity racing through the flavour profile with lifted lime but it's no so shockingly acidic that you can't appreciate the flavours. At only 8% alcohol, it's also not going to knock you down or out. Too bad there were only 300 cases made in the 2012 vintage.

As I was prepping this post, I remembered that our CedarCreek visit saw us taking a late afternoon tour through the Pinot Noir and Riesling vineyards where we were treated to some hors d'oeuvres and, of all things, wine as we watched the sun set over Lake Okanagan. I "pulled out" some shots from that tour to show the magic of the moment. A wine can't help but taste great in circumstances like that, but I'm pleased to say that the Block 3 worked just as well for me at home as it did in the vineyard.

I think I might need to make it up to Kelowna a little more often.