White Jerseys, White Wine

Canucks 3 - Blackhawks 1

Since the series has shifted to Chicago, the Canucks are wearing the white jerseys.  So, (unintentionally) we pulled out the one white Burrowing Owl that we have.  

47.  2006 Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris (VQA Okanagan)

Boy, did we like it!!  That was a bit of a surprise since we don't really drink a lot of pinot gris.  I took a bit of a Google and saw that this is considered by some to be Burrowing Owl's flagship white and the wine won a silver medal at the Canadian Wine Awards and a gold at the Okanagan Fall Festival.  

Turns out that pinot gris is the second most planted white varietal in BC and at least one commentator thinks that Burrowing Owl is the provincial benchmark for pinot gris.  If it's all like this bottle, I might have to agree - and try more.

I'm a little surprised that the Burrowing Owl vineyard is seen as a great location for pinot gris.  I think of pinot gris as being a tad more suited to the cooler vineyards further up the Okanagan Valley.  Burrowing Owl is almost as far south as grape-growing goes in the Okanagan.  Its vineyards are found at the northernmost tip of the Sonora Desert and that's a good part of why the winery is so well known for its red varietals - ones needing a good long growing season.  I don't mind them giving up so many rows of the red if the result is as good as this.

What's more, the wine not only worked for us, but it worked for the team as well.  If the pinot gris was a pleasant surprise, the win IN Chicago was awesome.