Celebrating Canada Day

Since it was Canada Day, it only seemed fitting to pull out the barbee and throw on a couple of burgers to chow down on with a bottle of one of the country's best. If that sounds a tad American, it must be Boo's upbringing.

The burgers were really thrown together because he had to head off to work and we needed something quick and easy. They did go with the wine however.

98. 2005 CedarCreek Estate Select Syrah (VQA - Okanagan)

Previously, we generally felt that CedarCreek's best foot forward had been its Pinot Noir. We just knew that we'd end up shelling out the extra bucks to pick up their Platinum Pinot. That may have changed with the arrival of this Syrah in their portfolio.

In only its third vintage of Syrah, this was declared Canada's Red Wine of the Year by Wine Access magazine in 2007. Since only 989 cases of the wine was made, we're feeling pretty good about having a small stash.

I don't generally go into tasting notes with the blog since I'm more about the wines, people and occasions shared in reaching our goal, but this one might merit an exception. When announcing the Red Wine of the Year award, Wine Access stated that "the judges marveled at the deep fruit, complexity, seemless richness and elegance of this wine."

For me, I just worry about keeping enough in my glass. It's a progessively sad thing as the bottle nears empty. However, it must have been so much worse for Boo since he had head off for work after only one glass, leaving me with the remainder of the bottle. (Being the nice guy that I am though, I left some for him - perhaps reluctantly, but it was still there the next day all the same.)

Although CedarCreek's winery is located in Kelowna, the grapes for this wine were sourced from their single vineyard down by Osooyoos. Seeing as how the Southern end of the Okanagan Valley is the Northern end of the Sonora Desert (continuing all the way up from the Baja Peninsula), there's plenty of sun and warmth to ripen the syrah grapes.

If future vintages hit this level of wow, we'll be looking forward to trying them and adding them to The List.