Round 2 - Blackhawks Redux

Same Round 2. Same teams - Canucks and Blackhawks. Different year. The City of Vancouver may not be fully committed to the band wagon yet, but it's certainly looking for a bit of redemption after the Hawks took out our boys - somewhat unexpectedly - last year. Hopefully it'll be a different result this year.

And if Game 1 is any indication, there might be another BC winery or two that we get to sample during the playoffs.

But for this round, I've decided to drink along with Orofino. Still relatively new on the BC wine scene, Boo and I have enjoyed their wines pretty much since Day 1. We lucked onto a discovery of the winery early in the game plan as owner/winemaker, John Weber, came to speak to the BC Wine Appreciation Society during a tasting that featured the wines of the Similkameen Valley.

The winery and the Webers have some interesting stories to go with the wine - their straw bale winery not being the least - but it does come down to the wines and Orofino is playing a big part in putting the Similkameen on the wine map.

The one problem I might have with this round is that I don't have an unlimited choice of Orofino wines on hand, and I've already opened and blogged a number of the wines that I do have in our cellar (see The List wines #12, 64, 94, 175, 359 and 411).

433. 2005 Orofino Merlot Cabernet (Similkameen Valley)

Orofino's calling card for the red varietals may well be Merlot. It features largely in many of the winery's red wines.

And, in my book, this is a good thing. Many have pegged Merlot as perhaps being the one red noble varietal that is best suited for the Okanagan. Well, this is the neighbouring Similkameen Valley, but Orofino does it up very nicely as well.

This is a blend with Cab Sauv and I don't know the percentages but, true to expected form, the wine is big with ripe fruit, but is well-integrated and smooth. The bottle's label says that the wine is both "unfined and unfiltered" and this likely helps result in the overall presence of fruit and body.

The Canucks definitely had a bit of a grudge to make up for last year's loss in the playoffs to Chicago, but, if tonight's 5-1 game (for the good guys) is any indication of the series to come, Vancouver fans may need a little more room on the bandwagon - and I'm hopefully going to enjoy these Orofino wines even more.