Absentee Parents

Having sipped back on a trio of Red Rooster wines this weekend, I'm hoping our babies up in the Red Rooster vineyard weren't feeling neglected or abandoned. The winery scheduled the annual spring pruning party for all the Adopt-A-Row parents for this weekend but Boo and I just weren't able to fit the trip up to the Naramata Bench into our schedules this time around. The Adopt-A-Row weekends are always a great time but, what with our trip Down Under quickly approaching - and Boo having to work this weekend anyhow - as much fun as the weekend would have been, the thought of all the "lost" hours away from tasks at home just seemed a bit daunting.

In lieu of visiting the winery in person, we decided to open a different bottle of Red Rooster for each of the days that we would have been communing with the vines.

1088. 2010 Red Rooster Riesling (VQA Okanagan Valley)

I'm currently seeing lots of variety when it comes to Okanagan Rieslings. The varietal is open to a full range of production styles and local wineries seem to be covering the spectrum. Red Rooster's winemaker, Karen Gillis, is always happy to serve up her Riesling and she knows that I'm particularly drawn to this grape. This current vintage is perhaps styled a bit more along the lines of the Aussie versions I anticipate we'll run into in Oz. There's all sorts of acidity and puckery lemonade tartness - which I find can lead to wines that are a tad austere for my tastes - but I liked the fact that there was still enough of that Okanagan tree fruit coming through to balance out the acidity. Me likey - particularly with a seafood pasta.

2009 Red Rooster Rosé (VQA Okanagan Valley)

I always have to be careful when looking to add a Red Rooster bottle to The List. Being members of the Adopt-A-Row, we tend to drink our fair share of Red Rooster and it's pretty easy to find that I've already added a particular vintage to The List - as is the case with this '09 Rosé. Having been added all the back at #655, it would have been easy to miss that entry on this easy sipper. We're seeing more and more Rosé coming out of the Okanagan and Karen's is a nice example of this fruit forward and food friendly sip.

1089. 2008 Red Rooster Reserve Malbec (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Seeing as how as our adopted row is full of Malbec vines, it only seemed natural to open a bottle, knowing that some of the fruit going into this wine came from Boo's and my row. If I'm not mistaken, there are only two acres of Malbec planted at Red Rooster. It was originally planted with the idea of using the fruit in a Meritage blend but the fruit proved to be good enough to be vinified on its own. A small lot production has been the result ever since the 2006 vintage. As Adopt-A-Row members, we get first crack at the wines - and we regularly take advantage of that opportunity. It's a far cry from owning a winery but it's a nice way of getting a more comprehensive feel for the activities of a winery that go on behind the scenes and the tasting room.

I think the whole Adopt-A-Row program is a great little marketing effort on Red Rooster's part and I'm sorry that we had to miss this weekend's affairs. Luckily we were able to toast our row in absentia. Hopefully, we'll be able to make the harvest party come the Fall. I'm already looking forward to it.