An Orofino Pinot

After our cherry wine from the Similkameen Valley the other night, I figured "why not just stick with the same region?" for tonight.

1156. 2006 Orofino - Sagebrush Series Pinot Noir (Similkameen Valley - BC)

Over the years, the Similkameen has grown into the organic fruit and veggie capital of Canada. Grapes have definitely been following suit over the last decade and a bit, but the Valley still isn't particularly thought of as a region that is well suited to growing Pinot Noir. The summers here are just seen as being too hot to keep the "heartbreak grape" from breaking most vintners' heart.

That doesn't mean that Pinot isn't being grown in the Similkameen; it just isn't usually the first varietal that we see being offered. John and Virginia Weber offer up a small amount of Pinot every year from their estate vineyard; however, they also released this Sagebrush Series Pinot from the 2006 vintage. It was a second line made from non-estate fruit that was seen as a lighter, more easy-drinking version of the estate Pinot Noir. I don't recall having seen the Sagebrush Series offered in subsequent years.

We might have missed out on a bit of the red fruit that was being exhibited early on in its life - as the fruit wasn't as prominent as the reviews had led me to believe - but luckily the wine was under screwcap and I don't think we lost too much of the wine's character to the years gone by. Not my favourite Orofino wine - but then, as a whole, Orofino is one of my favourite BC wineries and I think it'd be tough for every wine to be a favourite.