Camelot, East Kelowna

Allison Markin - Aug 5, 2018 / 5:00 am | Story: 232723

Photo: Contributed

Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine industry and influences from around the world. For current availability and pricing, consult the winery. Unless indicated, international selections are generally available at government liquor stores or private wine shops.

Wine: Ruthless Rosé, 2017

Winery: Camelot, East Kelowna

Why drink it? The first rosé produced by Camelot, a charming winery in East Kelowna that embraces its medieval theme, this pinot noir based pink sipper has the pinkish hue of the recent “blood moon” we all tried to Instagram. The nose is light, with hints of vanilla, strawberry jam, and pink grapefruit. The grapefruit extends to the flavours with subdued citrus, watermelon, and grilled peaches that have been nicely caramelized. Definitely fruit forward, those who like super dry rosés may find the this one a little too…ruthless with the fruitiness.

Price: $20

Pair with: This is a pool party rosé. Grab the unicorn floaties and some friends on a hot summer day, and your Go Vino (plastic, safety first!) glasses, and the raspberries and strawberries you picked up at the fruit stand, and simply enjoy. But keep the wine on ice.

Music pairing: If Ever I Would Leave You, from the musical Camelot

Have a wine to suggest? Email Allison at [email protected].

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About the Author

As a kid, Shelley Boettcher often found herself in the back seat of a pick-up, exploring the back roads of the Okanagan Valley with her parents. They’d occasionally leave her and her brother in the car while they stopped at mysterious addresses to buy wine. They would emerge, clearly happy, as they stuck a box or a few bottles in the vehicle. Then they would continue on their journey.

But it wasn’t until a trip to Spain in 2000 that Shelley herself fell in love with wine. She came home from the holiday and promptly told her editor she wanted to become a wine writer.

And she did.

An award-winning food and wine writer and editor, Shelley holds her master’s degree in journalism and her advanced WSET certification, as well as her level 2 International Sommelier Guild certification. A wine columnist for the Calgary Herald, she spent a decade as CBC Radio’s national syndicated wine columnist and she has written three books about wine, including two that were Canadian bestsellers. Her byline has appeared in magazines and newspapers around the world, including the New York Times, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and Postmedia newspapers across Canada.

Shelley has travelled throughout many of the world’s wine regions and countries, including Niagara, Oregon, Washington, California, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Australia, Germany, Argentina and the Republic of Georgia. A few years ago, she even tracked down and visited a winery in Denmark.

Shelley has also served as a professional wine judge regionally and internationally, including the Okanagan Wine Festivals, Vinitaly and the Chianti Classico Consortium. For more than a decade, she has been a restaurant wine list judge for the Vancouver International Wine Festival, too. She still teases her parents for sparking her love for wine, especially BC wine.

And her favourite? Whatever she's drinking at the moment.

You can follow Shelley on Instagram @shelleyboettcher or Twitter at @shelley_wine.

If you have a BC wine you’d like to suggest, email Shelley at [email protected] with the name of the wine and a short note about why you enjoyed it.