Road 13, Oliver

Allison Markin - Sep 9, 2018 / 5:00 am | Story: 236012

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: Syrah-Malbec, 2016

Winery: Road 13, Oliver

Why drink it? As you pour this expressive red blend into your glass, the first impression is the colour: a vibrant, deep, almost luscious purple, owing mostly to the Malbec. To fully enjoy this wine, you need to save a second glass for the next day, as the aromas of blueberries, vanilla bean, and dark plums open up. On day two, the leathery and black fruit flavours mingle with each other, and the already soft tannins become a little more rested, creating lovely balance on the palate. The intensity from the first day’s glass gives way to a red wine that needs only a good friend to help finish off the last drops.

Price: $33

Pair with: The winery recommends game meat wrapped in bacon… nothing wrong with that. Anything from the pork family will do nicely, including good, fresh tacos from your favourite food truck, or a pulled pork grilled cheese. Or just a selection of creamy cheeses.

Music pairing: Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl), Looking Glass

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.