Nectar of the Gods

Allison Markin - May 26, 2019 / 5:00 am | Story: 257087

Photo: Contributed

Wine: Nectar of the Gods (red blend), 2016

Winery: Blasted Church, Okanagan Falls

Why drink it? You can, if you are feeling blessed, pick up a bottle of this tempting red blend of Cot Noir (aka Malbec), Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Sauvignon in three or six litre bottles. But you will need help lifting the big bottles for pouring, and perhaps decanting, as this wine opens up with a bit of time in the glass. Rich plum and cassis notes with some earthiness on the nose, an inky indigo colour leads you to a taste that inspires the question, “Woah, what is this?” thanks to a bold, but balanced, mix of dark berries, sage, and leather. As one taster remarked, “Oh, this is heavenly.”

Price: $55

Pair with: Meaty, roasted things: lamb, Maui ribs, stuffed and grilled portobello mushrooms. A deeply flavoured porcini mushroom soup or an experimental mushroom risotto with a combination of bold and sharp cheeses. Good takeout barbecue pork will pair nicely as well.

Music pairing: Mercy, Shawn Mendes

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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.