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Wine-Reviews

Baco Noir 2016

Wine: Baco Noir 2016

Winery: Ancient Hill, Kelowna

Why drink it? Baco Noir is rarely found in the Okanagan, but more common in Ontario. The grape is a red wine French-American hybrid created by Francois (wait for it) Baco, and is described as Indigenous to North America. This one is a deep, brooding red, the flagship of the winery, bold and rich. Dark chocolate, dark plum, and an intriguing note of earthiness, kind of like the scent of a new tire, on the nose. The flavours of black fruits, cigar box, and vanilla bean nicely blend together, with a lengthy but surprisingly soft finish. It’ll be interesting to taste again in a few years.

Price: $25

Pair with: The acidity of the wine made an accidental perfect pairing with a double pepperoni and mushroom pizza. So go with salty cured meats, or dishes with a thick tomato sauce such as a baked pasta covered in crusty, melted cheese on top.

Music pairing: Be Cool, Sophie Milman



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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. 

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