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: Late Harvest Muscat, 2014
Winery: Tokaji, Hungary
Why drink it? Believe it or not, you can find this Hungarian wine in a few government stores around the Okanagan, and its review came about as research for a wine tour to Hungary for a wine tourism conference. If you like sweet wines, but not ice-wine sweet, and feel like being adventurous, why not try a bottle? You’ll likely find that this is familiar if you enjoy late harvest wines, with fresh flowers and honey on the nose. Don’t expect super sweet, but an enjoyable after-dinner sip with that will make you say, “Hey, this is nice…and it’s from Hungary?"
Price: $19
Pair with: Definitely not for drinking with most dinner dishes, this is probably best sipped on its own after the table has been cleared, or perhaps with candied fruit or almonds, or an equally sweet dessert such as crème brûlée or crème caramel.
Music pairing: Budapest by George Ezra
Have a wine to suggest? Email Allison at [email protected].