2018 Roche Château

Allison Markin - Oct 23, 2022 / 4:00 am | Story: 390783

Photo: Contributed

Wine: Chateau, 2018 (red blend)

Winery: Roche, Naramata

Why drink it? A Bordeaux-style blend of mostly Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, in the glass it’s a deep, rich, and inviting red. Both the aromas and flavours are intense; the former begins with black fruits – ripe plum, wild blackberries, dark currants –and a mix of savoury spices. The latter takes the dark fruits to the palate with the addition of some earthiness, mushrooms, and cigar box. Tannins on the finish are a grippy but begin to relax while in the glass, so consider decanting if you want to open a bottle soon, or let this one rest for a few years.

Pair with: The first dish that will immediately come to mind: steak. Better yet, steak and mushroom cream sauce, or skip the beef and grill some big portobellos stuffed with an herbed cream cheese. Top the steak or ‘shroom with a fried egg.

Price: $50

Music pairing: Walk Me Home, P!nk

Back to Homepage

Typos News Tips Forums

More Wine Reviews articles

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.