2020 Roche Pinot Gris

Allison Markin - Mar 12, 2023 / 4:00 am | Story: 415602

Photo: Contributed

Wine: Pinot Gris, 2020

Winery: Roche, Naramata

Why drink it? This is a creamier, somewhat weightier version of Pinot Gris than you might expect from an Okanagan PG, likely owing to the winery leading towards a more European style of winemaking and the neutral oak treatment of this wine. The grapes are from an organic vineyard just north of the winery, and the slightly golden hue in the glass as you give it a swirl leads to light aromas of sliced apples and almonds, conjuring up the idea of morning granola as the sun rises over the lake. The flavour mix has some salinity and minerality, fresh pear, and toasted nuts.

Pair with: The winery suggests chicken stuffed with 30 cloves of garlic. If that’s too much, give a good chicken salad with a hint of fennel and grapes and walnuts a shot. A smooth and velvety polenta, or a creamy smoked salmon dip will both pair well.

Price: $35

Music pairing: Giddy Up!, Shania Twain

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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.