Vancouver Magazine
The Broadway/Cambie Corridor Has Become a Hub for Excellent Chinese Restaurants
Care to travel the world, one plate at time? Visit Kamloops.
Flaky, Fluffy and Freaking Delicious: Vancouver’s Top Fry Bread and Bannock
Wine Collab of the Week: The Best Bottle to Welcome a Vancouver Spring
Naked Malt Blended Malt Scotch Whisky Celebrates Versatility and Spirit
A $13 Wine You Can Age in Your Cellar
Single Mom Finds A Pathway to a New Career
5 Things to Do in Vancouver This Week (March 20-26)
5 Things to Do in Vancouver This Week (March 13-19)
What It’s Like to Get Lost on a Run With a Pro Trail Runner
8 Things to Do in Abbotsford (Even If It’s Pouring Rain)
Explore the Rockies by Rail with Rocky Mountaineer
4 Fashion Designers From African Fashion Week Vancouver to Put on Your Radar
The Future of Beauty: How One Medical Aesthetics Clinic is Changing the Game
Before Hibernation Season Ends: A Round-Up of the Coziest Shopping Picks
Exhibit A is this bruiser from Hester Creek
Ahhh, merlot. You’ve not had the best time of it lately, have you? Ever since Paul Giamatti belted out “I’m not drinking any f***ing merlot” in 2004’s Sideways the wine-going public has avoided the M word like the plague.But here’s the thing—Okanagan merlot is nothing like the insipid mass-produced central California plonk that Giamatti was railing against. If anything, it’s the opposite. Whereas mass-market merlot is praised for its smoothness, good Okanagan merlot is feisty. Whereas mass-market merlot has soft tannins, ours have serious tannins that often need age to chill out.I was reminded of all this last night when I cracked this wine-club only bottle from Hester Creek. It comes from vines planted in 1968, which are among the oldest in the province and as such it gives great insight into what’s possible with the combination of mature wines and solid winemaking. At first blush I thought I was drinking syrah—there’s a strong note of cracked black pepper that seemed more like the Rhone than Pomerol. Then there’s some pleasing cherry notes before there’s more earthy, almost black-olive savouriness. It’s the whole package.It’s also sold out (they only made 76 cases—that’s the rub with those old vines; they don’t crank out too much fruit). Thankfully there are others in the Valley who are creating bad-ass merlot. Burrowing Owl ($30) may be the OG badass merlot producer and while they often show a bit more oak they’re still brawny examples. Likewise Poplar Grove’s merlot ($26) is no shrinking violet with some great sage and eucalyptus notes to balance the plentiful fruit. And of course Hester Creek’s “regular” Reserve merlot sources from some other great old vines.Any of these are a merlot I’d be happy to bring to a cab fight.