The Dog Did It!
So, how does one go about “finding” a winery that makes “affordable and quality” wines in British Columbia, Canada?
The time-honoured and universally applied approach would be to seek out small or new producers that cannot charge an arm and a leg for their wines because of their brand name obscurity.
In our case, it was far more prosaic. The dog did it! To be precise, it was a search for dog-friendly wineries in Okanagan that has put Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars on a wine map for us.
Founded in 1991, Blue Mountain is a hardly new or upcoming winery. While we have seen professional ratings given to some of their older vintages, in general, Blue Mountain somehow manages to fly under the radar of wine writers. Its owners also seem uninterested in getting into the British Columbia provincial liquor distribution stores. Except for a handful of privately owned liquor stores, the only other way to get Blue Mountain wines is winery direct.
One may say they are the best-kept secret of Okanagan. Yet, ask at any local winery or restaurant for a quality winery recommendation, and chances are, Blue Mountain will be on their list. Considering Blue Mountain’s almost cult-like status, one may wonder what its wines taste like. We have tried some of their 2020 vintage wines and are thrilled to share our wine tasting notes and food pairing recommendations with you.
Blue Mountain Gamay Noir 2020 wine tasting notes
Blue Mountain Gamay Noir 2020
Region:
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, canada
VARIETAL COMPOSITION:
100% Gamay Noir
type:
Red Wine
ALCOHOL LEVEL:
12.5%
colour
Purple
Sweetness:
Dry
price:
$29.90 (CAD)
- Released in the Spring of 2022, this is light bodied, low tannin and medium-high acidity wine.
- Nose: this is a fruity, flowery wine with notes of red currant, undergrowth and freshly cut grass.
- Palate: More of red currant, pomegranate and green bell pepper.
- Spicy, long finish.
For best experience:
- Decant: 1 hr
- Cellar: up to 2 – 4 years.
tasted: Fall of 2022
We tried this Gamay with and without decanting. Our consensus opinion – one hour of decanting works well for it. Once opened, a bottle of Blue Mountain Gamay should keep well in a fridge with a tightly fitting cork for up to 3 days.
When we think of Gamay, we think of Beaujolais. Whenever we think of Beaujolais, we say: “drink now”. Beaujolais is wonderful when consumed young. We challenge you to find a wine critic who will sing praise to an old Beaujolais.
This Gamay is not Beaujolais and reminds us a lot of Pinot Noir. It is maybe worth experimenting with a bottle or two to see what the age may do to its flavour profile and how it will taste in 2025 but not later than 2026. But after all, it is Gamay, and because of that, this wine is truly meant to be enjoyed young.
Blue Mountain Gamay Noir 2020 food pairing recommendations
This wine works with a number of dishes. The following, while not perfect 10, worked quite well for us:
- Chicken in parmesan crust.
- Vegetable gratin (ratatouille). We served ratatouille with a chicken in parmesan crust and thought it was a really nice food pairing for this wine.
- Salad Lyonnaise (warm bacon, poached egg and frisée greens).
- Ensalada Rusa, if made with roasted chicken.
Blue Mountain Chardonnay 2020 wine tasting notes
Blue Mountain Chardonnay 2020
Region:
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, canada
Varietal Composition:
100% Chardonnay
type:
White wine
alcohol level:
13%
colour:
Light Gold
sweetness:
dry
price:
$29.90 (CAD)
- Nose: Oaky, buttery, nutty, slightly smoky with a touch of lemon blossom.
- Palate: Under-riped peach, citrus and minerals with faint sage undertones.
- Meyers Lemon on the long and slightly tart finish.
For best experience:
- Cellar: 5+ years.
- This medium body, medium-high acidity wine benefits from at least 1 hour of decanting.
- Once opened, a bottle of this wine should keep well in a fridge with a tightly fitting cork for up to 4 days.
tasted: Winter of 2023
Released in 2022, Blue Mountain Chardonnay shows well now but will definitely improve with age. Some 5 years in the cellar should mellow it up quite a bit and open up new flavors.
Blue Mountain Chardonnay 2020 food pairing recommendations
We found a few exceptional food pairings for this wine.
- Firstly, for the cheese pairing. A simple Gruyére turned out to be an exceptional cheese pairing for this wine.
Secondly, the two dishes that pair superbly well with this wine are: - Crepes with crème fresh, sliced salmon lox and dill.
- Leek quiche. Also known as Flamiche quiche, this dish helps neutralize the acidity of this Chardonnay. The acidity, in its turn, helps to cut through the fattiness of the quiche.
A less spectacular but still decent food pairing is: - Trout salad
As for the food pairings that do not work, we advise you to stay away from pairing this Chardonnay with pan-fried salmon or salads with high-acidity dressing. Both tend to overpower this wine completely.
Blue Mountain Gold Label Brut wine tasting notes
Blue Mountain Gold Label Brut
Region:
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, canada
Varietal Composition:
34.5% Pinot Noir, 65.5% Chardonnay
type:
Sparkling wine
alcohol level:
12%
colour:
very light Straw yellow
sweetness:
Extra-dry
price:
$27.90 (CAD)
- Cellaring: 2 – 4 years
- Disgorged in 2018 and bottled in 2021, this wine has a nose of toasted brioche, wet stone, lemon peel and lime zest with a slight undertone of hazelnuts.
- On the palate, you get more toasted brioche, sour candy, grapefruit and green apple.
- The finish is lovely and very long. This sparkler has fine and robust bubbles, but unfortunately, they dissipate quickly. The wine showed quite well on the fourth day after opening and even had some bubbles left.
tasted: winter of 2023
We had an opportunity to compare Blue Mountain Gold Label Brut with another Pinot Noir/Chardonnay Sparkling wine made by Schramsberg of California. Blue Mountain didn’t even come close to matching its Californian counterpart. Priced at ¼ of the Californian Brut, we must accept that this was not a fair competition. Simply put, if you wonder whether you can buy a better Sparkling wine from this part of the world, the answer is “yes”. This answer comes with a caveat, expect to pay more, much, more for it.
Blue Mountain Gold Label Brut food pairing recommendations
We loved this wine as it was so easy to pair with food. Some of our perfect pairing suggestions are:
- Seafood chowder with smoked black cod and Manila clams
- Gravlax with baked potato and crème fresh with horseradish
- Popcorn with sea salt and truffle dust
- We also recommend Sunchoke velouté for those who like to have soup with their wine.
- Looking for cheeses to pair with this Sparkling wine? Margaux brie cheese and triple cream brie were definite winners. If you can’t find Margaux brie, any triple cream brie will do just fine.
As for the food pairings that do not work with this wine, we strongly recommend keeping your cake away from this wine. No matter what the urban legend tells you, cakes and other sweet desserts do not work with Sparkling Brut wines.
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Bottom Line
Finding dog-friendly wineries was the reason for our first visit to Blue Mountain. It is not why we continue buying wines from them.
Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars is a name that is worth remembering simply because they craft some of the best and best-priced Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs in Okanagan today.
We always wondered why they keep prices so low when everybody in Okanagan is pricing their wines as if they came out of the best Boudreaux wineries. To paraphrase the well-known saying, be careful what you wonder about. Starting Spring of 2023, Blue Mountain Winery introduced new Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs priced at $50 +. At the same time, the number of their wines priced at $29 has reduced drastically. Is this the end of the Blue Mountain value-priced wines? Only the future will tell.