Culmina Family Estate wines review: Merlot, Dilemma and Hypothesis

Culmina Family Estate Winery put Okanagan on a Chardonnay wine map for us

That day was sometime in August of 2016. On the recommendation of one of our friends, we signed up for a portfolio tasting at Culmina Family Estate Winery. Located on the Golden Mile Bench in Okanagan, Culmina was Don Triggs’ new winery. In case you are wondering, Don Triggs, is one of the founders of the Jackson-Triggs winery.
It was in this sit-down guided tasting that we got to try Culmina’s Chardonnay, aptly named “Dilemma”.

We still remember the surprise of tasting this wine for the first time.

It was crisp but not too acidic. The wine had just enough of the yummy creaminess of the oaked Chardonnay but not too much to distract you from appreciating the finer notes of this wine.

Perhaps a bit timid, if measured by the Kistler California Chardonnay standards, Dilemma was oh-so-elegant and enjoyable.

We were not the only ones who were impressed by this wine. A self-professed “red wine only” couple visiting from Alberta ended up buying a case of Dilemma to ship home because: “Whad’ya know, it was that darn good!” We could not agree more.

Culmina Family Estate wines reviewed in this post

With time we found other noteworthy Chardonnay wine producers in Okanagan. Despite that, we have remained Culmina’s customers since our first visit to them in August 2016.

Over the years, we tried quite a few vintages of their Red, White and Rosé wines. We liked some of these a lot. Some others we could care less about.

In this post, we cover their 2017 Merlot and Chardonnay Dilemma, both released in 2019, and their 2016 flagship Hypothesis, released in 2018. We purchased all of these wines at the winery direct. All of these wines are available at fine wine retailers across the province of BC. Chardonnay Dilemma can be purchased through the BC Liquor Distribution Branch-run retail stores. If purchased through the retail channels, the prices for these wines tend to increase by 20%, making the value case for these wines evaporate, pun intended.

Wine tasting notes and food pairing recommendations

Do you have a bottle of this wine in your cellar? If so, you can drink it now or keep it for another 2 years. To fully appreciate this wine’s flavour profile, consider decanting it for 30-40 minutes.
We found this wine keeps quite well for 3 days after opening if stored properly in a fridge with a tightly fitted cork.

Like most Chardonnays, this one is a challenge to pair with food until you figure out that you should pair it with dishes that incorporate a sizable amount of dairy cream.

Avoid dishes with a high acid content, such as tomatoes, either raw or stewed, vinegar-based sauces and dressings.

If you have a bottle of this wine in your cellar, you can drink it now or keep it for another 2-3 years. Decant it for 30-40 minutes to get this wine open up.
We found this wine keeps quite well for 3 days after opening if stored properly in a fridge with a tightly fitted cork.

This Merlot pairs exceptionally well with duck breast and beets salad or beets salad on its own. It is a good pairing for caramelized carrots, Brussels sprouts with bacon and barbecued pork ribs.

The best is to stay away from pairing this Merlot with beef or lamb dishes as they tend to overpower this wine quite a bit.

Hypothesis is a full-bodied Bordeaux blend meant to be cellared for 10+ years.

We decanted this wine for about 3 hours to open it up and tame its tannin. To properly appreciate this wine, consider cellaring it for additional 6 to 7 years.

We found this wine stores quite well after opening. It was in a decent shape on day 4 after opening with a tightly fitted cork and kept in the fridge.

Lamb and Beef dishes are the not-so-secret food pairings that work well with this wine.

More specifically, dishes that worked well for us were:

• Moroccan couscous with lamb koftas. This dish highlights the flavour of black pepper and plum if paired with Hypothesis. If paired this way, the wine tastes prominently sweet, which we find quite enjoyable.
• Slow roasted Pork butt with chanterelle sauce and creamer potatoes. The acidity of this wine cuts through the fat in the dish exceptionally well. In our books, this dish is a perfect pairing for the Hypothesis. The wine tastes sweet or jammy depending on whether you have a bite of meat or mushrooms. A truly decadent wine pairing with this hearty late fall meal.
• Pan-roasted beef steak with mashed potatoes and Gorgonzola compound butter is another of our perfect pairing recommendations for this wine.
• If you plan to build a charcuterie board, consider olives and cheeses, such as smoked cheddar and Gouda, aged a minimum of three years.

Stay away from pairing this wine with Greek Salad. The two are ghastly together.

Bottom line

We picked up six bottles of 2017 Dilemma and Merlot in August of 2022 when Culmina announced they were phasing out their 2017 Dilemma vintage and transitioning to the 2018 vintage. With the 17% promotional discount on six bottles, we paid $26 per bottle for Dilemma (vs. the regular $31) and $29 per bottle for Merlot (vs. the regular $35).
$31 is a fair price for a Chardonnay of this quality. When you pay $26, you get yourself a great deal. The same goes for Culmina’s Merlot.

Culmina’s most expensive wine is Hypothesis, their flagship wine. The Hypothesis is also Culmina’s attempt at crafting the aging-worthy, Bordeaux-style red blend wine. As former members of the Culmina wine club, we tasted various vintages of this blend more than once. In general, we did not have a lot of good to say about this wine. For the most part, it comes across as austere, as in astringent, with harsh tannin, wine. We may finally have an answer as to the reasons why.

In our opinion, Hypothesis should not be consumed upon release, which is the opposite of what we have always done.

Decanting this wine for an hour is not enough either. This time around, we let the Hypothesis sit in the decanter for about three hours. Time spent in the decanter helped to tame and mellow down its rampant tannin and made the wine much more enjoyable.

Culmina pushes “Hypothesis” very aggressively via their club membership and inclusion in various promotions. If you decide to get a bottle of Hypothesis, do yourself a favour and stash it for a couple of years before popping up the cork. If you can’t wait and want to drink it now, give it ample time to air in the decanter.

Liking or disliking a particular wine or style of wine is a matter of personal taste. Whenever we visit wineries in Okanagan, we like to chat up people, both winery workers and guests, about the noteworthy winemakers in the area. Interestingly, we have never gotten a recommendation to go and try Culmina’s wines. While we do not know the exact reasons behind it, we think this attitude may be due to Culmina’s tendency to have a repertoire of wine curiosities, such as orange wines, and wines made of the lesser-known varietals, such as Grüner Veltliner. It seems that’s what most people remember when they think of Culmina winery. But it may also be because Culmina produces creamier and full-bodied wines that are more at home in California than in Okanagan. Whatever the reason may be, in our humble opinion…

Culmina’s Chardonnays and Merlots are good value wines worth a try.

And that’s a wrap!