A warm welcome awaits visitors who step up to the tasting bar at Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery. Pinki Gidda and her knowledgeable staff enjoy meeting their visitors. Just as importantly, they know their wines.
Fortunately for customers, the West Kelowna winery is open year-round. Now on winter hours, the doors to the wine shop are open from 11-5 daily. Inside the shop, visitors will find the expected—Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Riesling—and the less common—Zinfandel, Gamay Noir, Semillon, Ehrenfelser, Blaufrankisch. Blaufrankisch? Also known as Lemberger, it is rich, spicy and very smooth—think of it as an ideal entry-level red for those who usually stick to whites.
The 2012 Family Reserve Gamay Noir is another real treat, with chocolate, white pepper and vanilla notes. The 2009 Reserve Summit, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, is a huge mouthful of flavour.
2013 was a great year for Mt. Boucherie wines, with Gold Medals in the All Canadian Wine Championships (Semillon, Zinfandel and Chardonnay) and another, for the Gamay, in the BC Wine Awards. Five more medals were harvested from those two competitions.
Of special interest to people planning events are the boxed wines. Unoaked Chardonnay and Merlot are available in boxes when ordered by telephone at 877-684-2748.
Pinki reminds customers that the wine club offers other perks in addition to the two-case a year shipments. Members get the first chance to taste all vintage wines before they are released anywhere else, a 15% discount on other purchases, exclusive member-only offers, invitations to members-only events and access to library releases.
Since 2001, the Gidda family has been welcoming visitors to the wine shop. The family-owned and operated winery produces 21 different wines annually, all made to complement food and to please any palate. Only a five-minute drive from downtown Kelowna, Mt. Boucherie is well worth the visit.
~ Lorne Eckersley