WTN: Wines we DON'T love! Two duds from B.C.

[Jenise]

Last night I desperately needed a glass of wine to calm down, so I opened this thing I picked up two bottles of on my mercy-mission shopping trip to Canada last week. I've not had anything from this winery but a friend had mentioned them positively not long ago, so thinking it at the worst harmless, I bit.

2023 Stoneboat Vineyards Pinot Gris Okanagan Valley
Does it taste like what it is? Yes, mildly so, the fruit's there even if not particularly interesting compared to what's possible (think Phantom Creek's exceptional work with this grape), and the mid-palate's hollow but for an off-note of onion skin. Is that the winemaking or a flaw induced by an insufficient screw cap seal? Seemed possible, so I scampered off to the garage fridge to retrieve the other bottle I'd purchased. Unscrewed the cap, poured some into my glass and...WTF it's red! See next note.

2022 Stoneboat Vineyards Pinot Noir Okanagan Valley
Obviously I'd not looked at the labels carefully enough. But now it's in my glass so what do I think? Not wildly enthusiastic, but nonetheless it had a just-sufficient amount of fruit and boatloads (Stoneboat, get it?) of BC's trademark minerality. Not worth finishing the bottle, though, so I think I'll pick up some chicken today and turn the rest into a Coq au Vin.

[David M. Bueker]

Onion skin sounds like a marker of some skin contact, though I would expect a more flavorful wine.

Have tasted their wines a couple of times - was not impressed and do not buy it - too many other much better wineries up here. Thanks for trying it and confirming my impressions, though.

[Jenise]

Onion skin sounds like a marker of some skin contact, though I would expect a more flavorful wine.

In this case the onion skin was a bit funky. I've run into it before, but only in bubbles (although why that would be the case I have no idea) and stronger than what I found in this, but it's a young wine and perhaps it will magnify with time. I'm thinking trace levels of mercaptans.