The world seems to have gone crazy, plus we have a Federal election in Canada. It is fortunate that Thanksgiving is coming up this long weekend so we can get together with family and friends, and celebrate what good things we have had in our life, and hope for a better future.
BC wines continue to shine and there are many that would pair nicely with a turkey or ham dinner. The BC wines I outline below I’ve tasted since the start of this year and should be available at either BC Liquor Stores, at private wine shops, and of course at the winery, if you live near one of the wineries. If you cannot find any of these wines where you are, try to pick the same grape variety.
My Recommended BC Wines for Thanksgiving
White Wines
Coolshanagh Chardonnay, Naramata Bench, 2016 ($25.99) – Light vegetal nose. Medium body round with a thick mouthfeel. Very flavourful showing tropical fruit and sweet spices as well as some apple. Lighter acidity. 
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Lake Breeze Vineyards Pinot Gris 2018 – Stone fruit mixed with citrus and grapefruit rind aromas. The wine is dryish, fuller-bodied, round with medium acidity. Grapefruit and rind with honey toward the finish. Very tasty. –
Lariana Cellars Viognier 2018 – Nice deep ripe stone fruit nose. Fuller bodied, off-dry, medium acidity, with quite fruity flavours. Primarily stone fruits flavours along with some toastiness. Quality.
Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery Pinot Gris 2018 – Nice stonefruit nose. The wine is off-dry, medium body with ripe stone fruit flavours. BC fresh fruit in the glass. –
Meyer Family Vineyards McLean Creek Road Chardonnay 2017 – Light toasty nose along with apple aromas. Butterscotch and tropical fruit flavours, along with toast and oak. The wine has a medium body, is smooth, lower acidity and buttery mouthfeel. Yum. – 
Privato Woodward Collection Chardonnay 2016 ($25.99) – Light lemon colour. I really enjoyed the smoky, toasty, tropical fruit nose. It has a medium body with medium intensity acidity. Tropical fruit, in particular, ripe pineapple flavour. Round with a buttery mouthfeel. Balanced. Elegant. –
Quill Pinot Gris 2018 ($22) – The grapes for this wine come from two sites in the Cowichan Valley. One from the north that is picked earlier, and one in the south that is given more hang time before being harvested. This wine is a medium intensity light lemon colour in the glass. Lighter stone fruit, citrus and honey aromas. Medium-plus body, a strong mineral streak, medium acidity and smooth mouthfeel. Ripe stone fruit flavours with a touch of honey toward the finish. Nice.
C.C. Jentsch Cellars Viognier 2016 ($17.70++) – This wine has a nice aromatic orange nose. It is off-dry with medium acidity and body. A mix of tropical fruit and orange flavours. Tasty! –
Skaha Vineyard Pinot Blanc 2018 – Fresh stone fruit nose. Full of tropical fruit flavour with lesser amounts of apple followed by green fruit, and a hint of lychee. Medium body and acidity.
Red Wines
Privato Pinot Noir 2017 ($26.99) – the grapes for this wine come from selected vineyards throughout the Okanagan Valley. This wine is a medium intensity translucent garnet in colour. Light smoke and red cherry aromas. Medium-plus body, smooth with a thicker mouthfeel. Fine tannins and light acidity. Red cherries and nutmeg flavours, along with a hint of roses. Also a bit peppery. Long length. Very elegant. –
Coolshanagh Pinot Noir, Naramata Bench, 2017 ($25.99) – pale translucent garnet in the glass. Tea leaves and red fruits on the nose. Tea leaves, red fruits, sweet spices and pepperiness on the palate. The wine is dry with medium body / acidity / tannins. Very good.
Harper’s Trail Winery Pinot Noir 2018 ($23) – Pale translucent garnet. Nice light intensity nose showing candied red cherries and vanilla.Medium minus body, dry with medium acidity and fine tannins. Red cherries and floral with vanilla and then sweet spices showing from mid-palate to finish. Dry but not tannic finish. A lingering red cherry and peppery finish. An elegant red.
Mt. Boucherie Blaufrankisch 2017 ($27.99) – This red grape may not be familiar to you. As far as I can tell Mt. Boucherie is the only BC winery to produce wine from this grape. It makes a quite easy to drink wine that you should try. The grape’s origin may be from Austria and is widely grown in central and eastern Europe. This wine is deeply ruby coloured. It has a very light nose with hints of floral, clove and other sweet spices, sweet ripe plums and cassis. You pick up a whiff of capsicum at the start but it burns off quite quickly. The wine is slightly off-dry, round and has a thicker, plush mouthfeel. Very soft tannins. The first thing that I noted in this wine was its minerality. The wine is fruity overall primarily mixed ripe black fruits but as well red plums, some roses, black cherries, and with some air you also get raspberries. There is also some sweet spices and a touch of oak on the palate. With longer decanting red fruits and blueberry flavours become more evident. It also becomes quite floral on the palate with decanting. The wine has a long finish with lingering fruit flavours and a bit of pepperiness.
Rating: – An easy to drink ripe dark fruit wine with a soft mouthfeel and light tannins.
Winemaker’s CUT Pinot Noir 2018 ($38) – is medium garnet in colour. Very translucent to the core. Between medium-plus and pronounced intensity nose starts with smoky raspberries followed by sweet ripe red fruit and then sausage at the end. With some air, it becomes floral which then fades away and you get sweet spices and tea leaves on the nose. With a longer decant you get lots of bramble and smoky raspberry aromas. It has very good fruit to acid to tannin harmony. The wine is dry lighter-bodied with medium intensity floral and red fruit flavours, and you get some raspberry flavours after the red fruit. The wine has a medium-plus length and finishes dry. Red fruit flavours on the finish along with oak some toastiness and sweet spices. With decanting the wine has some pepperiness as well on the finish. A great structured Pinot Noir.
Rating: – A great structured Pinot Noir with an everchanging nose of red fruit, floral and sweet spices. Floral and red fruit flavours.Very good balance of fruit, acid, and tannins. No need to decant this wine.
I don’t have any Gamay listed, but if you cannot find any suitable BC Pinot Noir, try to purchase a Gamay Noir. I also do not have any BC sparkling wine listed from tasting this year, but you can’t go wrong with many BC sparkling wines. Bella, Blue Mountain, Haywire, and Stoneboat are a few wineries you can check for sparkling wine.
