Welcome to the Black Market.

Black Market Wine Company that is, not the other kind. Black Market is one of our new wineries here in BC; located in Okanagan Falls, it consists of 3 people: Rob Hammersley, Michelle Shewchuk, and Mark Simpson. Mark is also the owner and wine maker for BC Wine Studio.  Rob and Michelle have some training in either viticulture or WSET education and look like they do a lot of the running around at the winery.  Two wines are produced at the winery: Secret Society White and The Syndicate Red, both of which I received a bottle to taste and write about.

Secret Society White 2014

The wine as it indicates is a secret blend.  They mention that there are 3 different grape varieties that go into this blend and that the vineyards for the grapes are from Okanagan Falls and Osoyoos.  Tasting through the wines, I tried to figure out which 3 white grape varieties made the blend.  Let’s go through the notes and then see my educated guess.

The wine has a sweet nose with aromas of honey, ripe peaches, ripe apples, lychee and flowers, together with maybe some vanilla or baby powder.  It is dry with medium acidity and medium plus body and flavour intensity.  It is quite round and fruity, viscous, with a little bit of acidic prickle on the tongue.  Stone fruit, in particular pears followed by apples and light Mandarin orange flavours. There is also a hint of herbaceousness, which does go away with decanting.  It finishes with mouth-watering acidity, some pepperiness and more pear flavours.  With decanting you get bitter leaf followed by flowers on the finish.

Rating:   A nice straight forward fuller bodied white wine that has nice fresh fruit flavours.  Try with sushi.

What 3 grapes could be in this blend?  Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Riesling.  These 3 varieties of grapes would/should cover all the aromas and flavours,and the body and acidity.

The Syndicate Red 2013

This red blend does have the grape combination listed.  It is made of 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot.  It is aged 15-18 months in 30% new French oak barrels, then blend, bottled and aged for an additional 9 months before release.  This is a Bordeaux blend, and with it’s fruitiness, body and medium tannins, I’m going to say it is more like a Right Bank than a Left Bank Bordeaux.

It is deep garnet, almost opaque in the glass.  Pronounced aromas of ripe raspberries, cassis, blackberries, together with vanilla, oak and milk chocolate.  I also picked up a hint of flowers and baby powder on the nose.  With decanting you will also get plums and blueberries, but the baby powder and flowers will dissipate. It is dry, with medium acidity, and fuller bodied.  More ripe raspberries and cassis, plums, other dark fruits, along with vanilla, nutmeg and sweet spices, together with a hint of violets.  From the mid-palate to finish you also get some cedar.  The tannins are fine and get stronger toward the finish, but need a bit more backbone and integration with the fruit.  Mouth watering acidity together with some pepperiness, purple fruit and dark chocolate.

Rating: A BIG fruit driven red wine with a wide range of aromas and flavours.  Pairs well with grilled steak.

Where Can I Buy These Wines?

These wines are available at private wine shops in BC and Alberta.  This link from the Black Market website lists their outlets.