Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery is located in West Kelowna, not too far away from Mission Hill Family Estate Winery. It has been around for many years (winery started in 2001 with the vineyards in 1968) and I have recommended their wines in the past. I still have a bottle of their 2003 Summit Reserve Semillon, which was aged in oak barrels. I don’t think that they ever made an oak-aged Semillon again. I had a few bottles and am now down to my last bottle.
Fast forward to 2019. Mt. Boucherie now has a vineyard in the Similkameen Valley along with vineyards from the north to south Okanagan Valley.
Before getting to their latest wine release, I’d like to point out their bottle makeover. Their new label is very modern and I think is very attractive. The squiggle on the label looks like the outline of the Mt. Boucherie Mountain. Click on the Satellite View icon in the bottom left corner of the Google Map to see the shape of the mountain for yourself.
One additional thing that I like about their bottle update is the screwcap capsule. It has “MB” on the top of the cap and “Mt. Boucherie” around the neck. For anyone that has a large collection of wine bottles (e.g. at least 100 bottles), when all the bottles are laying on their side, you more often see black capsules which means if you want to find a specific wine you have to start pulling bottles to check the label. With the new Mt. Boucherie capsules, I can see “MB” very easily and locate my wine of interest quickly. Congratulations on doing this. I hope more wineries do this as well.
Enough about wine labels and capsules. You probably want to know about Mt. Boucherie’s latest red and white wine releases. Overall they are of very good quality. My detailed notes are below.
My Review of Mt. Boucherie’s Latest Wine Release
Mt. Boucherie Gewurztraminer 2018 ($17.99) – This wine has a medium intensity bright lemon green colour. A very floral, rose petal nose, along with lychee and lime skin aromatics. The wine is slightly off-dry, round with a light acidic prickle on your tongue. There is enough acidity to give this wine some backbone. It has primarily a lychee flavour, with lesser amounts of peach, honey and lime skin. With decanting the wine had a lighter mouthfeel and some pineapple flavour as well. It has a medium-plus length finishing with lingering lychee and lime skin flavours. it is also a bit peppery on the finish.
Rating: 
– 
An inviting Gewurztraminer. Nice floral and lychee nose, with lychee and peach on the palate and some spice on the finish.
Mt. Boucherie Pinot Gris 2018 ($19.99) – Has a bright yellow pear skin colour. Pronounced aromas mostly of ripe pears with lesser amounts of stone fruit and honey, a lemon zip, and some sweet spices. With some decanting you get vanilla as well on the nose. The wine is dry but round with a thicker mouthfeel and an acidic prickle on your tongue. It is mainly pear and roasted pears on the palate along with lesser amounts of peach, sweet spices, a hint of oak, and some spiciness. I also think this wine has a buttery mouthfeel. With decanting the pear flavour is replaced with lime skin. The wine finishes with mouthwatering acidity is peppery, and flavours of ripe pears and oak.
Rating: A Pinot Gris that grabs you with an intense pear nose and flavours.
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.
Mt. Boucherie Pinot Noir 2017 ($24.99) – The grapes for this wine come from the Similkameen Valley. I am not sure which clones they are using, but they do have 115, 667, 777, and 828. It has a very translucent limpid garnet colour. It has a quite pronounced nose with a mix of smokiness, light violets, red cherries, mixed red fruits, and hints of toasted oak, floral, and sweet spices. Quite interesting, with decanting you also get dill on the nose. It’s quite nice. The wine is dry, soft, and smooth with a light mouthfeel. Flavours of red fruits, sweet spices, raspberries, some floral and a hint of red cherries. Sweet spices and pepperiness start on the mid-palate. Decanting brings the dill aromas to dill on the palate. It has a good acidic backbone to support the light fine tannins. Medium-plus length finishing with some drying tannins, pepperiness and tart red fruits / raspberries / bramble berries / red cherries.
Rating: – 
A very light red-fruited Pinot Noir. Soft with acidity to give the wine some structure. Very elegant.
Mt. Boucherie Merlot 2017 ($24.99) – The grapes for this wine come from the Similkameen Valley. It is almost completely opaque garnet in colour from the core to the rim. It has pronounced ripe black fruit, black pepper, plum, cassis, and a hint of cloves. The aromas are quite deep. With decanting the black pepper and clove aromas change to more general sweet spices. You also get tea leaf aroma, which is quite nice. This wine is slightly off-dry, fuller-bodied, thick and smooth with a round mouthfeel. Deep dense fruit flavours of ripe black fruits, together with ripe plums and raspberries. There is also a hint of floral perfume. From the mid-palate to the finish you also get pepper and oak. Decanting brings out some cassis flavour and I think makes the wine a bit smoother (It was already nice and smooth. This is extra nice smoothness.) The wine has a long finish with flavours of ripe dark fruit, some cedar, pepper and oak. You also get some meatiness at the very end. The wine finishes dry. Overall the tannins are fine and of medium strength.
Rating: – A deep brooding Merlot. Big black fruit flavours with hints of floral, red fruits and cedar. Quite smooth and mouth-filling. Delicious.
Mt. Boucherie SUMMIT 2016 ($54.99) – This fantastic red wine is a blend from their top blocks of estate grown fruit in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys. All the grapes are handpicked and sorted. The blend is 51% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Franc, 19% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Malbec, and 3% Syrah. The wines were aged in 100% French oak for 24 months, with 35% aged in new barrels. This wine is a deeper garnet in colour about 80% opaque but still translucent to the core. The wine has medium intensity aromas of black fruit and sweet spices primarily, together with lesser amounts of capsicum, milk chocolate and vanilla. With decanting you can add coffee, black pepper and vanilla aromas as well. The wine is off-dry, round, and has a thicker mouthfeel. It is quite mineral. Restrained flavours of black fruits, sweet spices, and oak together with lesser amounts of blackberries, cedar and milk chocolate. With decanting the wine has a softer mouthfeel. The wine has a long length finishing with tart black fruit (that changes to sweet black fruit with decanting), sweet spices and is quite peppery. You also get a light touch of oak. The wine has fine tannins that are never overly drying.
Rating: – This is a big red wine that whispers to you to pay attention. It has lots of black fruits on the nose and palate as well as a hint of milk chocolate from nose to palate. This wine is very nice to drink upon opening it, but adding some decanting time will give you a bit more aromatics and softness to the wine. Decanting recommended.
Note the prices above do not include shipping or taxes from the winery.
Where Can I Buy These Wines?
You can purchase these wines online via the Mt. Boucherie website. The Pinot Noir is available through Everything Wine. Gewurztraminer and Merlot are available through BC Liquor stores. These wines may also be available at other private wine shops. You need to ask.
I hope you read about a wine that piqued your interest to try. They were all very good quality in my opinion. Thank you to Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery for sending me these wines to taste and review.
