Pinot Noir and Riesling are probably my favourite red and white grapes respectively. Both are very transparent to their terroir. Pinot Noir shows different aromas and flavours with the growing season weather for the year, and can be made as a still wine or into sparkling wine, e.g. Champagne. Riesling can be made anywhere from bone dry to very sweet to ice wine. There is great variety in what you can experience with wines from these grapes.
I received a bottle of Moraine Pinot Noir 2018 and Synchromesh Riesling 2019, both BC wines, from JAK’s Beer Wine and Spirits.
My Tasting Notes
Moraine Pinot Noir 2018 (BC $27) – the grapes coming from the Naramata Bench. This wine has a medium intensity translucent garnet colour. About 80% translucent; consistent from rim to core. It has a very enticing nose with smoke, fried bacon, red fruits and sweet spices. With decanting I mainly detected smoky red fruits, raspberries, sweet spices and oak. The fried bacon aroma disappeared. That is too bad as I really like this aroma. This wine is dry with medium tannins and acidity, a thicker angular mouth feel. The flavours are more on the earthy than bright side; red fruits, raspberries, and red cherries, along with smokiness, oak and a touch of floral. The wine finishes with red cherries and oak, along with a strong bitterness, either dark chocolate or iodine. With decanting the fruit flavours stay the same, but you get lighter tannins, a softer mouth feel and less of the bitterness. I think decanting is a good choice for this wine to reduce the bitter finish.
Rating: 
with decanting. It does have a lovely smokey red fruit nose. Medium plus body dry, with earthy smoky red fruits, red cherries and raspberry flavours. Bitterness on the finish which is reduced with decanting.
Synchromesh Riesling 2019 (BC $23.99) – a blend of grapes from the Naramata Bench and Okanagan Falls. It shows 9.13% alc so makes me think that there could be a fair amount of residual sugar. This wine has a bright, medium plus intensity lemon colour. It shows a mix of lemon, petrol, marmalade, and peach aromas. This wine has a medium sweetness level but also a medium plus acidity to help moderate the sugar. A little more acidity would make this wine even better. I’d compare the sweetness level to German Spätlese Riesling wines. The wine has a thicker round mouthfeel, and pronounced fruit flavours; sweet lemon, peach and apricot jam. There is citrus but not as pronounced. There is also some petrol and minerality to this wine. Honey toward the finish. It has a medium length, finishing with a light prickle, honey, marmalade, and sweet peach jam flavours. Decanting does not make much change other than the floral component on the palate disappears.
Rating: A sweet citrus, stone fruit and petrol nose. This wine is semi-sweet with medium plus acidity and flavours of sweet ripe apricot and peach jam.
Where Can I Buy These Wines?
You can purchase these wines through their website, or a local bottle shop like JAK’s.
Synchromesh Wines website. Note that this specific Riesling is only available at JAK’s but their other Rieslings are available at this website.
