This is one of the best food and wine pairings that I will remember for a long time. I opened a bottle of Stag’s Hollow Winery Simply Noir 2020 wine and paired it with a grilled filet of steelhead trout from Fisherman’s Market in Burnaby Heights. The trout was recommended to me by Chef Tyrone at the shop. He said that the fattiness of the trout will grill superbly and he was 110% correct.
Stag’s Hollow Winery Simply Noir 2020 is a blend of 67.7% Pinot Noir, 22.6% Merlot, 5.5% Gamay Noir, and 4.2% Dolcetto. It is a low-intervention wine, unfined, lightly filtered, and vegan friendly. They describe it as their bistro-style wine, so it should be nice to sip on its own and be very food-friendly. Let me tell you about this wine then the food pairing.
My Wine Tasting Notes
Stag’s Hollow Winery Simply Noir 2020 (BC $23)
Appearance: A medium garnet colour, consistent and translucent to the core.
Nose: Medium intensity mix of red fruit, smoke, raspberries, and nutmeg with air. The aromas become a little stronger with decanting.
Palate: Dry, medium-plus body, very smooth, soft, and round. Juicy red fruits, raspberries, floral, and touches of oak and candied red fruit (winery notes red licorice). Light nutmeg spice with air. Gets peppery toward the finish. The wine is less floral with decanting. Tannins are stronger as is the oak. Same fruit flavours.
Finish: Medium-plus length and medium peppery on the finish. Silky. Floral and red fruit with touches of oak and nutmeg. Light tannins. Same fruit flavours on the finish but no floral, plus stronger tannins.
I prefer the undecanted version as I enjoy a touch of floral in my Pinot Noir. The decanted version also has stronger tannins and is not quite as soft as the undecanted version.
Rating: 
Medium translucent garnet to the core. Medium intensity aromas of red fruit, raspberries, smoke, toast, and nutmeg spice. Dry, medium-plus body. Very smooth, soft, and round if undecanted. Floral, red fruit, raspberries, plus a touch of candied red fruits on the palate. Medium-plus length finishing with floral and red fruit, medium pepperiness, nutmeg, and light tannins.
Food and Wine Pairing
To prepare the trout, I dried it off then coated it with olive oil and a spice mixture of dill, rosemary, thyme, white pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Grilled on low for 7 minutes then squeezed fresh lemon on it. Served with dilled carrot rounds and sliced potatoes in foil. No points to me for plating.
The pairing was delicious. Chef Tyrone was right about the fattiness of the steelhead trout. That richness plus the mix of herbs and garlic went so well with the acidity and juicy mixed red fruit flavours in this wine. Highly recommended!
Where Can I Buy This Wine?
You can purchase this wine online from the Stag’s Hollow Winery website. Select Everything Wine stores have this wine in limited stock.
Thank you to Stag’s Hollow Winery for providing this sample for me to review.
