I don’t usually put wines from different wineries together in a post, but today I did. Why? I wanted to show you that BC makes blends, and not necessarily traditional blends, like from Bordeaux. In BC and the New World, we are not tied to the restrictions of our region. We can experiment with our wines and make blends that we think work together. Today, I am showing you a traditional Bordeaux blend and a non-traditional blend. The traditional blend is Evolve Cellars Momento 2018, made from Merlot and Cabernet Franc (Tell me is this a Right or a Left Bank Bordeaux blend?). The other wine is Moon Curser Dead of Night 2020, a blend of Syrah and Tannat. Let me tell you about these wines.
My Wine Tasting Notes
Evolve Cellars Momento 2018 (BC $24.99)
From the winery, “This approachable wine is a blend of 58% Cabernet Franc, 42% Merlot. Hand harvest, sorted and fermented on skins with daily pump-overs for the duration of the ferment. Aged separately in French and American oak barrels for 14 months until blended.”
Appearance: Clear, medium-intensity garnet colour. Translucent to the core.
Nose: Medium-intensity aromas of red fruit, red cherries and candied red cherries, black plums, oak, and touches of smoke and sweet spices. The aromas stay the same with decanting, but have a sweeter scent.
Palate: Dry, smooth, round and soft with a light mouthfeel. A lower level of acidity and tannins. Lifted red fruit flavours along with blackberries, and touches of candied red fruit, black pepper, oak and cedar. Maybe some minerality as well. The wine has a bit higher acidity, plus touches of leather and floral with decanting. The flavours move from lifted red fruits to richer red fruits.
Finish: Medium-plus length with red fruit and cedar on the finish and light pepperiness. Firmer drying tannins on the finish plus some leather flavour after decanting.
A wine with a nice light touch. The wine is structured between fruit, oak, and acidity. I give a slight edge to the undecanted version, which I think has a bit prettier feel to it.
Rating: 
– 
Medium translucent garnet in the glass. A medium-intensity nose of red fruit, with lesser amounts of red cherries, candied red cherries, plums, black pepper and sweet spices. Dry, light body, smooth and round mouthfeel. Lower acidity and fine-grained light tannins. Mainly red fruit flavours with blackberries and touches of candied red fruit, black pepper, oak and cedar. Medium-plus length.
Moon Curser Dead of Night 2020 (BC $43.99)
This is a vegan-friendly wine. A blend of 49% Syrah and 51% Tannat that has undergone full malolactic fermentation. According to the winery, ” Moon Curser’s flagship blend of Osoyoos East Bench grown Syrah and Tannat… The 2020 vintage of our flagship Dead of Night is comprised of eleven co-fermented barrels of Syrah and Tannat, the five top performing barrels of our ’20 Syrah, and the five top performing barrels of our ’20 Tannat. “
Appearance: Opaque ruby to the rim.
Nose: Light intensity, but deep aromas of juicy purple fruit and berries, blackberries, plus touches of sweet spices and leather. The aromas were even lighter after decanting. I think I need to give this wine at least another day to decant. I will update the aromas once the wine has decanted longer.
Palate: Dry, lighter body, with medium-intensity acidity and tannins. A leaner mouthfeel to start, but gets rounder with time in the glass. Purple fruit, blueberries, plums, plus touches of black pepper, violets, nutmeg, oak and cocoa. The wine has a bigger, thicker, buttery mouthfeel after decanting. You still get the blueberries and plums flavours, along with oak and cocoa, but can now add nutmeg. The violets and black pepper were reduced.
Finish: Medium-plus length finishing with medium-plus fine-grained drying tannins. Purple fruit flavour with cocoa and oak at the very end. The tannins were stronger on the finish after decanting, plus some bitterness.
I would recommend not decanting this wine at the moment. If two days of decanting makes a difference to the nose, I will let you know in this article.
SUCCESS! After 3 days of decanting, this wine opened up beautifully. The aromas became medium in intensity; Dark fruits and sweet spices. The flavours persisted with juicy berries, blueberries, and touches of cocoa and leather. The tannins became firmer as well. So don’t open this wine and immediately drink it. Decant it, making sure the top of the decanter is covered so you don’t get anything falling in while the wine opens up over a few days. I kept this bottle of wine in my wine storage unit, not out on the kitchen counter so the temperature was nicely controlled at 14 degrees Celcius. With this long decant, I would upgrade my rating of this wine to a full
Rating: – no decanting. Opaque ruby colour. Lighter aromas of juicy black and purple fruit, and light sweet spices. Dry, lighter body, lean mouthfeel that gets rounder with air. Purple fruit, blueberries, plums, and touches of violets, oak, nutmeg and cocoa. Medium-plus length. with drying tannins.
Where Can I Buy These Wines?
So you can see the BC can make traditional blends as well as non-traditional blends quite well, as these two wines demonstrate. Go out and try other red BC blends.
The Evolve Cellars Momento is available for purchase through the TIME Family of Wines website.
The Moon Curser Dead of Night is sold out at the winery. I searched various wine shops and the BC Liquor store website, but I could not find this wine listed either. You may need to hunt around your local store or restaurant to find it.
