Try Blasted Church Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2022 and Cabernet Sauvignon

With all the pressures caused by winter weather freezing vines reducing the grape harvest this year and forest fires over the past several years, our BC wineries need your support. I have two wines, one white and one red, from BC’s Blasted Church Vineyards to review for you. Blasted Church Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2022 is a white Bordeaux blend. Blasted Church Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 comes from a hot vintage with the grapes fully ripening.

Blasted Church has had an exciting couple of years: a celebration of their 20^th anniversary and big awards including previously being awarded the accolade of the no. 2 ranked winery in B.C., and no. 3 in Canada by WineAlign’s National Wine Awards, and this year the winery is on the list of the Top 25 Wineries in Canada!

Give these BC wines, and other BC wines, a try before reaching for a bottle from other countries in these trying times.

My Wine Tasting Notes

I typically re-taste the wines after 24 hrs, but these two wines I re-tasted after 48 hrs. I was happy to see that there was very little change in aromas and flavours, showing the strength of these wines.

Blasted Church Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2022 (BC $28)

Winemaker’s notes, ” The first harvest of Sauvignon Blanc for this wine came from the Sitrus Hill Vineyard on the northern shores of
Osoyoos Lake on September 30th. Our estate grown Sauvignon Blanc was harvested next on October 10th. The Semillon portion of the blend was harvested on October 19th. All of the fruit was whole cluster pressed before being racked to second, third, and fourth-fill
French oak barrels and puncheons for fermentation and aging on lees for six months. At the six month point, all of the wines were racked to stainless steel for a couple of months to bring the tension back into the wine. The two picks of Sauvignon Blanc and the Semillon provided a great palette from which to blend the final wine, with herbaceous notes and a bracing acidity as well as a rich
tropical profile.“

Appearance: Bright, clear medium-intensity lemon colour.
Nose: Medium-minus intensity aromas of lemon and pine needles, with touches of honey, peach, and toast. No aromatic changes after decanting.
Palate: Dry, medium-plus body, round with a thicker mouthfeel. You also get medium acidic prickle on your tongue. Toast, light peach and lemon fruit flavours, plus a touch of pine needles and stony minerality on the mid-palate to the finish. Tart fruit flavours. Add pears and pineapple flavours to the palate after decanting.
Finish: Medium-plus length finishing with the same flavours to the finish. No change to the flavours on the finish with decanting.

Bright, fresh fruit flavours. No need to decant, but still great a few days after opening. This wine pairs nicely with jalapeno spiced havarti cheese.

Rating: – A white Bordeaux blend that offers aromas of lemon and pine needles with touches of honey, peach and toast. Dry with a medium-plus body and a round, thicker mouthfeel. Tart fruit flavours; lemon, plus a touch of pine needles and stony minerality. Decanting adds pears and pineapple flavours. Medium-plus length.

Blasted Church Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2022 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 with wines in glasses

Blasted Church Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 (BC $36)

Winemaker’s notes, “The Cabernet Sauvignon was sourced from the Jose Vineyard (clone 191 and 169) on the western edge of
Osoyoos, Inkameep Vineyard (clone 169) on the Oliver East Bench, and our estate vineyard on the Skaha Bench. The Petit Verdot portion of the blend was sourced from the Lloyd Vineyard on the west side of Osoyoos. Each individual lot of fruit was hand harvested separately at its optimal balance of sugar, acidity and tannic ripeness. At the winery, the fruit was destemmed but not crushed,
and transferred to tanks for 5-day cold soaks before the fermentations kicked off. The separate fermentations were each managed according to their specificc needs, with pump-overs ranging from 1 to 3 times daily depending upon the status and stage of the ferments. After 18 to 28 days on skins the free run wine was drained from the tanks to barrel for malolactic fermentation. The
oak was all French (30% new), with the balance being made up of second, third, fourth-fill, and neutral barrels. The wines were in barrel for 12 months before being racked to tank for blending. They were returned to barrel for an additional 6 months of aging before bottling.”

Appearance: A dull, almost opaque garnet coloured wine.
Nose: Light aromas of juicy berry fruits, plums, black fruit, with touches of meatiness and smoke. No change to the aromas with decanting.
Palate: Dry, medium-plus body that starts off lean, but becomes rounder and fuller-bodied with some air. Quite drying tannins. Berry fruit, dark fruit, and plum fruit flavours, along with light oak and pepperiness, butter, and a touch of bitterness. The wines is smoother, rounder, and more mouthfilling after decanting. I did not note any bitterness but did pick up a hint of capsicum.
Finish: A medium-plus length finishing with dark fruit, black cherries, pepperiness and bitterness. Medium-plus firm drying tannins. The wine did not have as much bitterness on the finish, and no black cherry flavour either after decanting.

Both decanted and undecanted version of this wine are nice to drink, but I may give the undecanted version the edge as I did enjoy the touch of butteriness on the palate.

Rating: A deeply coloured wine. Light aromas of berry fruits, plums, black fruits, plus some meatiness and smoke. Dry with medium-plus body. The fruit aromas continue to flavours on the palate, sans the meatiness and smoke. Light oak, pepperiness, and bitterness on the palate. Medium tannins firm up on the finish. Medium-plus length.