For the past few articles, I’ve been writing about white, aromatic wines and sparkling wines for the summer. But there is more than bright, white, and sparkling wines for the summer. Think red wines for the BBQ. Today I have two red wines coming from the Okanagan’s Gold Hill Winery. They have an excellent reputation for big red wines. The two red wines I tasted were the Gold Hill Winery Syrah 2022 and the Gold Hill Winery Founder’s Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2020. I also tried the Syrah with pork BBQ I made and will give you my comments following my wine notes.
My Wine Tasting Notes
Gold Hill Winery Syrah 2022 (sold out at the winery)
Appearance: A clear, deep garnet colour, with maybe a hint of bricking.
Nose: Medium intensity aromas of toast, raspberries, plums, black fruit, and char, along with a hint of nutmeg with swirling. No change to the aromas after decanting.
Palate: Dry, lighter-bodied with a smooth, soft mouthfeel. Medium acidity and fine, light tannins. Black fruit, black plums, blackberries and char on the palate along with a touch of pepperiness toward the finish. Very tasty. Same flavours and body for this wine as first opened, but you can now add toastiness.
Finish: Medium-plus length, finishing with black fruit, blackberries, and char along with pepperiness. Light, fine tannins on the finish. A light mouthfeel to the end. Add a touch of raspberries and toastiness to the finish after decanting.
An elegant Syrah with deep aromas and flavours. I really enjoy the light body. No major change after decanting, so open and enjoy.
Rating: 
The Gold Hill Winery Syrah 2022 shows a deep garnet colour with a hint of bricking and medium aromas of toast, raspberry, plum, black fruit, char, and a touch of nutmeg. The palate is dry and lighter-bodied with a smooth, soft mouthfeel, medium acidity, and fine tannins, offering black fruit, blackberry, plum, and char flavours with a touch of pepperiness, while toast becomes more noticeable after air. It finishes medium-plus in length with black fruit, blackberry, char, pepperiness, and fine tannins, with touches of raspberry and toast emerging after decanting.
Gold Hill Winery Founder’s Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 (members only)
Appearance: Opaque to the rim, garnet-black colour.
Nose: Light aromas of black fruit and a hint of capsicum. With swirling, I picked up some oak and char, but still very light aromas. No change to the aromas after decanting.
Palate: This wine is dry, medium-plus body, with a silky smooth, round and soft mouthfeel. Medium acidity and medium-intensity fine-grained tannins. Deep, ripe black fruit flavour mainly with hints of capsicum, spice, and black cherries. Add black plums to the list of flavours after decanting.
Finish: Medium-plus length, finishing with firm, drying tannins, black fruit flavours, and a hint of sweet black cherries. Deep flavours. Some capsicum, char and light pepperiness are added with decanting.
A deep, dark red blend that still feels young. No need to decant. This wine should still age another 4-5 years without any problems. I will try this wine again with extended decanting to see if it will open up more and add that information here.
Rating: The Gold Hill Winery Founder’s Series Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 shows an opaque garnet-black colour with light aromas of black fruit, hints of capsicum, and subtle oak and char. The palate is dry and medium-plus in body with a silky smooth, round mouthfeel, offering ripe black fruit, black cherry, spice, and capsicum flavours supported by medium acidity and fine-grained tannins, with black plum appearing after air. It finishes medium-plus in length with deep black fruit flavours, firm drying tannins, and hints of sweet black cherry, while char, capsicum, and light pepperiness become more evident after decanting.
Gold Hill Winery Syrah 2022 and BBQ Pork Skewers
I thought this wine with the brighter acidity and flavours may be a good match to some BBQ pork skewers I made. And I was right. The smokiness in the wine paired with the grill on the skewers. The fruitiness of the wine came out more as well. I used a sweet BBQ marinade, and I think the sweetness from the marinade helped bring out the wine’s fruit flavours. Give it a try.
Where Can I Buy These Wines?
You can purchase the Cabernet Sauvignon online from the Gold Hill Winery website, but it is a member’s only wine, so you need to join the club to purchase.
The Gold Hill Winery Syrah 2022 is available at select Save on Foods stores.
