For those of you looking for organic-certified BC wines, here are two from the Similkameen Valley’s Robin Ridge Winery. It is a small, family-operated winery located in Keremeos. They keep to minimal intervention in winemaking, using indigenous yeasts for fermentation. The two wines I recently received to review are the Robin Ridge Winery Riesling 2022 and Robin Ridge Winery Gamay 2022. The 2022 harvest in BC was cool overall, with grape picking starting about one month later than usual. A warm fall saved the season, and in some cases, BC wineries had larger crops than usual. Let me tell you about these two wines.
My Wine Tasting Notes
Robin Ridge Winery Riesling 2022 (BC $26.25)
Appearance: A clear, medium-intensity lemon colour.
Nose: Medium intensity, evolving aromas of petrol, lemon, and sweet stone fruits. No change to the aromas after decanting.
Palate: Dry, lighter body with a lean, soft mouthfeel. Petrol, citrus, tart stone fruits, and a touch of honey on the palate. Medium-plus to high acidity leaves a light acidic prickle in your mouth. The wine bumps up to medium body and has a thicker mouthfeel after decanting.
Finish: A longer length, finishing with tart citrus, stone fruit, and petrol on the palate, along with a touch of honey. No change to the finish after decanting.
A classic Riesling. No need to decant.
Rating: 
– The Robin Ridge Winery Riesling 2022 shows a clear, medium-intensity lemon colour with medium aromas of petrol, lemon, and sweet stone fruit. The palate is dry and lighter-bodied with a lean, soft mouthfeel, offering petrol, citrus, tart stone fruit, and a touch of honey, with medium-plus to high acidity and a light acidic prickle. After decanting, the wine becomes medium-bodied with a thicker mouthfeel, while the finish remains long with tart citrus, stone fruit, petrol, and a touch of honey.
Robin Ridge Winery Gamay 2022 (BC $25.99)
Appearance: A clear, medium-intensity garnet colour. About 65% opaque.
Nose: Medium-intensity aromas of gamy meatiness, red fruit, leather, and plums. No change to the aromas after decanting.
Palate: This wine is dry, medium-bodied, with a lean mouthfeel. Medium acidity and tannins. Gamy, meaty flavours, along with red fruits, raspberries, plums, and a touch of plums, and bandaid. No change to the body or flavours after decanting.
Finish: Medium to medium-plus length, finishing with tart red fruit and leather flavours, plus some stoniness. Light tannins. More acidity than tannins on the finish. No change to the finish after decanting.
There are no winemaking notes on the Robin Ridge website, so I am guessing the Gamay was fermented in concrete vessels, giving me the stoniness on the finish. An earthy Gamay. No need to decant.
Rating: 
The Robin Ridge Winery Gamay 2022 shows a clear, medium-intensity garnet colour with aromas of gamy meatiness, red fruit, leather, and plum. The palate is dry and medium-bodied with a lean mouthfeel and medium acidity and tannins, offering gamy, meaty flavours with red fruit, raspberry, plum, and a touch of bandaid, with no change after decanting. It finishes medium to medium-plus in length with tart red fruit, leather, and stoniness, with light tannins and more acidity than tannin on the finish.
Where Can I Buy These Wines?
You can purchase the Riesling online from the Robin Ridge Winery website. They are sold out of the Gamay at the winery.
The Gamay is available at BC Liquor stores, select Save on Foods, and Everything Wine stores.
