Keira-anne.com

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up to the second post in my happyfrog purchase series. What particularly excites me about this happyfrog purchase is that it was entirely unplanned and has a story behind it.

A little over a year ago, I made my first visit to Salt Tasting Room with Jack. Instantly we were both hooked on the unique concept and fantastic finger fare offered. What struck us both about our dining experience was the glass of pinot noir we each had. It came from Winchester Cellars, a small winery based on Vancouver Island, and was a wine that was both full-bodied and very rich in flavour. It was this very glass of wine that began a love affair with pinot noir that we both embarked on after that night. What I love most about pinot noirs, as opposed to other varieties of red wines, is that in any good bottle, you’ll be treated to three or four different flavour notes in a single sip.

Photo courtesy of Wines Of Canada

After that evening, the journey began to find a bottle of Winchester Cellars’ Sharp Rock 2005 pinot noir that could be uncorked at home. Unfortunately, it was a journey that would soon fall flat. Between the two of us, we canvassed wine shops downtown, and on a trip I made to Victoria not long after the experience, a search of every liquor store in the Greater Victoria area turned up empty. I even went so far as to visit the actual vineyard - it was a lost cause. I had long forgotten about this wine, and was only briefly reminded of it when I saw that happyfrog had listed the vineyard on their site.

Fast forward 13 months…

Sunday evening, the day before Christmas Eve, my mother and I were scrambling around Courtenay, trying to gather up any last minute grocery items for the feast I was to prepare only 48 hours later. At her suggestion, we stopped into one of Courtenay’s local beer and wine stores to grab some wine so that we could entertain our guests with a little bit of style. I had spotted a pinot noir that looked rather savoury, and upon picking the bottle up off the rack, my eyes darted to the left and instantly locked with the Winchester Cellars logo. Said logo was plastered onto a bottle of their Sharp Rock 2005 pinot noir! And even better, there were two more bottle stacked underneath!

I truly could not believe what I saw. I felt as though I had found the “Holy Grail.” Needless to say, I snapped up two bottles on the spot. And at $35 and change for each bottle, it’s a super price for an even more superb wine. With only 400 cases produced, all I can say is good luck finding it.

You can, however, find Winchester Cellars’ other fine vino selections at a variety of wine shops and restaurants throughout British Columbia (visit their website at the above link for more information). What makes their wine so great is that not only is it local, which means you’re not polluting the environment having your wine imported via jet from France, Italy or even California, but their grapes are grown in a Certified Organic Vineyard, so you know you’re getting a high quality product.

Stay tuned for another happyfrog blog post tomorrow.