Gorgeous fruit on the nose, really nicely done. Moderate and restrained, no slutty jam but deep and rich, beautiful crisp berry, tight and spicy, a nice appropriation of cassis, tea leaves, blackberry bramble and oak propelling the bouquet into all things you want in a cabernet. Nice layers of chilly mountain water dabble through the fruit, lightening and brightening the concentrated core. A little bottle-funk and early tertiary opens things up, reminding you it is real wine.

Okanagan cab. Well, ripeness marches North, and with Champagne houses buying property in England and a couple 14-5 pinots from Canada and 15-0 CdP’s under my belt, nothing surprises me anymore.

In the mouth, mellow, distinct cabernet fruit polished and quite calm. No flaws, nothing extravagant, honestly just a really great sipper. Not near the flamboyance of the nose, it flows smoothly over the palate, pressing all the proper buttons and not hyping anything one direction or the other. It is a rather polished drop, greatly improviing with air, smooth and balanced throughout with significant acid and a little heat masquerading as tannin–of which there is very little. This is the greyhound or bloody mary or well-made margarita of wines–I mean you could literally sip yourself silly on this all night.

Ten or twenty years ago, I would have confidently said this could be any entry-level Sonoma cab, but most of those wines have gone the way of excessive fruit-forwardness and stupidity, so I need a better place-mark for a well-made wine that drinks easy and solid and without bling-points dragging it in consterning directions. It is not an un-interesting wine, it’s just really… *solild*, an easy drinker almost anyone can get behind.

Wines of this type are becoming rarer and rarer: well-made, under-stated, perfectly balanced wines of small production that are not swinging for the 90+ fence of decadence and concentration. The Sonoma hills are still full of them, in Napa it is becoming a rarity, Paso couldn’t produce this if their life depended on it, and even Washington has fallen prey to the siren-song of stand-a-fork-up-in-it ratings.

I have no problem with this wine. I would want a few in my cellar.

2016 FAIRVIEW CELLARS Cabernet Sauvignon Okanagan Valley British Columbia Canada 14.8

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