Viognier is not the most obvious grape to search for among the shelves of British Columbia wine bottles. But the White Label Sandhill viognier ($17) is something worth looking for. It comes from fruit grown in the same vineyard, called Osprey Ridge Vineyard, where the Small Lots viognier comes from, but Howard Soon uses the youngest vines for this version. It is all fresh fruit, peach, pear, a lovely touch of citrus, medium-bodied with a generous mouth feel and plenty of finish. You can pair it with a good curry, but really this is such a pleasing wine to sip on, you may find you don’t actually care at all who won the Hawks/Ducks series.
From the Naramata Bench comes Red Rooster’s Henhouse Ruffled Red ($16), an absolutely charming blend of 54 percent cabernet franch and 46 per cent merlot. A fun label for a fun wine, in the glass it is bursting with ripe rich fruits of cherry and plum, with notes of tobacco and a bit of spice. Bread and cheese, sure; maybe your latest attempt at real chili, con carne or not. Either way, easy to take with the nightly Fallon goof-off or the surprisingly good performance by Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler.
