My Wine of The Month for May is Stoneboat Vineyards 'Solo'2007. This is a selection of the best five barrels of Stoneboat's already excellent Pinotage.
Stoneboat is located at the southern end of Okanagen Valley, in British Columbia, near the border with the USA which is geographically part of the Sonoran desert.
It's sandy soil, so the vines grow on their own roots. Sometimes winters are so harsh that a vine is killed, but as they are on their own roots, rather than grafted, a new shoot soon appears and the vine regrows.
Cold winters also means that Stoneboat are the only winery to have made a Pinotage ice-wine. According to VQA rules, grapes for ice-wine can be picked only after three consecutive 24 hour days with temperatures below -8 Celcius.
The cork on this wine crumbled and I was lucky to get it all out of the bottle.
The wine was showing its age, with subdued tannins but offering pure red cherry flavours. A delight.
Read about my trip to Stoneboat in 2011 here.
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