“In this series we bring you our #FavouriteThings Holiday Gift Suggestions which we personally recommend”
No you’re not seeing things, this is the second #FavouriteThings Holiday Gift Suggestion feature for Stag’s Hollow. We can’t help it they just have too many great wines to share! You can check out the first in this series here.
This lineup of wines are great for entertaining during the holidays and who wouldn’t want to receive them as a gift? Can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t be thrilled with a gift of these great wines. So here they are more gift suggestions:
2021 Blanc de Noirs
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
With the faintest pale rose gold in colour, the beguiling nose is full of ripe peaches, lifted floral notes, toasted almonds and hints of sweet and savoury baking spices. On the palate, you’ll find rich baked apple, peaches and cream, biscuits, marzipan and crème brulée flavours. Honey covered almonds, spicy ginger and crisp apples linger on the finish. A full-bodied and rich, yet deliciously balanced wine.
Vineyard Notes
Stag’s Hollow Vineyard, Okanagan Falls (gravels & coarse glacial till) Shuttleworth Creek Vineyard, Okanagan Falls (gravels, glacial till & silty loam)
Production Notes
A small lot of Pinot Noir was whole-cluster pressed immediately following harvesting; minimizing any maceration time. The pale Pinot Noir juice was blended and transferred into a stainless steel tank, where it was cold settled for 48 hours. It was then racked into 1 second-fill 500L French oak puncheon, and a stainless steel tank. The puncheon portion remained sur-lie, in barrel, with regular batonnage. After 5 months, once we were happy with the wine’s texture and richness it had developed, both lots were settled, racked and blended. The final wine was then stabilized, filtered and bottled.
Winemaker Notes
Our fourth (and final) iteration of this unique wine remains a stylistic nod to a rich and creamy Chardonnay. As with the 2020 vintage, we were after a touch less oak influence, and increased our batonnage regimen to build texture and complexity, without potentially overpowering this vintage’s delicate fruit flavours with toasty notes. We also pulled back on the skin-contact, pressing the whole-cluster fruit off as quickly as possible, resulting in our most “blanc,” Blanc de Noirs yet.
Food Pairing Notes
Classic: Roast chicken, pork chops, dishes with cream-based sauces, creamy soups, mushroom dishes, popcorn, buttered baguette, white pizzas, crab, fish with lemon cream sauce, lobster, roasted root vegetables. Adventurous: Fish and chips, Jamon Iberico, olives, oysters, peppery arugula salads, shredded pork tacos, truffle fries. Adventurous: Fish and chips, Jamon Iberico, olives, oysters, peppery arugula salads, shredded pork tacos, truffle fries.
2019 Dolcetto
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
A vibrant and unapologetic wine. Electric purple in colour, with a nose that tiptoes between vibrant fruit and earthy notes. Bright flavours of sour cherries, Italian prune plums, blueberry pie and bramble mingle with more masculine notes of earth, dried violets, spice, and savoury botanicals. This profile carries through to the palate, where the earthiness of the wine is enhanced by soft, chalky tannins, and complemented by its youthful, juicy acidity.
Vineyard Notes
Shuttleworth Creek Vineyard, Okanagan Falls (Gravels, glacial till & silty loam)
Production Notes
Hand-harvested fruit from our Shuttleworth Creek vineyard was sorted, destemmed, lightly crushed and fermented in 1-ton open-topped fermenters, using selected yeast strains. The ferment was punched-down by hand 2-4 times daily, and then at the peak of fermentation, delestaged daily. The ferments were pressed off into concrete and stainless steel tanks, where they completed alcoholic fermentation, and then malolactic conversion. The wine aged gracefully here for 8 months, when it was finally racked and blended together. The wine was bottled after being stabilized and lightly filtered.
Winemaker Notes
Dolcetto is a grape that consistently inspires experimentation and excitement, with every new vintage. Delestage (a two-step “rack-and-return” process in which fermenting red wine juice is separated from the grape solids by racking and then returned to the fermenting vat to re-soak the solids) through the peak of fermentation resulted in a wine with deliciously soft tannins, and vibrantly expressive grape character.
Food Pairing Notes
Classic: pizza, charcuterie, mushroom & sausage pasta, spaghetti & meatballs, tomato-based zucchini “zoodle” dishes, game, duck, lamb, roasted root vegetables. Adventurous: paella, cheese-based pastas, beef & pork empanadas, burgers, jambalaya.
2020 Merlot
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
A bright, fruit-forward nose of red and dark berry fruit, with hints of fragrant cedar and wild desert sage. Cherry and red berry fruits dominate the wine’s mid weight palate and marry very well with soft ripe tannins and subtle oaky notes. The wine finishes with bright acidity and a pleasant savoury note.
Vineyard Notes
Parsons Vineyard, Skaha Bench Sub-GI
Production Notes
The fruit was hand-harvested, bunch sorted and destemmed. Approximately 75% of the berries were left whole and uncrushed. After a 3 day cold soak, the must was warmed and inoculated with selected yeast culture. The cap was punched down by hand 3 times daily and at the ideal tannin extraction, the must was drained of free run juice and the skins were lightly pressed. The wine continued its alcohol fermentation in French oak (40% new) through to dryness and then proceeded through Malolactic conversion. It was left to mature undisturbed for 18 months before being blended, lightly filtered and bottled.
Winemaker Notes
This Merlot comes from our beautiful west-facing Parsons Vineyard on the Skaha Bench. Sharing a similar aspect to our Estate vineyard, this block produced some exceptional Merlot in 2020; especially given that it was the first crop to come off of it (3rd leaf). We love to show off the juicy side of Merlot with this wine, but it certainly isn’t lacking for structure and concentration either. A wonderfully-expressive medium-bodied wine that demonstrates what a great site this is proving to be across the board.
Food Pairing Notes
Classic: charcuterie, roast beef, game pies, grilled meat (steak, sausage, etc.), burgers, turkey dinner, lamb, stews, chilli con carne. Adventurous: Japanese-style beef dishes, Chinese crispy duck, macaroni & cheese, bacon & eggs.
2020 Syrah
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
Our 2020 vintage has a little more power and concentration than the 2019. The nose is full of violets, black and white pepper and a core of ripe, dark fruit (blackberry, damson plum & dark cherry). The lifted floral notes of the nose give way to a complex and savoury medium-bodied palate, full of garrigue, black pepper, game, cloves and vanilla. Dark fruit carries through to a lingering finish of beautifully fine, ripe tannins.
Vineyard Notes
Amalia Vineyard, Osoyoos West Bench (Syrah) Upland Vineyard, Naramata (Viognier)
Production Notes
Hand-harvested grapes were sorted, destemmed into 1-ton open-top fermenters. After a 3-day cold soak, both whole-berry ferments were warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts. The ferments were punched down 3 times daily and as soon as the primary ferment was finished, were pressed into French oak barrels (25% new). After malolactic fermentation, the wine was aged for an additional 15 months on fine lees before being blended together and bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Winemaker Notes
While lower-yielding than the 2019 vintage, the 2020 Syrah achieved textbook ripeness; an exciting balance of concentrated fruit and acidity. Because of this, we aimed to coax out the delicate, feminine side of cool-climate Syrah, by co-fermenting it with a small amount of Viognier. This process allowed us to showcase the power that we love to see in Okanagan Syrah, while being able to capture a fresh, vibrant style that is complex and full of flavour, but more importantly elegantly balanced, and very food-friendly.
Food Pairing Notes
Classic: cured meats, steak, lamb, brisket, heavily seasoned dishes with black pepper, aged cheeses, sausage, grilled meat. Adventurous: grilled eggplant, Asian dishes with plum sauce, pulled pork, stir-fried pork, red wine-braised octopus, venison, veal, seared tuna. Adventurous: grilled eggplant, Asian dishes with plum sauce, pulled pork, stir-fried pork, red wine-braised octopus, venison, veal, seared tuna.
Other Notes
91.7% Syrah, 8.3% Viognier 305 cases.
About Stag’s Hollow Winery
Celebrating over 25 years, Stag’s Hollow is a family-owned winery in Okanagan Falls, producing some of British Columbia’s highest quality, most distinctive wines. Located in BC’s South Okanagan, in the new sub-geographical indicator (sub-GI) of Okanagan Falls, Stag’s Hollow Winery owns two vineyards… Stag’s Hollow Estate and Shuttleworth Creek.
Always innovative, with a spirit to be unique and push the limits of both grape growing and winemaking in the Okanagan, the team at Stag’s Hollow has researched and sought out grapes, both new and old, suited to the area soils and microclimate. These include Tempranillo and Albariño from Spain, and Dolcetto and Teroldego from Italy. These unique varietal wines offer a new tasting experience for the Okanagan wine lover. Although these grape varieties come from all over the world originally, wines we produce from these grapes are identifiable as being from nowhere else in the world but from the Okanagan Valley.
