Tasting Note: It was a hotter, earlier harvested vintage in the Okanagan, resulting in a quite powerful, well structured (13.5% abv) and age-worthy pinot noir. The colour is fairly deep compared to some pinot peers. The nose shows nicely lifted ripe, sweet cherry/raspberry fruit, a hint of blackcurrant unusual in pinot, toast and botanical/savoury notes linked to the wild sage around site that sits on a bench close to Lake Okanagan. There is also a vague whiff of wildfire smoke found in some 2023s, but not of major concern. It is medium-full bodied, energized and in-filled, with fairly firm tannin and some warmth and bitterness. But it has finesse and some suppleness as well. Very well proportioned, with excellent length. Best 2027 to early 2030s.
Backgrounder: 1 Mill Road is owned by veteran Australian winemaker Ben Bryant and Kelowna-raised partner Katie Truscott. It is focused on Naramata pinot and chardonnay from estate and purchased fruit. This wine is from the 1.5-acre Home Block vineyard on the Naramata Bench with calcareous silt-loam soils just above Lake Okanagan, where Dijon 115 vines planted in 2013 are surrounded by old-growth sagebrush. Fermented in oak vats with 25% whole cluster and aged nine months in French oak (28% new), the wine is unfined and unfiltered.
