Tasting Note: This new (to me) label was a very pleasant surprise at the National Wine Awards. I have always had a curiosity and soft spot for pinot blanc – its sense of broadness and richness without being a showboat. And this fit my expectation very nicely. It is very bright, tidy and well managed, capturing essential almost tropical, pinot blanc melon and banana fruit, with well-fitted vanilla and light barrel spice. It is medium-full bodied, fresh and even with some minerality on the finish. Excellent length thanks to 25-year-old vines puts it over the top. Should drink well through 2030-32.  Janet Dorozynski who tasted it blind at The Nationals describes it as “Bright, crisp and effortlessly drinkable, offering both refreshment and substance”

Backgrounder: Apricus is a relatively new winery operating from the District Wine Village in Oliver, but its roots run deep in the south Okanagan thanks to Sam Baptiste, a member of the Osoyoos Indian Band who has a long history of viticulture at the Nk’mip Vineyard, where he has been General Manager since 1990. He has teamed with Willy Sabo to found Apricus, and they have recently hired Kyle Lyons as winemaker, who has both Okanagan and international experience.  This Pinot Blanc is from old vines planted in the Nk’Mip Vineyard in 1989, perhaps the oldest pinot blanc planting in B.C. The wine was wild yeast fermented and aged five months in neutral French oak.

Accolades: Silver National Wine Awards of Canada