Tasting Note:  In blind tasting at the National Wine Awards of Canada 2026 two Master Sommelier judges also each rated this 93 points.  This is notable as Reserve wines, with longer barrel age and more wood presence, often don’t fly as well with NWAC judges.  But the wood is very well handled in this vintage. It is a stately, generous and tidy cabernet franc that ties together everything I am looking for in B.C. version, with ripeness, weight and plushness. Expect generous raspberry fruit, red rose, dried rosemary and balanced oak toast and cedary spice. It is medium-full bodied, fairly smooth and almost texturally rich with warming 13.7% alcohol. Tannins are drying but not green. And the length is  excellent.  Complete and quite approachable now. 

Backgrounder:  Tinhorn Creek, founded in 1993 by the Shaunessy and Oldfield families, and now owned by Andrew Peller, was a pioneer of cabernet franc in the south Okanagan. The first vines were planted in the 100-acre Diamondback Vineyard across the valley from on the Black Sage Bench in 1994, and ever since it has been a benchmark for the variety. I have noticed a shift to more vibrancy and balance in the red wines since winemaker Leandro Nasal, originally from Mendoza, Argentina, took over the winemaking around the time of the Andrew Peller transition in 2018. The fruit for the 2023 was hand harvested. It was whole-bunch pressed with fermentation in stainless steel tanks with natural yeasts. Aging took place in French oak barrels for 18 months.

Accolades: Gold Medal National Wine Awards of Canada