Lake Breeze Vineyards 2019 Alizé Roussanne - 88pts

Lake Breeze Vineyards 2019 Alizé Roussanne (Naramata Bench) Okanagan Valley - BC

Availability: Direct from winery here
Cost: $25 + taxes
Alcohol: 13.5%
Date Tasted: May 22nd, 2022

Tasting Notes: Very little Roussanne is grown in the Okanagan Valley and even less is bottled as a standalone varietal. Lake Breeze, with their Alizé release, gives us the rare opportunity to experience how the Rhone grape fares away from its traditional home. This Naramata grown version might be missing the unctuousness of its French brethren, but it succeeds in delivering a complex nose of stone fruit, floral tea and unpasteurized honey with similar flavours on the relatively full-ish and refreshing palate.

The current vintage is already 3 years old and ready to go. Drink now-2024.

- Liam Carrier ©copyright 2022 IconWines.ca

Lake Breeze Vineyards 2009 Pinot Blanc - 90pts

Lake Breeze Vineyards 2009 Pinot Blanc (Naramata Bench) Okanagan Valley - BC

Availability: Direct from winery. VQA stores.
Cost: $17.90
Alcohol: 13.3%
Production: 2350 cases
Date Tasted: May 15th, 2010

Tasting Notes: A great example of BC Pinot Blanc at its most vibrant. Crisp, fruity and refreshing; a perfect wine for a hot patio or deck. Intense fruit aromas and flavours of grapefruit, orange blossoms, peach skins and ripe pears with tart citrus acidity and strong minerality. The soils of the Naramata Bench are well represented here giving this estate-grown wine a sense of place that lesser Pinot Blanc fail to deliver. Well-balanced with a long finish and vivacious mouth feel.

Look for this wine at your local VQA store in the Spring. Only 2350 cases were produced, so be sure to stock-up before they disappear.

Paired beautifully with the grilled-vegetable Panini I enjoyed at Lake Breeze's patio restaurant. This is a wine to be drunk now, not cellared. Enjoy 2010-2011. CSPC 500322
- Liam Carrier ©copyright 2010

Lake Breeze Vineyards 2008 Pinot Blanc - 89pts

Lake Breeze Vineyards 2008 Pinot Blanc (Naramata Bench) Okanagan Valley - BC

Cost: $17 (Direct from winery) $21 (Private wine stores)

Date Tasted: September 4th, 2009

Tasting Notes: Another winner from Naramata Bench producer Lake Breeze Vineyards. Light intensity yet intriguing on the nose; notes of grapefruit, pears and butter. The soft nose lures you into taking a sip where your palate explodes with intense flavours and you fall victim to the likes of fresh peaches, canned-pears and citrus fruits. This is a well balanced wine with medium acidity and a very long finish that leaves your mouth happy and refreshed.

Sadly, the winery is now sold out of their 2000 cases of this wine. However, I have seen it at BC VQA stores recently, sold in the fantastic half-bottle size (375ml). I wish more wineries would produce the half-bottle size (appropriately priced). - LC

CSPC 500322

Lake Breeze Vineyards 2008 Gewurztraminer - 91pts

Lake Breeze Vineyards 2008 Gewurztraminer (Naramata Bench) Okanagan Valley - BC

Availability: Direct from winery. VQA Stores

Cost: $18 (Direct from winery) $22 (Private wine stores)

Date Tasted: September 2nd, 2009

Tasted Notes: A nicely balanced Gerwurztraminer from Naramata Bench producer Lake Breeze Vineyards with a very long finish. Perfect acidity compliments the sweetness of the citrus fruit aromas and flavours despite the lack of any residual sugar.

I enjoyed this Gerwurz at lunch at the winery's wonderful patio restaurant. It was the white wine suggestion for my menu selection, "chicken sandwich with chipotle aioli, Mediterranean salsa, feta cheese & fresh mint", and it paired very nicely. If you are planning a wine tasting trip to the Naramata Bench and haven't had lunch at the Lake Breeze patio make sure you schedule a visit. You won't be disappointed.
- Liam Carrier

CSPC 500348