Variability of wines

I've often wondered about the way different bottles from the same batch, tank, cask - whatever - how they vary. Of course, we do not have a professionally-designed wine cellar... we have a what we call a basement. Certainly that's a part of the equation.

Unlike The Vancouver Sun's Robert Parker-wannabe wine critic, who uses a scale of 86 to 90 in evaluating his picks, we use a 1 to 5 scale, with an occasional bottle rating a "6". So it's interesting to a look back at how we've rated a wine like Kettle Valley 2002 Rock Oven Red - a Cabernet-Shiraz blend - and see that the 6 bottles that we've opened over the past 18 months have rated as high as "5" and as low as "3".

On our simple scale, "1" means not potable. "3" is okay, but not worth the price (or "quaffable but hardly transcendent",) and "5" means one of the best.

I hate to say it, but the 4.5-5 grades were awarded in the first half of those 18 months, and since then it has been 3 to 4. I hope this isn't a trend, because we still have 3 bottles left. According to my database.

Hello? Anybody out there?

Naramata Sweet Dreams

6 of us set off for a quirky but comfortable house rental on North Naramata Road near Kettle Valley Winery's King Drive vineyard late in September. The weather was variable - rain some days and warm sun/cool shade on others. Not bad cycling weather.

My highlights:
(1) Our 2 winemakers' dinners at the Naramata Heritage Inn. Hosted by Tim Watts of Kettle Valley and Jeff Martin of La Frenz, with wines matched to the culinary wizardry of Thomas Render. These were better meals than the one in which we partook at The Wickanninish Inn at Tofino, earlier in the month!

(2) The dine-in meals perpared by us and our friends, with wines from BC and elsewhere.

(3) The 3 Kettle Valley 2002 reds we opened one night to drink with Osso Buco and Risotto: Syrah, Shiraz, and Malbec. Many other good reds.

(4) A number of good Chardonnays, but especially the incroyable Black Arts 2005 from Golden Mile, a winery that we've only just started to get to know. ($39 at Westminster Quay's Divino's Quayside wine shop!) Second best: Lake Breeze Seven Poplars 2005. A close third: Kettle Valley again, the 2005 Chard. Not quite making the grade: Quail's Gate 2004 Family Reserve and Township Seven 2004 Reserve.

(5) Fresh apples and plums falling from the trees of our rental house.

(6) Walks and bike rides on the KVR above Naramata. Fabulous views!

(7) Kicking back and relaxing with our friends, watching our Lions beat Winnipeg and our Canucks beat Calgary. (Ok, I just lied. The latter happened after we returned home.) Winning and getting beat at Scrabble.

(8) Buying the latest releases, and for once, not buying more than our trunk can hold. (Hey, we're retired now, and on a fixed income!)

Not necessarily in that order.