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2017 Equinoxe Syrah
92
This vintage expresses keen and sensitive winemaking applied to southern Okanagan syrah – where sophistication and weave make the wine seem almost understated. But give it some aeration or bottle age to let it fully express. It is deeply coloured with a soft ripe, plummy nose that has flecks of syrah pepper and licorice, Okanagan sage and subtle oak vanillin. It is full bodied, fairly dense and very smooth – almost svelte – with alcohol so nicely balanced compared to many south Okanagan reds. And the tannins are so nicely buffed. It is delicious but I kept wanting a bit more length, especially at the price. There is some minerality on the finish. Best 2022 to 2027. Tasted Feb 2021
2019 ‘Ava’
92
This is a rich yet fresh expression of the southern Rhone varieties grown in the southern, dessert like conditions of the Southern Okanagan. Viognier is just over 50% but roussanne and marsanne – the three principal southern Rhone varieties are adding their nuances (floral roussanne, orange-like marsanne). The nose shows ripe apricot, cantaloupe melon, saffron, vague light tea, licorice and dried herbs. It is quite full bodied and rich and a touch sweet, yet shows lively BC acid. In the end it is more about nuance, depth and complexity rather than immediacy. Excellent length. Tasted Feb 2021
2019 ‘Ava’
93
In a reversal of fame and varietal fortune the roussanne of 2019 submits to the viognier with the northerly and exotic one taking up 51 per cent blend time. The roussanne at (37) and marsanne at (12) come together in support at the Rhône turned Okanagan meridian to forge one of Western Canada’s finer, then rising to finest white wines. Elegant Ava begins out of a precocious nature, glides with graceful presence and makes good on prescient layering. Silk threads tie the varieties together, gift a gentility of texture and the most subtlety yet prescribed. Bâtonnage two times a week stirs up most excellent lees; clean, pure, unalloyed. And back to viognier at the helm because exotica is not just a six letter word but one that imagines that number of far away white, sweet and translucent fruits; litchi, longan, mangosteen, salak, rambutan and langsat. Take your pick because Ava goes there and also to an Okanagan place where evergreen and coolness reign. Captivating wine in 2019. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2021.
2019 ‘Ava’
93/100
Le Vieux Pin Syrah Cuvée 2018 Violette is produced from 99% Syrah and 1% Viognier. Straight off the top the nose on this wine is fragrant with, well you guessed it, violets, as well as rich cherry, plum, fine herb and savoury aromas. On the palate this dry, fruity, medium-plus-bodied and elegant Syrah is so silky, sensual and liquid luscious and long with a kiss of pepper on the finish. The wine was fermented in cement, oak and stainless-steel tank with 10 months ageing in a mix of concrete, oak casks and six months in neutral French oak barrels. Pour with a duck confit and roasted small potatoes. This is a beautifully-crafted Syrah that is so good now, but will continue to evolve for the next five years. However, the 2018 vintage is already difficult to find! Tasted February 2021.
2017 Equinoxe Syrah
92 points- 4/5 value
Le Vieux Pin’s top end syrah cuts a particularly dashing figure in 2017, perfumed and finessed, yet tightly wound and structured, and destined for more some time in the cellar. I like the ongoing integration of fine, grainy tannins and the vibrant acids, while nearly half new-oak ageing goes essentially unnoticed, such is the depth of fruit flavour and density that has been fully digested by the wine. There’s a fine, peppery streak in the varietal idiom, and length and depth are excellent. Another refined and balanced syrah from Le Vieux Pin.
2016 Équinoxe Merlot
94 points- 4/5 value
Équinoxe is a concept, of that we are certain and in any given vintage la façon de penser that is Le Vieux Pin’s Reserve line will give itself up for a grape variety of promise, or in a vintage like 2016, to several worthy of holding the flame. If winemaker Severine Pinte intuits the prospect for balance, above all else, then another Èquinoxe baton is passed. This merlot joins the likes of cabernet franc from a vineyard known as La Feuille d’Or, “the golden leaf,” situated on the Golden Mile Bench. The gravels and cobbles suit these Right Bank-styled wines so well, equipping them with a natural, elemental, metalliferous and matter of fact base from which to develop. If time is permitted (and LVP has graced us this possibility) then all the building blocks will melt, render and morph like pulverized particles through a silken merlot of ductile texture. This glass is just that and the fruit holds taut against the musculature of structure. Opposing forces cooperate, unite and become one. Equal day, equal night. Equal old world, equal new world. Either spring or fall. Uguaglianza, égalité, equality. Drink 2022-2027.
2018 Le Grand Pin Syrah
91 points. 4.5/5 value
From the home LVP site on the Black Sage Bench, and its sand over clay base, this is a structural, masculine and savoury expression of Syrah. Based around a beautiful core of violet, dense blueberry and cassis, but with syrah’s meaty reductive face evident through. This was somewhat of an experiment, with the blend made up of two neighbouring blocks of 7 rows each, both clone 877, but utilizing two different canopy management techniques (one with early deleafing before flowering). The result of the latter was a lighter, smaller cluster, with thicker grape skins, adding an extra dimension of concentration to the whole. Quite a structural, age worthy wine. This is one of three small lot (50 case) single vineyard syrahs released by the winery from 2018, all raised in neutral barrel for 18 months.
2018 Le Faucon Syrah
93 points. 4/5 value
Le Faucon, referencing the falcons in the vineyard, is a super sandy vineyard in Osoyoos, and represents one of their warmest, and coldest vineyards. The lake affect is not so prominent here. This is one of three in LVP’s Terroir Series, a small lot (50 [cases] each) release of single vineyard syrah, all raised in neutral barrel for 18 months. This is entirely 174 clone, with vine age approximately 10 years. Savoury throughout, with a sandy textural component, wild cherries, fine tobacco, and subtle peppery spicing running along very lengthy, fine grained tannins. Beautiful finesse now, even in youth, this is certainly a highly cellar-worthy wine.
2018 Syrah Cuvée Classique
92 points. 4/5 Value
This is the big brother to Violette, mostly from the Le Verger vineyard (used to be known as Airfield, due to the vineyard’s slightly elevated location on a small bench underneath the Osoyoos airport). Super peppery, with grippy, savoury tobacco, black cherry, wild cassis, thorns, darting pepper, violets, and tight, long tannins that draw this to the finish. This shows the wild and savoury side of syrah, fully ripe, yet so fresh throughout, thanks to Sev’s earlier picking regime. Drinking beautifully now, and with cellaring.
2019 ‘Ava’
Unreleased, and just bottled in June 2020, this was an early peek at the next Ava, named after Sev’s daughter. This vintage was 51% viognier, 37% rousanne, 12% marsanne, in a super floral blend, with viognier’s exuberance at the core. Anise, apricot, fleshy peach and a fine white floral perfume stream throughout to the finish. A showier style, very well handled. Makes a very interesting partner to the 2018 Ava, which was roussanne driven. Looking forward to retesting in a couple of months.
2018 Roussanne
91 points. 4.5/5 value
From Sev’s own vineyard on the Black Sage Bench, her ‘little Chateauneuf du Pape’, this was barrel fermented in all new wood where it remained for 9 months, with regular bâtonnage. Lovely honeyed nut nose leads into creamy pear on the savoury body, drawn by fine grained texture to a spiced nutmeal finish. Very elegant and long lived, this is a beautifully fine, structural and finessed wine. Only 50 cases made.
2017 Equinoxe Syrah
93 points. 4/5 Value
Équinoxe is all about balance: equal day, equal night, equal heat of the day, equal cold of the night, and equal New World, Old World. But more than that, it represents the top of the syrah chain at Le Vieux Pin, and one of the best in the Okanagan Valley. The fruit comes off a mix of South Okanagan Valley sub-appellations honouring the adage of the sum is always greater than its parts blending method. In 2017 the wine was monumental and elegant in itself, a win-win, but on the palate, it is simply a joy to taste and sip, and it has a long life ahead of it. From wild brambly dark fruit to savoury desert scrub laced with licorice and pepper, this is brooding, complex, and will age effortlessly. Brava.
2019 ‘Ava’
93 points. 5/5 Value
2019 is another terrific vintage, maybe one of the best, for Le Vieux Pin’s Rhône blend, in this case, 51% viognier with 37% Roussanne and 12% Marsanne, aged in a mix of new and old puncheons, and a large part in stainless steel. The nose is a delight of white and yellow blossoms, citrus and white and yellow-fleshed orchard fruit, sweet herbs and fennel, lemon zest and acacia honey. I also love the creamy-fresh texture, generous but firm, with a fine, sapid-saline quality on the finish. A truly delicious, well made, distinctive white, a perennial favourite from the Okanagan Valley. Drink or hold mid-term. Tasted January 2021.
2018 Le Faucon Syrah
92 points
Sourced from a single sandy soiled vineyard in Osoyoos, this supple syrah was fermented in concrete and aged in neutral French oak. The result is a lovely soft, ripe style with black cherry fruit, gentle pepper and herbs. It is full bodied yet soft and refined with very fine sandy tannins. Impressive texture, lovely palate. The length is excellent.
5/5 Value
2018 Équinoxe Viognier
92 points
From a block with some river stone and sand at the winery on Black Sage Road, this is 100% viognier aged in neutral French oak puncheon. Only 50 cases were made. Not a huge nose here, but very complex with orange, apricot, starfruit, sage and light spice. It is full bodied, creamy yet elegant with some heat. Excellent length, with a sense of minerality on the finish. Excellent length.
2018 Équinoxe Chardonnay
93 points
This is one of Severine Pinte’s first chardonnays, inspired by Meursault in Burgundy. It is sourced from a cooler Golden Mile Bench vineyard. It is certainly full bodied and firm yet elegant at the same time. The nose is a bit reserved but complex with pear, subtle oak and a slightly oxidative hazelnut note. Nicely structured and focused with excellent length.
2018 Syrah Cuvée Violette
Bronze Medal
peppery black fruit notes in fresh, firm and understated style.
2016 Retouche
Bronze Medal
Youthful cassis and pepper. One for both Bordeaux and Rhone fans. Aging potential +
2018 ‘Ava’
92 points
Calculated, figured and reasoned, a 51 per cent roussanne, (36) viognier and (13) marsanne organized, Rhône motivated blend that just fits right. A kiss of new wood and a 35 per cent wood campaign, slightly more in steel and then the other freshener, that being a fifth of this exceptional vintage fruit having seen time in concrete tank. Yes the aromas are wildly fresh, far away tropical and cumulatively enticing. A white blend of rhythm and soul, actionable in every part of its drift and coil, democratic, of no accident, come up to please and at the same time, foil. Offers this and that, high tempo acids opposite fully ripened fruit and all tolled, wrapped up with a tailored bow. Drink 2020-2024. 5/5 value.
