Township 7 wines

Monday, July 6^th: Tasted the following wines from Township 7 (Naramata Bench in the Okanagan Valley):

Township 7 Seven Stars Aurora 2022 (Blanc de Noirs – 100% Pinot Noir)
Pale straw in colour; active mousse of tiny bubbles; toasty, leesy nose of red apples; medium-bodied, dry, beautifully balanced apple and red berry flavours. Lovely mouth feel, great length. (92)

Township 7 Seven Stars Rigel 2022 (Riesling; Fool’s Gold Vineyard)
Pale straw; persistent mousse of tiny bubbles: toasty, leesy nose of apple and lemon zest; medium-bodied, elegant, green apple flavour with a long, lemony finish. (91)

Township 7 Rosé Provenance Series 2025 (Syrah and Rotberger, with small amounts of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Meunier)
Salmon pink in colour; cherry bouquet with vanilla notes; medium to full-bodied, dry, beautifully balanced, yellow cherry flavour; lovely mouth-feel. (91)

Township 7 Benchmark Series Viognier 2025
Pale straw in colour; peachy nose with a honeysuckle top note; medium-bodied, dry, spicy, peach flavour; elegant and lingering, ending on a Meyer lemon note. (92)

Meeting with Krysta Boyer regarding a wine project we’re involved in. She had recently returned from the Okanagan and brought back a bottle of Le Vieux Pin Cuvee Sereine 2024, which we enjoyed.

Dinner at a house on the grounds of 13^th Street winery. For the past three years, our friends James and Aina have rented the house for a few days with two other couples to tour Niagara wineries. They invited Deborah and me to join them for dinner. I brought along a bottle of Kumeu River Chardonnay 2024 and Cave Spring Cellars Rose 2025. While James prepared the meal, we sat around eating a range of cheeses and drinking Fielding Sparkling Brut. Pan-seared striploin steaks, busiata pasta, a delicious mushroom cream sauce, and green beans, with Bachelder Les Villages Gamay 2024. For dessert, Deborah’s strawberry angel cake.

Dinner party wines

Deborah’s strawberry angel cake

Tuesday, July 7^th: Dinner: sautéed prawns in cream sauce with rice, with Township 7 Viognier 2025.

Wednesday, July 8^th: Dinner: chicken breast in a Boursin cream sauce with egg noodles and green peas, served with Moon Curser Confiscated Rose 2024.

Thursday, July 9^th: We finally finished the most difficult jigsaw puzzle we have ever committed to!

The conquered challenge

Friday, July 10^th: Went to the Alumni Patio on Henley Island for dinner and to listen to Marty Hopkins and the Honky Tonk Heroes (featuring Sandra Marynissen on percussion). I ordered a beer with my pizza.

Marty Hopkins and the Honky Tonk Heroes

My dinner

Saturday, July 11^th: Lunch at The Twisted Pig with our Toronto friends Catharine and Alan; and then over to Black Bank Hill Winery for:

Six local wineries were showing their Syrahs and white Rhone varieties: Divergence, Redstone, Creekside, Leaning Post and the host winery, Black Bank Hill – with finger food to match.

Divergence wines

Creekside’s Syrahs

Rob Power and Yvonne Irvin, Creekside’s winemakers

Black Bank Hill’s Syrahs