Game 5 - Time for One of the Big Guns

49.  2002 Burrowing Owl Cabernet Sauvignon (VQA - Okanagan)

So, big game, I figure why not bring out the 2006 All Canadian Wine Awards Gold medal winner for cab's.  For us, this is one those wines that we were holding onto for a "big" occasion.  Hockey playoffs.  Round 2.  Pivotal game.  If that doesn't qualify as a special occasion, what will?

I get a tad apprehensive when opening a BC wine when the vintages start getting a bit longer in the tooth.  It's hardly a 40-year premiere cru Bordeaux, but there was still plenty left to enjoy.  I think the fruit would have been livelier a bit earlier on but there was still a nice balance and enough tannin remaining to match up to a game-day steak.

In the last Canucks' posting, I recounted that cabernet franc has a potential future in the province as a varietal and that Burrowing Owl has one of the best.  I have to admit that I enjoyed tonight's cab sauv a bit more though.  It would be interesting to taste side-by-side like last week's meritage vintages.  

Oh, for an never-ending supply of Burrowing Owl, eh. 

OK, big gun in BC or not, it didn't work as a good luck wine - at least as far as the Canucks go.  It was a doozy of a game, and our boys were in it until the last bit of the third period when a couple of penalties did us in.  So, it's back against the wall, down 3 games to 2 and we're playing the next game in Chicago.  Keep the hopes high and the fingers crossed.

Luckily, there's still some more Burrowing Owl for Game 6.