Desert Hills Gamay Noir

As I'm posting this wine, I can't locate a photo that I'd usually have taken to accompany the breezy prose. When popping the cork, I remember wondering if we'd maybe had a bottle of this vintage previously. Could be I just figured I didn't need a picture because it was already on The List.

Oh well, we haven't had it before, so you'll just have to imagine a "split-level" label with black, gold and copper - and a tree and a bird. Pretty descriptive, eh. Then again, you could go all the way back to one of the early posts and wine #29 to see another label from the same winery.

324. 2007 Desert Hills Estate Winery Gamay (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Desert Hills is one of those wineries that first gained a bit of prominence - not necessarily because of their wines but - because of its location. It certainly didn't hurt a fledgling winery to be an immediate neighbour of two of the province's most sought after vintners. Both Burrowing Owl and Black Hills are mere minutes away on Black Sage Road and, if you're in the vicinity, it only makes sense to drop by and see what's brewing. It's hard not to conclude that it was a worthwhile effort.

I know that was our experience when we first happened on Desert Hills while making a pilgrimage to Burrowing Owl.

From our first visit, we understood that Desert Hills was a very hands-on, family operated winery. The folks running the tasting room were as friendly as you'll ever meet and they kept introducing us to so-and-so's little girl or mentioning the other brother that was off doing such-and-such. I also remember that one of the Toor brothers (I'm not sure which one) was so proud of his Cabernet that he guaranteed that we'd like the bottle or he'd refund our money.

That was many bottles ago.

For most, Desert Hills is best known for its love of producing big, lusty reds. The Gamay is the lightest of their red wines and it might be my favourite of their wines. I like the fact that I don't need a big hunk of protein to tame every sip. This is still a Gamay that offers up more ooomph than most though.

If memory serves this was an early favourite of Lady Di's (that's Lady Di of the blog and not the Royal one - although the princess might have liked this wine as well).