I’ve been eyeing this half bottle for a while and as it was a salmon evening tonight, opening it just seemed right. We were also celebrating the gold medal win at the Nation’s Cup in England by the Canadian U20 Women’s Rugby Team.

Unabashed plug at this point; Winellama’s daughter Jess Neilson is the team’s fly half and kicker and was the tournament’s high scorer with 45 points – more than double the number of the closest competitor from the US.

When we visited Cristom in March 2013, I’d had a hard time deciding which bottle to purchase and spirit back across the border and I’d chosen this one because it’s from the ‘Jessie Vineyard’. So, drinking it in honour of a certain rugby player only made sense this evening.

Clear and bright, medium garnet, and with light legs noted, this wine is clean and developing with medium plus intense aromas of cherry, sweet wood, sweet raspberry, cranberry and a surprising minerality.

Dry with medium plus acidity, smoothly almost imperceptible tannins, medium alcohol, medium plus flavour intensity of more Byng cherry, raspberry, oak and sweet vanilla, cedar plank, wet leaves and acidic cranberry, it has a fabulous medium plus finish.

WSET ‘Very Good’ wine – well integrated and balanced with great complexity. Kind of like Team Canada’s U20 Women.