Hester Creek Cabernet Franc 2003

This is what happens when you get three wine enthusiasts together with nothing better to do - ou get 900 million descriptors for a wine....

Once again Nigel's brought in stunning wine. The Hester Creek Cabernet Franc is sold out, and for good reason. Nigel, Kate and I tried some as a little treat for our team, and here's what we thought.

It's very a very complex and concentrated wine with a dark plum colour, and a spicy, deep, intense nose. There's a lot of sweetness that hits the tip of your tongue right away, after all this wine is 14.5% alcohol and so must have been made from some very ripe fruit (this was the year of all those forest fires in the Okanagan, so a hot year) but it's balanced by great acidity that hits the sides of the tongue next, and lots of spice. For fruit we tasted sweet dates, blackberries and overly ripe or stewed strawberry. There was a lot of spice, especially green peppercorn, and a hint of cinnamon sugar. There's a floral note her too, with dusty pot purri and rose petal. And don't forget the herbs. We found these hardest to pin point, finally settling on fresh lavender, eucalyptus and thyme.

Make friends at your local VQA shop and see if they can dig some up for you.