David Lawrason’s Weekly Wine Pick: a brooding winter red from an award-winning B.C. winery
Nk’Mip Qwam Qwmt 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon
$28.95 | Okanagan Valley, B.C. | 91 points Nk’Mip Cellars (pronounced In-Ka-Meep) is an ultra-modern winery partially owned and operated by the Osoyoos Indian Band in the arid desert of the south Okanagan. Since 2002, Randy Picton, a former B.C. forestry worker who went to wine school in Penticton, has been making eyebrow-raising wines, eventually earning Nk’Mip a no. 2 finish for the title of top winery in Canada, and tops in B.C., at the 2012 Wine Access Canadian Wine Awards.
The taste: This is a dark, brooding, maturing cabernet with lifted weedy and olive notes, classic cassis, leather, raw meat and iodine. There’s a lot going on here, and even if it’s not a thing of grace, the wine is full bodied, fairly dense, hot and powerful. It’s quite grippy and big, if a bit green on the finish. The length is excellent.
How to drink it: This is a winter red, ideal for roasts and stews, especially when there’s lamb involved. Ideally it should age another two or three years, but pouring it into a broad-based decanter for an hour or two and using large-bowled, tapered glasses will help shave the tannic edge. Serve just below room temperature.
