Nk'Mip Cellars Qwam Qwmt Chardonnay V.Q.A. 2015

Deborah Podurgiel WSET IV Candidate rated this wine as 93/100 with the following review:

Holy California dreaming, this is about as bold, big and buttery as a BC Chardonnay gets. Qwam Qwmt (pronounced kw-em kw-empt) from Nsyilxcen, as spoken by the Osoyoos Indian Band, translates to “achieving excellence”. This they have.

On the nose, this wine is butter, ripe pear, hazelnut, butter and almond … butter. On the palate, it is dry, creamy, round, lush, rich and textured with full-on nutty, vanilla, pineapple, cake spice and butterscotch flavours to a smooth and satisfying long, long finish. The Chardonnay grapes for this wine were sourced from 40-year-old vines from the Inkameep estate vineyards. The wine saw partial malolactic fermentation, lees aging and spent another 10 months in French oak barriques. The winery suggests a food pairing of roasted winter squash, pumpkin ravioli, and grilled veal chops with mushrooms.

Or cellar it – it certainly has the potential and it would be interesting to see how it evolves and develops in the next three to five years. This vintage was awarded Gold in the 2017 Okanagan Wine Festival, as well as the 2017 All Canadian Wine Championships, and Silver in the 2017 San Francisco Wine Awards.