Monte Creek Winery Hands Up Red 2023

Deborah Podurgiel WSET IV Candidate rated this wine as 92/100 with the following review:

Love the Hands Up Red (2023) from Monte Creek Winery. A savoury red wine blend of Frontenac Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, the wine spent nine months in French oak foudres split with French oak barriques. This vintage is dry, medium-bodied, beautifully balanced and deliciously savoury on the nose with smoked bacon, bay, sage herbs and soft spicy flavours rich and smooth on the palate. Tannins are velcroish and this is an easy-drinking wine to enjoy. Very nicely done ! Tasted December 2025 with a homemade pizza split with roast chicken and spicy beef sausage all topped up with bell pepper, baby Bella mushrooms, sliced black olives and a ton of Mozzarella, Provolone and shaved Parmesan cheeses. Typical Saturday night fare!

From the winery: “Heat and wildfire was a big part of the story in 2023, with significant fires near Keremeos and Monte Creek. These conditions resulted in the harvest being completed (save for one last block of Merlot) by October 3rd. For perspective, 10 years ago it was nearly unheard of for harvest in BC to begin before October, while this year’s harvest was nearly done by that same date; our changing climate has resulted in an earlier shift of harvest time by four-to-six weeks. Our team also took every effort to mitigate any quality issues associated with wildfire smoke, including early morning hand-harvesting, careful hand-sorting of every bin of fruit, and a variety of techniques within the winery.”