Wine column: Billy Joel wants to know 'A bottle or red, a bottle of white...'

In his 1977 song ‘Scenes from an Italian Restaurant’, Billy Joel croons:

A bottle of red, a bottle of white,

Whatever kind of mood you’re in tonight,

I’ll meet you anytime you want,

In our Italian restaurant

As old songs often randomly do, ‘Italian Restaurnt’ popped into my head this week and didn’t let go.

Since, Billy Joel so convincingly and romantically mentions wine in the song, I decided to riff a wine column off it.

That’s why the title of the column asks: So, what are you in the mood for this weekend? – borrowing ‘mood’ from the lyrics.

For the purpose of this column, the bottle of red in the song actually becomes four bottles of red.

The bottle of white doubles.

Plus, we add a bottle of rose and two bottles of sparkling for good measure.

A total of nine bottles to give you choice ‘whatever kind of mood you’re in tonight’ or today or this weekend.

By the way, the song might also inspire you to dine at an Italian restaurant this weekend.

But it’s not necessary – you can enjoy any of these wines at the winery, at home or at a friend’s place.

So, here we sip:

• Mission Hill Reserve 2022 Merlot ($35) West Kelowna
  Listen to a Billy Joel album while enjoying this velvety red with aromas and flavours of blackberry, plum and dark chocolate.

• Black Sage 2022 Merlot ($33) Oliver
  A big, bold and daring profile of jammy plum, blueberry and vanila. Pair with an Italian recipe pasta in tomato sauce.

• Culmina 2018 Hypothesis ($42) Oliver
  Being a 2018 vintage, this Cabernet Sauvignon-led Bordeaux-style red blend already has some age built into it. As a result, big and rich with a blackcurrant-and-spice profile.

• CedarCreek 2024 Estate Pinot Noir ($31)
  Made by the Kelowna winery of grapes from Oregon.
  Aromas and flavours of juicy black cherry and spice.
  A match for Italy’s favourite export to the world – pizza.

• Culmina Decora Riesling 2023 ($25) Oliver
  Riesling is German in origin, not Italian.
  But, we’re including it because you may be in the mood for something incredibly lush, balanced and delicious with a lime and honeycomb profile.
  A platinum medal winner at Sip magazine’s Best of the Northwest Awards.

• Laughing Stock 2024 Blind Trust White ($33) Oliver
  As the name implies, every vintage of this wine changes at the discression of the winemaker with ‘blind trust’.
  For the 2024, it’s 100% soft and pleasing Sauvignon Blanc from Washington state grapes with aromas and flavours of pineapple and honeydew melon.

• Road 13 Select Harvest 2024 Rose ($28)
  Made by the Oliver winery of grapes from cool-climate Petaluma Gap in California.
  The result is pink perfection with a profile of strawberries and cream with some orange zest.

• Evolve 2025 Light Sparkles Rose ($28) Naramata Bench
  The sparkling house’s inaugural low-alcohol offering (7% alcohol by volume) is fresh and flavourful with a strawberry, pear and brioche profile. It’s also the first 2025 vintage wine I’ve tasted from an Okanagan winery.
  The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes for this sparkler were picked early (in the late summer) to maintain the bright acidity that’s essential for a good sparkling wine. This is the bubble to drink with your Italian antipasti.

• Evolve 2025 Dealcholized Sparkles ($23) Naramata Bench
  Again, an early 2025 vintage, this one made with highly aromatic Gewurztraminer. For when you want something pretty and bubbly in your glass, but no alcohol.

Steve MacNaull is a NowMedia Group reporter, Okanagan wine lover and Canadian Wine Scholar. Reach him at [email protected]. His wine column appears every Friday afternoon in this space.