A spot of luck for once:

One of my bosses, Bill, has assured me that there's few B.C. Merlots the equal of Burrowing Owl. Indeed, the wine has become so steeped in its own notoriety that its become nearly impossible to obtain the stuff. You can buy it from the winery itself, but you'll have to go visit the Okanagan or pay for shipping of delicate bottles (which I imagine can't be cheap). Locally, it's snapped up by restaurant owners because, well, it's really GOOD. While in Victoria I visited an all-B.C. wine store and asked if they had any. They sort of chuckled and admitted that you pretty much have to have some kind of "in" to get it in any significant quality.

Nevertheless, every time I go into a liquor store I check for it. So when I stopped by our local private liquor store I almost didn't bother to humor myself with the exercise. But I'm glad I did, because they HAD it.

19 bottles, to be precise. Who knows how long they'll be there before they get snatched up. At $30 a bottle, it ain't cheap, but who knows when I'll see them again. So I bought three, and before I left called Iain to let him know of their presence. So I picked one up for him as well (I'll be reimbursed later) and carried four very nice bottles of wine home along with the groceries I had bought at the local market.

When I left it, Burnaby Heights Liquor Store had 15 bottles of 2004 Burrowing Owl Merlot. If you want to get your hands on some, you'd best speak now or go get it. They won't be there for long.

SWEET!