In our glass: past and present wine picks
TWB at Provence is Back + 48 Terrific Taps
TWB (The Wine Bar) at Vancouver's waterside Provence restaurant has reopened with impressive wine by the glass and on tap offerings.
La Maison Osoyoos Larose: Unique Wine Club celebrates 25 years
Osoyoos Larose has unveiled La Maison Osoyoos Larose, a truly unique wine club—likely the only one of its kind in Canada. Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin has evolved into one of BC’s iconic wines in a pretty short time. Especially when you consider it’s only just over a couple of [...]
O’Rourke Family Estate Shines at Chardonnay du Monde
O’Rourke Family Estate has been recognized by Chardonnay du Monde for its O’Rourke Family Estate 2020 BC VQA Estate Chardonnay—the wine’s inaugural release. You could say it was a pretty good St. Patrick’s day present for owner Dennis O’Rourke—whose bottles sport “Sláinte” (Irish for ‘good health’) on the label. The [...]
Albariño: 5 Great Reasons to Embrace Rias Baixas
Albariño is also one of those varieties that personifies from where it comes. It transports you right to Galicia.
Rejoicing in Red: A Clutch of Good Value BC Wines
Spierhead: an emerging, consistent contender ©Tim Pawsey Looking to to buy for the BC wine lover in your life? Here’s a clutch of more interesting but not that hard to find wines, which individually and collectively show just how much the bar has been raised in the last few years. These bottles, beyond [...]
Winners: 2014 Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in British Columbia Wines
2014 Lieutenant Governor Award winners for Excellence in BC Wine The winners of last week’s keenly contested Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in BC Wine are announced by Government House this morning. As always, the final outcome was interesting because somehow we managed to select (from 436 entries between 119 wineries) just 12 wines [...]
5 Good Reasons to Re-think (and Drink) Portugal
Portugal's stunning Douro Valley. These days, though, there's a whole lot more to Portugal than Port. Portugal is back in the table wine game with a vengeance. No better proof of that than a recent Vancouver visit by a couple of score of key producers. Judging by the excitement in the room the [...]
BC wines Show Well at All Canadian Wine Championships
A plethora of rosés It’s always interesting to see what pops out at the end of major competitions. And this past week’s All Canadian Wine Championships proved no exception. Fourteen judges from across Canada (plus one from Michigan) were hunkered down in cosy 100-year-old Angeline's hotel, in Bloomfield, Prince Edward County. It’s the [...]
Synchromesh Wines: Shifting Gears in Okanagan Falls
I remember quite vividly the first time I tasted Synchromesh. It was at Okanagan Falls Wineries Association’s (OFWA) inaugural Vancouver tasting.
Breaking Bread with Clos du Soleil at Tavola
A ground-breaking collaboration: Marc du Soleil, made by Long Table Distillery, TP photo The Hired Belly has attended more than few winemaker dinners. But some remain etched in my memory. The very first was when Howard Soon (now Peller Estates’ chief winemaker, then Calona Vineyards’) dropped by the original Raintree, in [...]