In our glass: past and present wine picks
I started my recent wine tour of the Okanagan Valley a little early, right in Vancouver, to be precise. This time I left behind my own car in favour of a swish, spacious and sporty, titanium 2013 Acura RDX Tech, courtesy of Acura Canada—just like the one in The Avengers! Aside from [...]
Grant Stanley: one of the Okanagan's best One of our favourite tastings of the year is an action packed hour or so spent with Quails Gate winemaker Grant Stanley. We’ll get to the wines shortly but much of my enthusiasm stems from the fact that Grant—aside from being a superb winemaker and one [...]
Okanagan Crush Pad continues to add to its burgeoning winery empire, last week welcoming a flock of chickens to the team. In true Crush Pad style, the dozen or so Rhode Island Reds (with more to come) are housed in what may well be the most impressive chicken coop we’ve seen in years, complete [...]
If wine is about place, chances are what’s in your glass (aside from—hopefully—tasting good) may also rekindle memories. My tasting last week with the folks from Vins de Provence did just that, as it transported me back several years to an unexpected four-day stopover in and around Aix-en-Provence, during which I was able [...]
BC Wines Stand Up in Global Tasting ... from North Shore News Several years ago, Quails Gate co-owner Ben Stewart did something unprecedented. He held a tasting of his wines at the Four Seasons Vancouver, mixed in with comparable drops from elsewhere in the world. When the wraps came off (it was a [...]
Peller / Sandhill master winemaker Howard Soon, Tim Pawsey photo Because he always is! I like this pic of Peller / Sandhill / Calona winemaker guru Howard Soon. It was just a quick snap, taken at a recent BC Wine tasting. But it shows you exactly the way Howard is: always there [...]
We’re still stoked about last week’s German wine pairing dim sum, presented by the German Wine Institute with Master of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee, at Vancouver’s Bao Bei, Tanis Ling’s groundbreaking Chinese room. As we’re tight for time, here’s our North Shore News story (below) to bring you up to speed. In summary, [...]
Our recent nod to the BC Liquor Stores Alsace promo just happened to coincide with the release of Joie Farm's latest crop of whites and ever popular rosé. And, as usually seems to be the case, right out of the gate, the Joie wines are an indication of what to expect for 2011 (overall, a [...]
Up in the lofty surrounds of a marble clad tower high above downtown Vancouver, HiredBelly.com’s cutting edge IT department is still grappling with the challenge of how to present our ongoing Belly’s Best wine picks in a timely and easily accessible way. We’ll let you know when they finally get it figured out. (If they [...]
Most people know the Wine Festival’s Vintner’s Brunch as the festival’s flagship food and wine event. It usually sells out within minutes of tix being available—even more so now that it’s held in the dazzling surrounds of the new Convention Centre West, with its sweeping ocean-mountain vista. Few realize that beyond [...]