Buy BC: Eat Drink Local? Sounds like a plan! Although, hard to believe now but there was a time when the last thing anyone wanted was to ‘eat local.’ And don’t even get me started on the wine thing. Or maybe you should. I’m truly pleased to see the return of Buy BC, especially with [...]
The Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in BC Wine in its present form has changed, as of today. From now on the ‘LG’s Awards’ will be managed and paid for by the Okanagan Wine Festivals Society. The competition will now be known as the The British Columbia Lieutenant-Governor’s Wine Awards. On reflection, I’ve concluded that this change presents [...]
Tasting Room Trauma? Don't worry about it! Here's how to make the most of the International Tasting Room. The centrepiece of the Vancouver International Wine Festival, it’s where everything—and everybody—comes together. It’s where the who’s who of the wine world gets to connect. And the buzz is palpable. In fact it’s so palpable that it [...]
UPDATED February 21, 2018 Coming up fast is this year's not to be missed Parksville Uncorked—the 10th Annual—March 8th-11th. The 2018 edition features Untapped at the Beach Club Resort and Swirl at Tigh-Na-Mara, as well as a couple of superb winemakers dinners: Dirty Laundry Vineyard at Tigh-Na-Mara and Orofino Winery at the Beach Club Resort. The festival wraps [...]
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley's boycott of BC wines to force the BC Government's hand on agreeing to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion was a bold move, though perhaps with unintended consequences.
Iberia calls! There’s both a happy and sad reality to the Vancouver International Wine Festival (Feb 24th to March 4th). It really is a case of "too many wines, too little time." Not only does it enjoy the reputation of being among the best of its kind, anywhere, this year’s festival has the added distinction of [...]
Sparkling wine time is here. And I’m late to the party. My apologies. We’re a tad backed up here in the executive suite at Hired Belly HQ. Plus most of the staff has been down with the flu... Sparkling has evolved. These days—from Cava to Sekt, Prosecco, Crémant (and, yes, Champagne) you can pretty well [...]
David Enns and partners Mik Ball, Robert Gritten and Steven Jaeger have announced plans to establish the Naramata Wine Vault. The Naramata based group has purchased the BC Tree Fruits packing house, which sits on 4.6 acres in the heart of the Village of Naramata. They plan to revitalize the structure. It has been dormant [...]
The sale of Laughing Stock Vineyards to Arterra Wines Canada was announced this week. The sale, for an undisclosed amount, closed November 30th. It's the latest in a string of high profile Okanagan winery deals. Arterra is the reincarnation of what used to be the Canadian division of Constellation Brands (formerly Vincor). It's owned by the [...]
(Map: Wines of Portugal) Lisboa is 'Lisbon' in Portuguese. But it refers also to the wine region to the north and west of the city (known until recently as 'Estremadura'). Lisbon itself is 29 kms, inland from the coast, which sports a rugged landscape, with a mountain range running parallel, north to [...]
