With two of the best vintages in recent memory (2012, 2013) and a third in the barrel (2014), most agree: it’s a pretty good time to be making red wines in the Okanagan Valley. However, it’s already been several years that Bill Lui has been thinking seriously about what it would take to make the [...]
A memento of Coonawarra There’s something about this shot of the old Coonawarra train station that pushes so many buttons for me. Yes, I’m a bit of a sentimentalist. I love trains—and have probably taken more than my share of them over the years. I’m also a big fan of Australia—and this photo [...]
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 [...]
Cactus Club exec chef Rob Feenie and sommelier-service director Sebastien Le Goff Scratch the surface of a Cactus Club wine list and you’ll often find what constitutes an unlikely line-up of wines—for what we now refer to as “Casual Fine Dining” restaurants. Much of the reason for more interesting than usual selections (especially [...]
Vancouver Magazine has posted the results to this year’s Wine Awards (2015). It’s one of the most anticipated of the year, and rightfully so... There really are some phenomenal values here—and I’m truly honoured to have been a part of the amazing team that worked over three days to choose them. Here’s what head judge(and VanMag wine [...]
Tony Aspler — "a card-carrying member of Pack Rats Anonymous." Tony Aspler—one of Canada’s most prolific wine writers—has again put pen to paper, this time with a fun-to-read memoir that spans 35 years of what he describes as “chasing the grape.” The world of wine is writ large, so what makes Aspler’s ‘The [...]
Samantha Syrah: worth tracking down—if you're quick Somehow I just knew it was going to be good. What do you get when you introduce a savvy Whistler sommelier to an accomplished winemaker and a decent crop of South Okanagan grapes? Samantha Syrah 2013 is the newest release in Okanagan Crush Pad’s Okanagan Wine [...]
Casual tasting and wines by the glass at the market wine shop Travel, they say, broadens the mind. It also sharpens your perspective at home. A recent tasting in France found me thinking, once again, despite some progress, just how outdated BC’s liquor laws really still are, outdated—and ridiculous. We were in the Victor Hugo [...]
A spectacular vista of Rias Baixas Val do Salnés coastline Bodegas Vionta (Rias Baixas) sports an impressive view (above). You can see that most of the vineyards in Val do Salnés are quite small, in fact the average size for all of Rias Baixas is .59 ha. There are 4,759 growers in this [...]
Wringing more wine from your buck: good value drops under $20 ©Tim Pawsey photoAside from expanding my horizons, one of the reasons I enjoy traveling is the chance to exchange ideas with people from elsewhere. During last week’s swing through Galicia we got chatting about the retail price ‘sweet spot’ that everyone covets. Interestingly, my friend [...]
