Dr. Martin Tesch A multi dimensional tasting They say that wine always tastes better with the winemaker. I’m inclined to agree, especially when it comes to someone like Martin Tesch, who dropped by Vancouver last week. Then again, I happen to know they show just as well without him. It’s not hard to [...]
Pimm's. Borage rules, cucumber too. Updated, July 7th, 2014. My recipe has evolved since the original post, so I thought I’d share it now. First of all, for some reason, this time around we’ve ‘graduated’ to Pimm's no. 6, and I’m not sure why. It doesn’t seem quite as ‘Pimmish’ as no. 1., [...]
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 [...]
Joie Noble Blend: Topping the list ... (note this is my glass, look below for the glass in question...) I’ll admit that I am a little bit late to the party on this one. But it’s still a deal worth mentioning. All of last month and into June, local Vancouver BC VQA wine [...]
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 [...]
Golden Mile Bench member and Fairview owner Bill Eggert talks soil: ultimately, it really is 'all about the dirt' My notice regarding yesterday's news about the Golden Mile Bench arrived too late for me to add anything to the release. Here's what I've written for the North Shore [...]
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 [...]
The Forrests' latest initiative features (not at all wimpy!) low alcohol wines Kiwi Pioneer Dr. John Forrest was in Vancouver last week for the New Zealand Wine Fair. I recall when he first came to Vancouver and introduced the then very novel (and much mistrusted!) idea of a screwcap closure. After all, wine was still very [...]
I remember quite vividly the first time I tasted Synchromesh. It was at Okanagan Falls Wineries Association’s (OFWA) inaugural Vancouver tasting.
Osoyoos beach from the Watermark Resort The Osoyoos ‘Oyster’ Festival? Seriously? I must admit, I was just a tad surprised when I first heard of the idea. After all, burgeoning bivalves is maybe not the first thing that come to mind when you consider the sandy (rock free), shores of the South Okanagan’s [...]
