Argentina: Value and Variety at Every Tier… Taking Malbec to the Next Level
With the apparently unstoppable success of Malbec, Argentina is in the enviable position of having almost too big a hit on its hands. Almost, but not quite.
“The Lake”: When History, Music and Wine Combine
Quails Gate Estate, on the site of the Allison homestead, overlooks Lake Okanagan (photo Brian Sprout) UPDATED: The Lake opens tonight—and is sold out. The good news is there are still tix for tomorrow night (November 15). And the better news is that all audience members have a chance to enter a draw [...]
BC Liquor Control & Licensing Branch Lays its Heavy Hand on Charities
Ah, the joys of spontaneous journalism! Our column in this weekend’s North Shore News went to press too late to acknowledge the BC Government’s action—or rather statement of intended action—to modify the use of a Special Occasion License for charity auctions of wine or other alcohol. According to CTV, the minister responsible, the Honourable Rich [...]
Similkameen Valley’s Little Farm Winery Rolls Out First Releases
LittleFarm's Rhys Pender and Alishan Driediger Planting your own vineyard requires healthy doses of optimism, a ton of knowledge, unbridled passion and not a little cash, regardless of how big—or small—the project. Making your own wine, even more. This week we got to taste the first release from Similkameen’s aptly named Little Farm [...]
Joie and More Joie: Joie Farm Reserve Wines Bump it Up a Notch
Heidi Noble and Michael Dinn ... to the next level, TP photo Time to catch up on some housekeeping. Here's our column from the North Shore News a couple of weeks ago. As you can tell, we're a big fan of Joie Farm (and—full disclosure—a longtime friend of Heidi and Michael.) The piece [...]
The Gold Standard, Okanagan Style: 2012 British Columbia Wine Awards
Gold medal weather accompanied our judging at Manteo Resort If you’re a BC wine lover, the line-up of the 24 gold medal winners of this year's British Columbia Wine Awards (a key part of the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival) adds up to a pretty serious shopping list. (Most of these wines should still be [...]
Savouring Patagonia—and the End of the World, in Buenos Aires
... A good intro to Patagonia Barely an hour on the ground in Buenos Aires and we were headed for Experiencia Del Fin Del Mundo for an overview of Argentina wine with Andrés Rosberg (president of the Argentina Sommeliers Association), before a regional tasting of wines from Patagonia. The restaurant (owned by the [...]
Colour Me a Cab: Winelover Louise Wilson’s Crayons Come in Handy
Louise Wilson's cool idea to colour your approach to wine When time (between wine) permits, The Hired Belly does like to dabble in the odd book review. But it’s been at least a couple of years since he pulled out his crayons for a colouring book. What have crayons and Cabernet in common—Aside [...]
BC White Blends Gather Steam: Terravista Figaro & Fandango
Terravista Vineyards Figaro label portrays a dancing, glass art figurine—and captures the essence of these vibrant blends One of the more intriguing winners in this year’s Lieutenant Governor Awards line-up is the well crafted, southern Rhone inspired Road 13 Jackpot White 2011, which artfully blends Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne (mainly from Similkameen) for [...]
Living on the Edge: Could Kamloops be BC’s Next Wine Region to Watch?
Harper's Trail vineyard last January, Tim Pawsey photo A few years ago, we went on a back country drive near Ashcroft that followed a route past the Logan Lake mine— so huge that it can be seen from space. I remember looking at the barren but almost terraced slopes thinking that, once returned [...]