6 Wines to Elevate Your Malbec World Day
Malbec World Day (April 17th) is right around the corner. A sure sign of its success, the celebration of Argentina’s flagship variety just seems to get bigger every year.
Fattoria Colmone della Marca : A Passion for White from Red
Recently I was delighted to meet Giovanni Meschini, charming proprietor of Fattoria Colmone della Marca, for a tasting of some unique wines. They come from one of Italy’s smallest DOC’s—I Terrini di San Severino Moro, in the heart of the Marche. Fattoria Colmone is the sole producer. They make only [...]
The Ultimate Customized Wine Tour: Striking Gold in Burgundy
Updated August 25th, 2021... I recently caught up with Youri Lebault, by phone. During the pandemic the owner of Bourgogne Gold Tour has been rethinking what he’s been doing since he started in 1999. In June he purchased a Mercedes Marco Polo luxury camper van, to offer a truly unique kind of tour. Youri [...]
1 Mill Road: It’s All About Pinot
Updated: July 8th, 2021 1 Mill Road Pinot Noir 2019 Naramata Bench The current release invites with cherry, leather and some earthy aromas, bright red berry notes followed by a plush but precise palate of dark cherry and strawberry. Wrapped in silky and beautifully integrated tannins with a touch of spice and a definite savoury [...]
Rejoicing in Red: A Clutch of Good Value BC Wines
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 [...]
(Bending the) Riesling Rules with Martin Tesch
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 [...]
It’s Always Pimm’s O’Clock Somewhere
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., [...]
Winners: 2014 Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in British Columbia Wines
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 [...]
8 Tasting Tips (and more) for the Vancouver International Wine Festival
Next week’s Vancouver International Wine Festival will be one of the most well attended in the festival’s 36 years. How come it’s so popular? There are a couple of key reasons: Arguably North America’s most important combined consumer and trade wine gathering, it’s a great opportunity for wineries to meet their customers face to face—in [...]
Toasting the New Year in The Right (Riedel) Glass
Waterford's pretty but ... Does the right glass really matter? You bet it does! Because we have a such a busy holiday season and Christmas, over the years, a restful, decidedly lazy New Year’s Day has become our tradition. Often we move little more than from the couch to the fridge—to extract more [...]