MyWinePal

The California Wine Fair 2012 Canadian Tour came to Vancouver this past week.  It is highly anticipated and always delivers.  There were so many wines to try, from what you expect, like Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, but also the unexpected, like a Chenin or a Cabernet Franc.  California has wines of all different styles [...]

It was so nice to be able to chat with so many Chilean wine makers at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival 2012.  Some of the wine makers I had met before, while others were new to me. Either way the wine makers were gracious to spend some of their precious time to speak with [...]

Another winery I had a good luck to visit when I was in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State was Wind Rose Cellars.  The owner and wine maker, Mr. David Volmut, greeted me at the door.  Wind Rose Cellars just opened last year in Sequim (pronounced “skwim”) but is already producing some nice wines.  David [...]

To complement my blog article about the “Northern Gem, Southern Icon” dinner with Concha y Toro at the Blue Water Cafe, I also recorded a video.  The video is an introduction to the winery, the wines we will be tasting, their iconic Cabernet Sauvignon wine “Don Melchor“, and an introduction to Chile’s signature red grape [...]

My last event at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival was “Speaking Frankly About Franc“. I was eagerly waiting for this seminar as I really enjoy drinking Cabernet Franc. A grape that is at home in Bordeaux and in the Loire Valley. It is used as a blending grape in Bordeaux, as a minor partner [...]

There were more wineries than those from Chile at the 2012 Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival.  It took a while to drag me away from the Chilean wineries, and to try the wines from the rest of the world attending the Festival.  There were many nice wines, and now it’s my time to share them [...]

Last week the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival finished, and more work began for me.  Last week was about tasting the wines from Chile and from many other wineries around the world.  This week starts my writing my experiences in seminars and in the International Festival Tasting room. I made the following recommendations for Chilean [...]

I was very excited when I received two bottles of the latest releases from Painted Rock recently to review.  The two bottles being Painted Rock’s Syrah 2009 and their Merlot 2009.  Every year, I hear great things about Painted Rock’s wines and read about awards they have won.  Did you know that Painted Rock Estate [...]

January 23, 2012 is a New Chinese New Year.  This new year will be the Year of the Black Water Dragon. It begins on the first day of the first lunar month (usually in late January or early February) and ends on the 15th day of the first lunar month (Lantern Festival). A Dragon is [...]

When people hear Napa Valley, they think big Cabernets.  Which is true, you can get some huge Cabernet Sauvignons there, but they also produce other wines, such as Chardonnay, Riesling, and Pinot Noir.  Did you know that the Napa Valley is one-eighth the size of Bordeaux and produces just 4% of California’s wine grape harvest, [...]