MyWinePal

Did you know that Vina Carmen is Chile’s oldest winery, founded in 1850 by Christian Lanz, who named the winery after his wife, Carmen? The Carmenere grape variety was rediscovered at Carmen in 1994. In 1997 Carmen launched the first Chilean organic wine under the Nativa brand.  I remember buying the wine in WA state [...]

Miguel Torres is best known as a wine making family with long pedigree from Spain.  From Spain they have spread out around the world.  One place where they have taken root has been Chile; the Curico Valley to be precise.  Their winery is very well known for their high quality Cordillera red blend. But when [...]

Emiliana Vineyards has become very well-known for their organic and biodynamic wines that they produce in the Colchagua Valley, Chile. I speak briefly with Fernando Pavon, Export Director about the winery and their wines.  Enjoy.

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 [...]

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 [...]

Have you thought about travelling to Chile and Argentina, to try their wonderful wines, see the beautiful Andes Mountains, sample their cuisine, but not know how to arrange it all? Why not sign up to attend the FREE MyWinePal seminar on Feb 23 to taste some South American wines and learn about an upcoming Wine [...]

One of the great things about the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival is that you can meet winery principals either at a wine maker dinner, a seminar, or at their winery’s table at the International Festival Tasting room.  In case you don’t know who will be attending the Festival this year, here is some background [...]

In case you didn’t know, Chile is the Theme Country this year at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival.  But you may not know which wineries will be there?  The Remedy… I have the list here for you.  With my many years past association with the South World Wine Society I can let you know [...]

January 23, 2012, arrived full of promise, dragon-sized.  With that in mind, I checked out the New Product Salon for the Import Vintners & Spirits Association (IVSA) in downtown Vancouver.  There was a wide range of wines; sparkling, still, red, white, and fortified.  A few stars from the tasting that I would like to share [...]

What is a Portfolio Tasting? If you have never been before, it is a wine tasting held by a wine agent of all, or many of, the wines that they represent.  It is a great place to taste many different wines, typically from different countries, and learn a bit about the style of wines that [...]