May
27
2013
This past week, the Seacove Group, a wine agency located in Vancouver, brought over 5 winery principals from Europe to show us a range of their wines. Strolling through the cobbled Gastown streets, between restaurants, one could imagine you were in Europe. The winery principals and the participating restaurants, hosting the principals are: Champagne de [...]
Apr
13
2013
I look forward to the Import Vintners & Spirits Association (IVSA) Trade tasting. You get to try the new wines, liquor, and beer coming into the BC market, and be the first to tell you what to search out in your local wine shop, or BC government liquor store. With the latest IVSA, here are [...]
Mar
25
2013
The first time you walk into the International Festival Tasting Room can be intimidating, with 175 wineries pouring 3 or more wines each, you have at least 525 wines to try. But over time, you become a wine tasting veteran like me, setting up a strategy, checking out the background of some wineries you may [...]
Dec
31
2012
I use WordPress for MyWinePal.com and MyWinePal.wordpress.com. Yes I have 2 blogs. Sometimes I think it is double the effort, but other times I think that I like the separation of the two blogs. In MyWinePal.com I post my longer articles and wine reviews, while MyWinePal.wordpress.com concentrates more on announcing food and wine events, as [...]
Dec
19
2012
In my last post I gave you my list of favourite white and sparkling wines that I tasted in 2012. Hopefully you can buy a bottle or two for one of your holiday soirees. My follow-up to that article is my favourite red wines. With a special request from my friend Kalpna, I have a [...]
Oct
12
2012
Every year Mark Anthony Wine Merchants have a portfolio tasting of their wines from around the world. Every year I am impressed by wineries that I know, and new wineries I have yet to try. This year I have tasty wines for you from sparkling to still red and whites. Sparkling Lanson Black Label, NV, [...]
Mar
28
2012
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 [...]
Mar
07
2012
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 [...]
Feb
07
2012
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 [...]
Jan
04
2012
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 [...]