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
21
2013
California is one of the great wine regions of the world, in part due to the excellent climate and soils, and in part due to the willingness to experiment with different grape varieties and methods to produce the best quality wine. At this year’s Vancouver International Wine Festival I had an opportunity to speak with [...]
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 [...]
Nov
19
2012
Sonoma County in California is not as well known as the county next door, Napa, but it should be better known due to it’s quality wines. Sonoma has a cooler climate than Napa, which is more inland, plus has the Mayacamas Mountains to block the cool maritime air. The unique climates of Sonoma County allow [...]
Nov
01
2012
Tuesday evening, the rain fell, but it could not dampen my spirits as I entered The Flying Pig Restaurant in Yaletown to taste the wines from Ravenswood Winery, listen to wine maker Joel Peterson, and enjoy the entrees prepared to pair with the wines. Ravenswood’s motto is “No Wimpy Wines” and I may add that [...]
Oct
29
2012
I’m so excited because tomorrow I will be attending a media dinner to try a flight of wines by Ravenswood Winery wine maker Joel Peterson at the Flying Pig in Yaletown. The wines I will be sampling, and tweeting live to you will be: Ravenswood VB Chardonnay 2010 Ravenswood VB Zinfandel 2009 Sangiacomo Chardonnay Lodi [...]
May
30
2012
Yesterday afternoon was beautiful and sunny, and the Dockside Restaurant perfectly placed in Granville Island looking over the water. With this as our backdrop we were enticed to try wines from around the world by 17 different wine agencies here in Vancouver. The name of the event is Pelican Bay Wine Tasting. As I had [...]
Jan
24
2012
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 [...]
Sep
18
2011
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 [...]
Sep
25
2010
In April 2008, MyWinePal was able to spend almost a week touring Sonoma and Napa Valleys. The weather was unusually warm; almost 20 degrees Farenheit above the normal temperature. Workers were in the fields actively managing the trellising. Some of the wineries,and brief notes on the wineries follow. The first visits were at J Vineyards [...]