Month: February 2015

East Meets West Australia at West

Australia: East Meets West at West Restaurant

 mywinepal  February 25, 2015

Australia is a big country, from east to west covering 4000 km, which in Canadian terms would be about the distance from Calgary to Quebec City.  As with Canada’s east and west coasts, there is a difference in climate, there is also in Australia.  This dinner, this evening we discovered the regional differences between Australia’s west coast – Margaret River…

The Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015 Kicks Off

 mywinepal  February 24, 2015

Yesterday marked the official launch of the 2015 Vancouver International Wine Festival Kick Off, held at Joeys Restaurant downtown at the Bentall Centre.  We had Harry Hertscheg, Vancouver International WIne Festival executive director, start off the Kick Off telling us about the wine festival, its many participating wineries, dinners and other events this year, and about Bard on the Beach,…

Harpers Trail Thadd Springs Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2013

Quick Review: Harper’s Trail Thadd Springs Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2013

 mywinepal  February 22, 2015

Harper’s Trail winery in Kamloops, BC has been blazing a trail in this new wine grape growing region of BC.  With any new region, the vineyard manager and the wine maker have to learn about their soil, which grape varieties grow best in their soil,  the variety of oak barrels that enhance their wines just right, etc.  I received a…

Haywire Canyonview Vineyard Pinot Noir 2012

Quick Review: Haywire Canyonview Vineyard Pinot Noir 2012

 mywinepal  February 22, 2015

BC Pinot Noir is well known to some wine drinkers, but maybe not enough.  Probably most people think of Burgundy, or Oregon, or New Zealand. But we do produce some decent Pinots here in BC.  I recently received a bottle of Haywire Canyonview Pinot Noir 2012 to review.  It comes with a screw cap but that doesn’t mean it cannot…

Chinese Year of the Sheep 2015

Heading into the Chinese New Year of the Wooden Sheep

 mywinepal  February 11, 2015

Chinese Year of the Wooden Sheep According to chinesefortunecalendar.com, “…Sheep is one of Chinese favorite animals…2013 is Snake year; 2014 is Horse year. Both of them are in Fire group. 2015 is the last year of Fire cycle. Sheep is the animal on the farmland. Sheep is herbivore. It likes to eat grass. Therefore, in Chinese horoscopes, Sheep contains  Fire, Earth…

Curious About Two Wild Ferment Wines from Haywire Winery?

 mywinepal  February 10, 2015

Wine grapes from two different vineyards plus native yeasts from each vineyard, produces two unique wines.  The winery in question is Haywire and the wines were made at Okanagan Crush Pad, in Summerland, BC.  The two wines I tasted from Haywire were: Haywire Switchback Vineyard Pinot Gris 2012 Haywire Canyonview Vineyard Chardonnay 2013 The Switchback Vineyard was the first vineyard…

Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015 Aussie Recommendations

 mywinepal  February 7, 2015  1 Comment on Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015 Aussie Recommendations

The Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015 is coming upon us quickly, with the Festival starting on February 20.  There will be 170 wineries in attendance from 14 different countries in attendance.  At the Acura International Festival Tasting Room in the Vancouver Convention Centre, there will be more than 750 wines available for sampling.  It is of course not possible to…

Casella Family Brands

Welcoming Casella Family Brands to the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2015

 mywinepal  February 4, 2015

Have you heard of [yellow tail] wines?   Probably most of you have.  A very popular wine label for many years here in North America.  The wines are produced by the Casella family in Australia.  But they are more than [yellow tail].  They have been producing higher tier wines, such as the Casella 1919 and Beyond Horizons labels, which will be…

New World Meets Old World Riesling at Harpers Trail

 mywinepal  February 1, 2015

Who would think that you could get a taste of both the New World and the Old World from Riesling produced in Kamloops, BC?  Well indeed that is what I experienced with two wines from Harper’s Trail winery.  The Riesling vines were planted in 2008 and 2009 over two blocks; the Pioneer Block and the Silver Mane Block, with the…