Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
Many people are familiar with grape varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, but there is a whole world of exciting and distinctive grape varieties waiting to be explored. Albariño, Viognier, and Grüner Veltliner each bring unique characteristics and flavours that set them apart from the usual white wine offerings. Whether it’s Albariño’s refreshing citrus and coastal minerality, Viognier’s lush stone…
Winemaking in Oregon’s Willamette Valley began in the 1960s when a handful of visionary pioneers, including David Lett, Dick Erath, and the Adelsheims, recognized the region’s potential for producing world-class Pinot Noir. Inspired by Burgundy’s cool climate, they planted vineyards in what was then an unproven wine-growing area. Over time, the valley’s unique combination of volcanic and marine sedimentary soils,…
One of the most exciting up-and-coming wine regions in the USA is the Columbia Valley AVA in Washington State. While it has been recognized for some time, the region’s wines are gaining increasing acclaim and attention, particularly in recent years. Columbia Valley encompasses a diverse range of terroirs and is home to more than 99,000 acres of vineyards, producing a…
I love Pinot Noir wines, with their more delicate aromas, flavours, and mouthfeel. My first Pinot Noir to taste in 2025 is from Frind Estate Winery in West Kelowna; Their Frind Estate Winery Pinot Noir Cuvée 2022, coming under screwcap. It checks off all the things that I enjoy in Pinot Noir: red fruit and floral aromas and flavours, higher…
With Dry January almost finished, I tried two lower-alcohol wines from New Zealand’s Kim Crawford Wines. I received their Illuminate Sauvignon Blanc 2023 and Rose 2023. Both wines are bottled at 7% alcohol. How did they get the wines down to 7%? Most wines that are fermented dry are in the range of 11-14%. From the winery, “‘Spinning Cone’ technology…
I did not consider reviewing other alcoholic beverages when I did my first Canadian Wine Trends analysis for 2021 consumption but am rectifying it by having an article for 2024. In particular, I am covering craft beer, craft cider, and cocktails. In my articles covering wines, the greatest volumes of queries have come from British Columbians, often followed by Quebec. …
Interest in enjoying sparkling wine on a regular basis has been increasing since people started buying prosecco. But there is still Champagne, Cremant, Cava, Franciacorta, pet-nat, and generally termed sparkling wines from the New World. How did sparkling wines capture Canadians’ interest in 2024? I created graphs for various sparkling wine styles using Google Trends. Let’s get into the graphs. …
This is my third article reviewing Canadian Wine Trends that happened over 2024. In this article, I will review our interest in Old World (e.g. Europe) vs New World (e.g. North and South America) wines. Did we get more interested in European wines? I used Google Trends to produce graphs for our interest in Old World and New World wine areas, showing…
While many people may think of full-bodied red wines for our cold winters, don’t count out lighter-bodied red wine with higher acidity and juicy bright fruit flavours. They can brighten your day and pair nicely with a cheese plate, roast chicken, or fatty sausages. One such wine is BC’s Robin Ridge Winery Gamay 2022. It is also an organic wine…
This is the second of my Canadian Wine Trends 2024 articles. I will cover our interest in red and white still varietal wines using Google Trends information. Was there an overall upward slope (interest) or downward slope (disinterest) in a style over the year? Was there a peak at a certain time of the year? Let’s find out. Red and White…
