Category: bc

Okanagan Crush Pad seems to be coming up with lots of small production wines, trying different things with different grapes, people, and inspiration.  This article is about two of their latest wines; Haywire Free Form and Samantha Syrah. About Haywire Free Form I was immediately intrigued when I read about this wine as the wine maker’s rolled the dice and…

SpierHead Wines in Kelowna has been producing some quality wines since the first vintage I tasted a few years ago.  At the 2014 National Wine Awards of Canada their 2012 Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir Gentleman Farmer all won Silver Medals.  Their 2013 vintage wines have come out now, and I was lucky to receive a bottle of their Chardonnay,…

Okanagan Crush Pad keeps telling us that “Wine is Narrative“.  Every wine tells a story.  Some stories though are more interesting than others.  I think the more specific a place, the more the terroir can speak through the wine.  While there is nothing wrong with wines where the grapes are sourced from widely separated areas, maybe the story is harder…

February 19, 2015 will be the Chinese New Year; the Year of the Sheep.  Haywire Wines from Summerland in the Okanagan have released their second vintage of the Lunar New Year wine.  I was privileged to try their first release for this current year, the Year of the Wooden Horse.  The wine was crafted to complement Asian dishes.  With the…

The first biodynamic wine I tasted was at a wine tasting at the South World Wine Society.  The topic was not biodynamic wines at all.  I do not remember the topic, other than it was red wines from Australia, and it happened that one of the bottles was from a biodynamic winery.  That wine tasted more alive and vibrant than…

I first posted this article 2 years ago, and the styles of wines that I described then, still hold for your turkey or ham Thanksgiving dinner this year.  The wine vintages from the wineries below will have changed, but these are all quality wines from quality wineries here in BC, and you should feel comfortable purchasing them at your local…

Haywire Canyonview Chardonnay 2012 is quite different from any other Okanagan Chardonnay that I can remember tasting.  I had to nose it and taste it several times.  What was it that this wine in the glass was telling me?  The aromas straight from the bottle were quite wild and different.  But before I go on to provide you with my…

Breast cancer I hazard to guess has touched every Canadian family in some way or another.  In my family my mother had breast cancer, which was thankfully cured.  I have lost a sister-in-law to breast cancer, and I have a friend who has been treated and is currently in remission, and I hope on the road to being declared cancer-free…

Everyone probably knows what is Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay wine if it is mentioned.  But there are many grape varieties that maybe not that well known, outside of the wine geeks like me.  Time for that to change.  Mt. Boucherie Family Estate Winery, located in West Kelowna, near Mission Hill Family Estate Winery, has been producing wines from well-known as…

Haywire wines are made at Okanagan Crush Pad (OCP) in Summerland, BC, and are co-owned by Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie.  I have followed Haywire wines since their inception.  I like them as they try to be as organic and un-interventionist as possible, letting their wines tell their stories.  They make a range of wines; red, white, and bubble for…