Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
At every Vancouver International Wine Festival, when I attend the International Festival Tasting Room, I have a plan for which wines to taste. Luckily, as an accredited media person, I can attend the International Festival Tasting Room several times. But each time, is different. For this one session, I visited the theme region, west coast USA, and tasted only red…
Hope Family Wines, based in Paso Robles, California, is a renowned family-owned winery known for producing bold, expressive wines that capture the essence of the region’s warm climate and rich soils. Hope Family Wines consists of six individual brands: Liberty School, Treana, Quest, Austin Hope, Troublemaker, and Austin. Led by winemaker and owner Austin Hope, the winery has built a…
While the term “Cru” is most often used for the French classification system, the “Cru” concept can apply to any vineyard or group of vineyards recognized for their superior quality. It was first mentioned in Champagne in 1911 and then spread across France, and now the rest of the world. This seminar, The Global Cru, took participants on a global…
Justin Vineyards & Winery, a benchmark producer in Paso Robles, California is renowned for crafting bold, Bordeaux-style wines that showcase the region’s rich soils and warm climate. Led by winemaker Scott Shirley, Justin focuses on producing structured, expressive wines with depth and elegance. Their flagship Isosceles blend—crafted from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc—delivers layers of dark fruit, spice, and…
Today we were able to taste California wines crafted on the edge – coastal cliffs, mountain tops, and rugged valleys – where adversity breeds greatness. This seminar at the VanWineFest 2025 showed us bold wines born from unforgiving terrains and regenerative farming. Our Moderator was Elaine Chukan Brown. Winery Principals to tell us about their wines: Kori Butler, Andrew Gouveia,…
The second seminar I attended at VanWineFest 2025 was the “Three Rings of Sustainability“. Dr. Monique Bell (Professor of Marketing, Fresno State University) and Dr. Damien Wilson (Hamel Family Faculty Chair of Wine Business, Sonoma State University) lead a panel of principals as they explored the three rings of sustainability – environmental, social, and economic. We learned how sustainable wine…
Did you know that Giusti Wine, comes from the Valpolicella region of Italy, but is owned by a BC businessman, Mr. Joe Giusti? Mr. Ermenegildo “Joe” Giusti, was born and raised in Italy and moved to Vancouver, where he became a very successful businessman in the construction industry. With this wealth, he wanted to show his passion of Italian wine;…
We all love to get good value from our purchases, especially in wine when the quality of the wine exceeds bottle price. In this VanWineFest 2025 seminar, “Value & Variety, West Coast Style“, we were introduced to 10 different wineries along the USA west coast. This trio of states offer every climate, terroir, grape, and wine style to tempt wine…
This was my first dinner to attend at the Vancouver International Wine Festival. Justin Seidenfeld, Senior Vice President of Winemaking & Winegrowing, of Rodney Strong Wine Estates spoke at the dinner providing us insights into the excellent wines that they brought to pour at this dinner. This dinner was hosted at Riley’s Fish & Steak, providing us both seafood, beef,…
Wine is a complex beverage, as its flavours and aromas develop over time. Some wines can be enjoyed when they are young and fresh from fermentation while other wines take years or decades for the wines to soften, for flavours, tannins, and acidity to evolve to a high point for your enjoyment. These flavours and aromas can be categorized into…
