Category: california

Every year Mark Anthony Wine Merchants have a portfolio tasting of their wines from around the world. Every year I am impressed by wineries that I know, and new wineries I have yet to try. This year I have tasty wines for you from sparkling to still red and whites. Sparkling Lanson Black Label, NV, France, ($64.99). Nice creamy, bready,…

From the Fall through Spring, the Import Vintners & Spirits Association (IVSA) hosts a regular tasting of importers latest wines, beer and spirits.  The kick-off for the fall was last week, and it was very busy.  Again too many wines to try, so I went table by table trying to find wines of interest, or completely new wines/wineries I have…

I was happy to be invited for the second year in a row to the Select Wines & Spirits’ Annual Portfolio Tasting, held at the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club.  Last year I found several gems that I passed along to you, and you will read about my latest wine recommendations.  You may want to compare to my last year’s…

Last year I attended the Taste of Tulalip and had a great time.  The food and wine were top quality.  The tickets for this year’s event are now on sale, so I thought I would give you early notice so that you can buy your tickets before they sell out.  The event has a Friday night Gala Dinner, which has…

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 not attended this event before,…

The California Wine Fair 2012 Canadian Tour came to Vancouver this past week.  It is highly anticipated and always delivers.  There were so many wines to try, from what you expect, like Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, but also the unexpected, like a Chenin or a Cabernet Franc.  California has wines of all different styles and at all different price…

My last event at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival was “Speaking Frankly About Franc“. I was eagerly waiting for this seminar as I really enjoy drinking Cabernet Franc. A grape that is at home in Bordeaux and in the Loire Valley. It is used as a blending grape in Bordeaux, as a minor partner to Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot….

There were more wineries than those from Chile at the 2012 Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival.  It took a while to drag me away from the Chilean wineries, and to try the wines from the rest of the world attending the Festival.  There were many nice wines, and now it’s my time to share them with you. Red Wines (and…

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 with you.    Italian Prosecco…

The Grand Taste is the last, and biggest event for the Taste of Tulalip.  I was amazed when I saw how long the line up was for people to enter this event.  If you’ve been to the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, this lineup was at least that long or longer.  Represented at the Grand Taste were 66 WA wineries,…