Category: california

Pinot Noir is one of my overall favourite grapes.  There are different styles from around the world, with Burgundy being at the pinnacle; cooler climate.  As well as BC and New Zealand.  Pinot Noir can also produce bigger wines, but still with softer tannins, in places such as California’s Sonoma Coast.  I received a bottle of La Crema Sonoma Coast…

A whole year has passed since my 2021 Wine Quiz, which was related to wines, wineries, and winemakers I was able to interact with and write about on mywinepal.com.  Here is my 3rd Annual 2022 Wine Quiz.  There are 10 questions gleaned from my articles this year. I hope you enjoy it!

Have you ever rooted through your wine cellar and find a bottle that you bought, but don’t remember when you bought it?  That is what happened to me as I was looking for a wine to go with a pot roast that I had cooked.  With the rich flavours of the pot roast, I thought that this wine, the Joel…

It is not every day that you get invited to a portfolio tasting of wines from Italy’s Antinori Estates.  Many of you have probably heard of their most famous wine, Marchesi Antinori Tignanello Toscana IGT, a Super Tuscan, that helped lead the way to blend in International grape varieties, e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with Italy’s Sangiovese grape in Tuscany….

Murphy-Goode Winery is a family-run winery from Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California. The winery was started in 1985 with 3 friends, Tim Murphy, Dale Goode, and Dave Ready. Dave Ready Jr. is the winemaker for the winery, while Tim and Dale are the viticulturalists. The wine labels are no-nonsense, letting you know what you are getting in each bottle….

Summertime is a time we should be spending outside on our patios bbqing or maybe out at the beach or a park picnicking. White wines and Rose wines are typically good choices when the weather is hot and sunny. A plate of cheese appetizers, roasted chicken or grilled fish are a few pairings that you could try. I have two…

VanWineFest 2022 was a feat in getting all the components in motion to get wineries, agents, and wines into Vancouver after a 2-year hiatus.  I am thankful for everyone that worked so hard to make VanWineFest 2022 a reality.  I worked quite hard tasting wines, meeting and interviewing winery principals, and attending a dinner and seminar.  I posted individual articles…

Do you like solving puzzles and deciphering secret codes?  If so, you should check out the labels from Michael David Winery, coming from Lodi, California.  Their labels have always been quirky and easy to spot on the BC Liquor Store shelves.  Plus you get big, juicy red wines.  Great for BBQ season.  I was fortunate to have a chance to…

At the Vancouver International Wine Festival, I spent time at the International Festival Tasting room on Thursday and Friday to taste as many wines as possible.  I published my Old World wine selections a few days ago and now it is time to give you my New World wine selections.  New World wines are typically categorized as being from the…

Top Drop Vancouver 2022 was on May 10 and 11.  Part of the event was a large tasting room, with 40 wineries presenting a selection of their wines.  There was also to my great happiness, cider as well, which I will get to later in this article.  Top Drop Canada puts on this event yearly (except during the COVID shutdown),…